Brain and behavior in health communication: The Canadian COVID-19 Experiences Project

Peter A Hall; Geoffrey T Fong; Sara C Hitchman; Anne C K Quah; Thomas Agar; Gang Meng; Hasan Ayaz; Bruce P Dore; Mohammad N Sakib; Anna Hudson; Christian Boudreau

doi:10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100467

Brain and behavior in health communication: The Canadian COVID-19 Experiences Project

Brain Behav Immun Health. 2022 Jul:22:100467. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100467. Epub 2022 May 2.

Authors

Peter A Hall^{1

2

3}, Geoffrey T Fong^{1

2

4}, Sara C Hitchman⁵, Anne C K Quah², Thomas Agar², Gang Meng², Hasan Ayaz^{6

7

8}, Bruce P Dore⁹, Mohammad N Sakib¹, Anna Hudson¹, Christian Boudreau¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.
² Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.
³ Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.
⁴ Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁶ School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁸ Drexel Solutions Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁹ Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.

Abstract

Background: Vaccine hesitancy and inconsistent mitigation behavior performance have been significant challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In Canada, despite relatively high vaccine availability and uptake, willingness to accept booster shots and maintain mitigation behaviors in the post-acute phase of COVID-19 remain uncertain. The aim of the Canadian COVID-19 Experiences Project (CCEP) is threefold: 1) to identify social-cognitive and neurocognitive predictors of mitigation behaviors, 2) to identify optimal communication strategies to promote vaccination and mitigation behaviors, and 3) to examine brain health outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection and examine their longevity.

Methods: The CCEP is comprised of two components: a conventional population survey (Study 1) and a functionally interconnected laboratory study (Study 2). Study 1 will involve 6 waves of data collection. Wave 1, completed between 28 September and 21 October 2021, recruited 1,958 vaccine-hesitant (49.8%) and fully vaccinated (50.2%) adults using quota sampling to ensure maximum statistical power. Measures included a variety of social cognitive (e.g., beliefs, intentions) and neurocognitive (e.g., delay discounting) measures, followed by an opportunity to view and rate a set of professionally produced COVID-19 public service announcement (PSA) videos for perceived efficacy. Study 2 employs the same survey items and PSAs but coupled with lab-based eye tracking and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to directly quantify neural indicators of attention capture and self-reflection in a smaller community sample. In the final phase of the project, subjective impressions and neural indicators of PSA efficacy will be compared and used to inform recommendations for construction of COVID-19 PSAs into the post-acute phase of the pandemic.

Discussion: The CCEP provides a framework for evaluating effective COVID-19 communication strategies by levering conventional population surveys and the latest eye-tracking and brain imaging metrics. The CCEP will also yield important information about the brain health impacts of SARS-CoV-2 in the general population, in relation to current and future virus variants as they emerge.

Keywords: Behavior; COVID-19; Mitigation; Prevention; SARS-CoV-2; Vaccine.