This study explores the levels of COVID-19 knowledge, risk perception, and preventive behavior practice in Seoul, to determine whether knowledge and risk perception are significantly associated with the full adoption of preventive behaviors, for the delivery of a customized public campaign to Seoul’s citizens. A total of 3000 Seoul residents participated in this study through an online questionnaire survey. They had a mean score of 84.6 for COVID-19 knowledge (range: 0–100 points) and 4.2 (range: 1–7 points) for risk perception. Of the participants, 33.4% practiced full adoption of all three preventive behaviors: hand hygiene, wearing a face mask, and social distancing; wearing a face mask was practiced the most (81.0%). Women significantly adopted these three preventive behaviors more often compared with men. Both COVID-19 knowledge and risk perception were found to be significantly associated with the full adoption of preventive behaviors; however, this association differed by the type of preventive behavior. This indicates that city-level information on the levels of COVID-19 knowledge, risk perception, and preventive behaviors should be clearly and periodically communicated among public officers and healthcare professionals to continually raise the public’s awareness of the full adoption of non-pharmaceutical preventive behaviors.

Introduction: A hybrid intervention of online and offline behavioral strategies can be more effective in promoting multiple lifestyle behaviors than online strategies alone. However, little is known about the effects of hybrid behavioral strategies on the modification of multiple heart-healthy lifestyle behaviors in cardiovascular health. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of a community-based, heart-healthy lifestyle-promoting program (i.e., HeartHELP program) using hybrid behavioral strategies on heart-healthy lifestyle outcomes for individuals at cardiovascular risk. Hypothesis: We assessed three hypotheses: 1) a mobile-app group would be more likely to increase heart-healthy behavioral outcomes than a control group 2) a hybrid group would be more likely to increase heart-healthy behavioral outcomes than the control group 3) the hybrid group would be more likely to increase heart-healthy behavioral outcomes than the mobile-app group. Methods: The present study is a three-arm, parallel group, randomized controlled trial (clinical trial No. ISRCTN83643383) with assessments carried out at baseline and after a 12-week HeartHELP program. We will recruit 75 participants, each having at least one component of metabolic syndrome, in a community-based setting. The participants will be allocated to one of the following three study arms by age- and gender-stratified block randomization: (1) a hybrid group (n = 25), (2) a mobile-app group (n = 25), or (3) a control group (n = 25). The hybrid group will receive a “HeartHELP program” with hybrid strategies: (1) mobile-app use as an online strategy and (2) motivational interviewing counselling as an offline strategy. The mobile-app group will receive the online strategy exclusively. The control group will receive a brochure that will include information on cardiovascular health. The mobile-app use involves receiving text messages, self-monitoring six heart-healthy lifestyle behaviors, and receiving feedback text messages based on behavioral outcomes obtained from self-monitoring. The motivational interviewing counselling includes customized individual and group counseling based on motivational interviewing principle. At baseline and after 12 weeks, a battery of heart-healthy behavioral outcomes will be measured. The primary outcome will comprise heart-healthy behavioral practices; the secondary outcomes will be heart-healthy knowledge, heart-healthy motivation, heart-healthy self-efficacy, and cardiometabolic biomarkers (i.e., fasting glucose, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides). In conclusion, we expect the community-based HeartHELP program to provide significant data findings on how heart-healthy behavioral practices can be improved, along with other cardiometabolic biomarkers.

Objective:There is scarce evidence revealing an association between job stress and cardiometabolic lifestyle modification behaviors among workers.Methods:A cross-sectional, correlation study was conducted among workers in high-risk and low-risk workplaces by work characteristics.Results:Workers in high-risk workplaces had significantly higher job stress levels than low-risk workplaces. Higher job stress was significantly associated with lower cardiometabolic lifestyle modification behaviors (β = −0.14, P = .001). This significant association was evident only for high-risk workplaces in total job stress (β = −0.16, P = .001), including job demand (β = −0.16, P = .005) and job insecurity (β = −0.11, P = .026).Conclusions:Strategies for alleviating job stress should be prioritized to high-risk workplaces, and these efforts may concomitantly contribute to cardiometabolic risk reduction.