Planetary Health and Loneliness (PAL)

Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH

Status: Completed

Conditions: Healthy Lifestyle; Healthy Nutrition; Healthy Diet; Loneliness; Health Behavior; Anxiety; Health-Related Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Prompting open-ended question promoting sustainability; Behavioral: Sustainability Passage

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06004531

CUB_PHAL2023

Lippke202308 (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of this online study is the evaluation of planetary health behaviors in relation to levels of eco-anxiety, general well-being, and levels of loneliness. As climate change progresses at a dangerous rate, it is important to establish and maintain lifestyles that are productive, fulfilling, environmentally conscious, and low in anxiety. Through a better understanding of the interconnected nature of planetary health behaviors with other aspects of healthy living and perception of social isolation, this study will add to current state of science to help inform the creation of interventions promoting sustainable, healthy, happy living among the general public and specific subgroups.

Full description

The aim of this online study is the evaluation of healthy behaviors and anxiety levels in relation to selected physical, mental, and environmental health aspects. The umbrella terminology of "planetary health" is used in the context of this study. As climate change progresses at a dangerous rate, it is important to establish and maintain lifestyles that are productive, fulfilling, environmentally conscious, and low in anxiety. By evaluating prevalence of healthy behaviors and levels of eco-anxiety as well as loneliness as one early indicator of health risk, this study hopes to build on existing public health knowledge to develop interventions targeting and encouraging multiple aspects of healthy, eco-friendly lifestyles. This study will also help later intervention design by determining effective methods of persuasion and promotion of sustainable planetary health behaviors. Main research questions are

I. Are climate-sensitive people and rehabilitation patients (in terms of EMCB, YCSCB and Mindful Health) more likely to also promote their own health (in terms of physical activity and healthy nutrition)? II. What is the (non-)linear relationship between eco-anxiety and climate-sensitiveness/health behavior? III. Is climate-sensitiveness and eco-anxiety invariant to partner status, number of people in the household, gender, occupation, and age? (No differences) IV. Is loneliness linked to partner status, number of people in the household and younger age but uncorrelated to eco-anxiety, climate-sensitiveness/health behavior? V. What is the prevalence of loneliness in 2023 in comparison to 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019? Do people and rehabilitation patients who feel more lonely after the corona pandemic than before show more eco-anxiety and climate-sensitiveness but less healthy behavior than people who feel as/less lonely than prior to the corona pandemic? VI. Is active persuasion involving mental simulation more effective in promoting eco-friendly behaviours than passive persuasion involving information dissemination as measured by the YCSCB and EMCB? (testing two mini interventions) VII. To what extent are medical rehabilitation patients different from the general population?

Enrollment: 1,684 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Ability to participate in surveys (e.g., sufficient German or English language skills)

Exclusion criteria

• Not being of age
• Illiteracy
• Massively limited cognitive abilities (linguistic components of the digital offerings must be able to be used and questionnaires completed or interviews participated in)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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1,684 participants in 2 patient groups

Health Promoting

Experimental group

Description:

The survey will be organized so health promoting behavioral scale questions will be asked first concerning personal wellbeing. This will be followed by eco-friendly behavior scale questions involving one's concern for the wellbeing of the planet. After this, there will be two surveys concerning loneliness and eco-anxiety before the intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Sustainability Passage

Behavioral: Prompting open-ended question promoting sustainability

Eco-friendly behavior

Experimental group

Description:

The survey will be organized so eco-friendly behavior scale questions involving one's concern for the wellbeing of the planet will be asked first. This will be followed by health promoting behavioral scale questions concerning personal wellbeing. After this, there will be two surveys concerning loneliness and eco-anxiety before the intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Sustainability Passage

Behavioral: Prompting open-ended question promoting sustainability