Measuring citizens’ engagement during emergencies: Psychometric validation of the Public Health Engagement Scale for Emergency Settings (PHEs-E)

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of citizens’ behaviors in the containment of the virus. Individuals might change their intention to adhere to public health prescriptions depending on various personal characteristics, including their own emotional status, which has been recognized to be a crucial psychological factor in orienting people’s adherence to public health recommendation during emergency settings. In particular, it is crucial to support citizens’ alliance with authorities and feeling of trust: public engagement is a concept that refers to the general involvement of citizens into public affairs which is generally considered an effective approach to enhance citizens’ understanding of their crucial role in public affairs. However, so far there is no agreement on the metrics and indexes that should be used to measures public engagement during a health crisis. The aim of this paper is to validate a psychometric scale (PHEs-E), which intends to measure the readiness of individuals to adhere to the prescribed behavioral change to contain the emergency. Data were collected throughout the pandemic in Italy: in particular, five independent samples were recruited starting from March 2020 to March 2021. Results showed that the proposed measure has good psychometric characteristics. A general linear model was computed to assess the differences of public engagement across the different data points and among citizens with different sociodemographic characteristics. Correlations with other psychological constructs (i.e. Anxiety, Depression and Self-Efficacy) were also tested, showing that more engaged citizens have a lower level of anxiety and depression, and a higher self-efficacy. This study’s findings indicate that individuals’ characteristics may differentiate citizens’ motivation to engage in public health behavioral recommendation to prevent the COVID-19 contagion. However the scale could be useful to perform a psychological monitoring of psychological readiness to engage in public health strategies to face critical events and settings.

Mental Well-Being and Job Satisfaction of Hospital Physicians during COVID-19: Relationships with Efficacy Beliefs, Organizational Support, and Organizational Non-Technical Skills

“…On the other hand, numerous studies emphasized how patient-centered medicine can benefit the quality of life of physicians and patients [ 98 , 99 , 100 ]. Even more in the pandemic scenario, the literature [ 50 ] showed the crucial role of collaboration between patients/citizens and healthcare professionals during the emergency and that engagement in health management and their attitudes toward preventive measures are functions of the individual’s beliefs.…”

“…From this perspective, however, the Health Engagement framework sustains that the low levels of communication skills of doctors and patients, also considered as “citizens”, can inhibit the health engagement process [ 48 ] (p. 36). Even more, in the pandemic scenario, the literature [ 50 ] has shown the crucial role of collaboration between citizens and healthcare professionals supporting the argument that citizens’ engagement in health management and their attitudes toward preventive measures are functions of the individual’s efficacy beliefs.…”

The Effect of Message Framing on COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions among the Younger Age Population Groups: Results from an Experimental Study in the Italian Context

“…The level of Health Engagement: the first item of the Public Health Engagement Scale for Emergency Settings (PHEs-E) [28] was adopted to assess the readiness of individuals to adhere to the public health prescriptions to control the virus spread.…”