Health Motivation Research Articles

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MENTAL HEALTH AND LEARNING MOTIVATION OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS AT VAN LANG UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Learning motivation is a factor that directly affects the progress and learning outcomes of students. Students with high academic motivation often achieve good academic results and vice versa. Students' learning motivation is affected by many different factors, including mental health problems. The article presents research results on mental health and learning motivation of psychology students, Van Lang University. Research results on a sample of 164 first-year to fourth-year students indicated that psychology students currently have mental health problems, the rate of students experiencing stress is 81.1%, anxiety is 72.6% and depression is 59.8%; Students' learning motivation is only at a good average level. Mental health problems were positively correlated with learning motivation and could explain 9.3% of the variation in student motivation. These results showed that schools, lecturers, etc. need to care and support students to solve mental health problems, contributing to enhance their learning motivation.

Relationship Between Knowledge Level and Compliance in Tuberculosis Patients

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis which mostly attacks other organs of the body. The source of transmission is TB patients, especially patients who contain TB germs in their sputum. Someone who has high knowledge has also high awereness of health and high motivation to recover. In the treatmnet of tuberculosis succes depends on the support of the family and the knowledge of the patient. If treatment is not complete, it can lead to the emergence of drug- resistant tuberculosis bacteria. If this happens, the germs will spread and control efforts will be more difficult. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a relationship between the level of knowledge and adherence to the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis patients. This study uses a analcyticcal sucrvey design with a cross sectional approach with data collection using a questionnaire to respondents of pulmonary tuberculosis patients who meet the inclusion criteria. The data obtained were collected and analyzed using the SPSS program. The results of the chi-square analysis showed 0.05%, 0.036, which means that there is a significant relationship between the level of knowledge and adherence to the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis patients.

"It's About the Journey, Not the Destination"

In recent years, trauma-informed instructional practices have garnered significant interest among educators, researchers, and instructional designers, particularly as the Covid-19 pandemic ushered to the forefront the harsh realities many students were facing. As educators grapple with these challenges, we focus on a critical feature of a trauma-informed approach, specifically care and care for students’ well-being. Current assessment practices that emphasize the role of grades in student learning cause grade-related traumas, including negatively impacting students’ mental health and academic motivation. Through in-depth interviews with eight graduate students, this article reports on the students’ perceptions of being in a course with grade-free assessments. Analysis reveals students perceived the ungrading process as a stress-free experience compared to their experiences with grades. More specifically, analysis of students’ accounts identified that students perceived ungrading to foster collective reflection and feedback, encourage the pursuit of personal and professional interests related to course material, and restore a growth mindset toward assessments and learning, in general. We use this special issue as an opportunity to recognize ungrading as an assessment option in a trauma-informed approach and question how assessment, and instructional practices more broadly, fit within a system of care.

Health and Wellness Tourists’ Motivation and Behavior Intention: The Role of Perceived Value

In recent years, with the rapid change of people's health concept, health and wellness tourism has shown a vigorous development trend. However, existing literature has been lacking on travelers' behavioral intentions, influenced by their motivation in health and wellness tourism. To fill in this gap, we designed scales of tourists' behavioral intention and motivation in health and wellness tourism and investigated the aforementioned effects, with a sample of 493 visitors who have traveled in health and wellness tourism. Factor analysis and structural equation models were applied to explore the relations among motivation, perceived value, and behavioral intention in health and wellness tourism. The results indicate that health and wellness tourists' motivation significantly positively predicts their behavior intentions. Travelers' perceived value of health and wellness tourism significantly partially mediates the associations between their behavioral intention and escape motivation, attractive motivation, environmental motivation, as well as interpersonal motivation. No empirical evidence supports the mediating role of perceived value in the correlation between consumption motivation and behavioral intention. Health and wellness tourism industries are encouraged to meet the intrinsic motivation of travelers and make them perceive the value of this kind of tourism, which in turn promotes tourists' choice, evaluation, and satisfaction of health and wellness tourism.

PENGAMBILAN KEPUTUSAN VAKSINASI COVID-19 PADA IBU MENYUSUI DI WILAYAH TANGERANG PROVINSI BANTEN TAHUN 2021

Background: Breastfeeding mothers have the opportunity to vaccinate, to protect against Covid-19 infection. Sociodemographic factors, health status, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and health motivation are important in making decisions to vaccinate for breastfeeding mothers.
 Objective: This study aims to determine the association between sociodemographic characteristics, health status, perceptions of Health Belief Model (HBM) on vaccination decisions for breastfeeding mothers in the Tangerang area. 
 Methods: An analytical design with a cross sectional approach and a total sample of 123 respondents were used in this study in the Tangerang area. 
 Results: Except for the level of education of breastfeeding mothers, sociodemographic and health status factors are not associated with the decision making of Covid-19 vaccination. Based on the analysis of HBM perceptions on the perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action and health motivation have a relationship with decision-making about Covid-19 vaccination in breastfeeding mothers.
 Conclusions: In the HBM perception assessment there is a relationship between perceived severity, perceived benefits, cues to act, and health motivation with Covid-19 vaccination decision making. Likewise with negative perceptions have nothing to do with vaccine decision making, which is a strong predictor of getting the Covid-19 vaccine.
 Keywords: Covid-19, decision makin, health belief model, vaccination

Mobile application-assisted graded exercise practical: a remote teaching strategy to promote motivation and experiential learning in exercise physiology.

Practical classes are critical instructional activities in facilitating learning and motivation in health sciences education. With increasing pedagogical activities being conducted in virtual or remote settings, this study assessed how a remote practical assisted by physiological monitoring smartphone applications impacted student motivation and the achievement of intended learning outcomes in exercise physiology teaching. A total of 24 students (out of 30; 80%) were surveyed via a mixed-methods questionnaire containing 27 closed-ended, and 3 the traditional in-class practical in randomized order. Unpaired Student's t tests were performed for comparisons between interventions with a significance level set at P < 0.05. Students reported that both remote and in-class practicals strongly facilitated the achievement of learning outcomes. Self-reported scores for student satisfaction and perceived achievement of learning outcomes were similar between the two practical methodologies. Student motivation scores assessed using the Lab Motivation Scale revealed that students were more motivated during the remote practical, particularly in the effort domain (P < 0.05). This was in line with the identified themes from the qualitative responses that indicated that the remote practical was more engaging than the in-person practical, with greater opportunities for experiential learning and class involvement being the main factors underlying these findings. Taken together, remote practicals can be critical aspects of a blended learning curriculum that encourages student engagement and experiential learning. With further advancements in physiological monitoring wearables and smartphone technologies, remote practicals can be potential alternatives to traditional in-person practicals in exercise physiology teaching.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Remote practical classes, supported by physiological monitoring smartphone applications, were assessed for their utility in facilitating learning and raising student motivation in health sciences education in this study. A comparison of remote practicals with traditional in-class practicals revealed that a remote practical is an effective method for reinforcing physiology learning objectives with the added advantage of increased student motivation. The added value of remote practicals may be attributed to more experiential learning opportunities and increased engagement levels.

Disentangling global market drivers for cephalopods to foster transformations towards sustainable seafood systems

Abstract Aquatic food systems are important contributors to global food security to satisfy an intensifying demand for protein‐based diets, but global economic growth threatens marine systems. Cephalopod (octopus, squid and cuttlefish) fisheries can contribute to food security; however, their sustainable exploitation requires understanding connections between nature's contributions to people (NCP), food system policies and human wellbeing. Our global literature review methodology examined what is known about cephalopod food systems, value chains and supply chains, and associated market drivers. For analysis, we followed the IPBES conceptual framework to build a map of the links between cephalopod market drivers, NCP and good quality of life (GQL). Then we mapped cephalopod food system dynamics onto IPBES (in)direct drivers of change relating to catch, trade and consumption. This research contributes knowledge about key factors relating to cephalopods that can support transitions towards increased food security: the value of new aquatic food species; food safety and authenticity systems; place‐based innovations and empowerment of communities; and consumer behaviour, lifestyle and motivations for better health and environmental sustainability along the food value chain. We outline requirements for a sustainable, equitable cephalopod food system policy landscape that values nature's contributions to people, considers UN Sustainable Development Goals and emphasises the role of seven overlapping IPBES (in)direct drivers of change: Economic, Governance, Sociocultural and Socio‐psychological, Technological, Direct Exploitation, Natural Processes and Pollution. We present a novel market‐based adaptation of the IPBES conceptual framework—our ‘cephalopod food system framework’, to represent how the cephalopod food system functions and how it can inform processes to improve sustainability and equity of the cephalopod food system. This synthesised knowledge provides the basis for diagnosing opportunities (e.g. high demand for products) and constraints (e.g. lack of data about how supply chain drivers link to cephalopod NCP) to be considered regarding the role of cephalopods in transformations towards a resilient and more diversified seafood production system. This social–ecological systems approach could apply to other wild harvest commodities with implications for diverse marine species and ecosystems and can inform those working to deliver marine and terrestrial food security while preserving biodiversity. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

What Drives Portuguese Women to Be Physically Active? Associations between Motives and Well-Being Indicators.

Motives and self-esteem play crucial roles in shaping personal behavior and emotions and have been shown to impact well-being. However, the association between these constructs has been overlooked in women who seem to be more externally driven to engage in exercise. The present study was carried out with the objective of analyzing the associations between motives for physical exercise, positive and negative activations, and self-esteem of Portuguese women exercising at gyms and fitness centers. The sample consists of 206 women aged between 16 and 68 years old (M = 35.77; SD = 11.47). Participants answered a short sociodemographic questionnaire, the Goal Content for Exercise Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. The results showed that the health motive had the highest predictive value (β = 0.24; p < 0.01) on self-esteem and demonstrated a positive and significant correlation with positive activation and self-esteem (p < 0.01). On the other hand, the social recognition motive had the lowest predictive value on self-esteem (β = -0.04; p > 0.05) and demonstrated a non-significant correlation with positive activation and self-esteem (p > 0.05). Looking at the coefficients in the hierarchical regression model, it can be seen that the health motive and positive activation were positively and significantly correlated with self-esteem. This study points to the need to raise awareness about the motives of exercise related to the physical and mental health of Portuguese women. Portuguese women that exercise for health motives display greater perceived self-esteem which is an indication of a greater sense of well-being. While the results are limited to Portuguese women, exercise physiologists assessing exercise motives could provide information on how to prescribe exercise as a means to increase self-esteem, considering the positive activation resulting from this behavior.

What’s Theory Got to Do with It: Measuring Effects of Theory on Lifestyle Behaviors and Weight in the Better Me Within Randomized Trial

ABSTRACT Background Knowing which theoretical constructs work best to design effective interventions is essential for populations with increased disease burden. African American women (AAW) experience a greater prevalence of chronic diseases and fewer benefits from weight loss interventions compared to White women. Purpose To examine how theoretical constructs were associated with lifestyle behaviors and weight outcomes in the Better Me Within (BMW) Randomized Trial. Methods BMW used a tailored diabetes prevention program implemented in churches among AAW with BMI ≥ 25. Regression models assessed relationships between constructs (self-efficacy, social support, and motivation), and outcomes (physical activity (PA), calories, and weight). Results Among 221 AAW, mean (SD) age 48.8 years (11.2); mean weight 215.1 pounds (50.5), several significant relationships were found including an association between change in motivation for activity and change in PA (p = <0.01), and weight loss self-efficacy and weight at follow-up (p = <0.01). Discussion The clearest relationships emerged for PA with motivation for activity and weight management social support demonstrating significance in all models. Translation to Health Education Practice Self-efficacy, motivation, and social support show promise to promote changes in PA and weight among church-going AAW. Opportunities to keep engaging AAW in research are essential for eliminating health inequities in this population.

Autonomy-supportive sexual health communication and sexual health behaviors for black and Latino MSM in the House Ball Community: Protocol for a social network analysis and exploratory structural equation model.

Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) have the highest risk of HIV of any group in the U.S. Prevalence could be even higher among Black and Latino MSM belonging to the House Ball Community (HBC), an understudied community comprised primarily of Black and Latino sexual and gender minorities, with HIV prevalence from non-probability samples ranging from 4% to 38%. Basic Psychological Needs Theory will be utilized to understand how sexual health communication (SHC) influences sexual health behaviors of HBC-MSM. The proposed study will advance this goal by describing characteristics of SHC embedded within social and sexual networks, and identifying the effects of SHC on sexual health behaviors among a sample of Black and Latino HBC-MSM. This study entails cross-sectional quantitative survey design with internet-based data collection to test a theory-driven model of the effects of autonomy supportive communication on sexual health behaviors. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and internet driven sampling (ID) will be used to recruit a sample of 200 HBC-MSM. We will utilize egocentric network analysis to describe (a) the HBC-specific social and/or sexual network members who provide SHC; (b) the degree of autonomy support provided by network members, and (c) the sexual health behaviors characterizing the sample of HBC-MSM. Structural equation modeling (SEM) will be performed to test associations between autonomy supportive sexual health communication (independent variable) and sexual health behaviors (outcome), with needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation as intervening mediators. Such knowledge is necessary to expand understanding of how SHC impacts sexual health behaviors for HBC-MSM. The study provides an critical perspective on sexual health behaviors and motivations as participants operate in HBC. Knowledge generated from this study will help improve current HIV prevention interventions, as well as inform the development of future interventions, tailored to HBC-MSM.

Abstract WMP14: Status And Influencing Factors Of Rehabilitation Exercise Compliance In Young And Middle-aged Patients With Hemorrhagic Stroke Based On The Hapa Model: A Multi-center Cross-sectional Survey

Background and Purpose: Exercise rehabilitation is the preferred rehabilitation therapy for stroke patients, but exercise compliance of patients is generally low. The study aimed to investigate and analyze the status and influencing factors of rehabilitation exercise compliance in young and middle-aged patients with hemorrhagic stroke. Methods: Convenience sampling method was adopted to select 397 young and middle-aged hemorrhagic stroke patients from three hospitals in central, eastern and northern China from July 2021 to January 2022 in accordance with the geographical classification standards of the National Bureau of Statistics and multi-center research cooperation. According to the Health Action Process Approach(HAPA), the general data survey scale, stroke functional exercise compliance Scale, exercise self-efficacy scale, exercise plan scale, stroke health belief scale and self-care ability scale were used for cross-sectional investigation. Results: The total score of exercise compliance in young and middle-aged stroke patients was (43.46±9.58), and the average compliance rate was 77.60%, which was in the middle level. Multivariate regression analysis showed that total score of exercise self-efficacy, total score of exercise program, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefit, perceived obstacle, health motivation and self-efficacy were the influencing factors of exercise compliance in young and middle-aged stroke patients ( P &lt; 0.05). Conclusions: According to the HAPA model, clinical medical staff should accurately evaluate the rehabilitation exercise stage of patients, and formulate and implement stroke rehabilitation exercise strategies according to the actual situation of patients and various possible influencing factors, so as to improve the exercise compliance of patients, improve their functional status, and further improve their quality of life.

Study on the Influence of Consumers’ Purchase Intention of Selenium-Rich Agricultural Products

As people’s awareness of the special functions of selenium continues to deepen, the development of selenium-rich food continues to develop, and selenium-rich places have been vigorously developing this resource-based industry. The development of selenium-rich agriculture is of great significance to improve people’s quality of life and promote agricultural, rural and regional economic development. This paper analyzes the factors affecting consumers’ willingness to purchase selenium-rich agricultural products in detail through questionnaire survey data of some consumers in Jiangxi, Ensh, Hubei and Ankang, Shaanxi, using three analytical methods of descriptive statistical analysis, factor analysis and logistic regression analysis with SPSS software. The research results show that consumers’ attitude toward selenium-rich agricultural products, price concerns, consumers’ family characteristics, health and environmental protection motives, gender and other factors have certain influence on consumers’ willingness to purchase selenium-rich agricultural products, among which the attitude factor and family characteristics have the greatest influence. Finally, the market prospect of selenium-rich agricultural products in China is analyzed and prospected, and the measures and suggestions for developing selenium-rich food are proposed in response to the problems of developing selenium-rich food in China.

The Health Belief Model Attitudes of Iraqi Women towards Breast Cancer and Its Early Detection Methods

Health Belief Model (HBM) is a very effective paradigm designed to explore behaviours, especially in breast cancer prevention. This study aimed to determine women’s attitudes regarding breast cancer by using HBM and the interaction between attitudes and practice. This prevalence survey was performed on a consecutive sample of 657 women visiting the primary healthcare centres in Baghdad/ Iraq. The data was collected over four months in 2019. A specially designed questionnaire of modified and translated health belief model related to breast cancer was adopted and filled out through face-to-face interviews. The age of participants was between (20-59) years. Women with adequate practice of BSE (Breast Self-Exam) had higher perceived benefits, susceptibility, and motivation than those who inadequately practised it. Women with adequate practice of mammography had higher perceived benefits and health motivation, and lower barriers, threat, and severity of breast cancer other than those with inadequate practice. Those participants who were more likely to perform CBE (Clinical Breast Exam) adequately, those with higher levels of perceived seriousness and health motivation. Study results suggested that practices of screening for breast cancer were inadequate in a majority of participants and need to be improved by educational health programs.

Health motivation as the basis for physician–patient collaboration?

The foundation of successful treatment is good cooperation between the physician and the patient. In this context, it is of particular importance to understand the patient’s motivation regarding their desire for treatment. Various fundamental motivational systems, such as approach motivation and avoidance/aversion motivation, have been described. Motivation is the product of complex information processing. An overall goal of the different types of motivation is achieving coherence. If a health goal is formulated positively, health motivation can be stimulated as a component of the patient’s overall motivation for coherence as the foundation of treatment. Within the framework of professional communication, this development can be promoted and serve to achieve the treatment goals.

Faktor-Faktor Yang Berhubungan dengan Penggunaan Alat KB di Wilayah Kerja Puskesmas Naibonat Tahun 2021

Family planning is an effort that regulates the number of pregnancies, can use hormonal contraception. Hormonal contraceptives injections in Indonesia are increasingly used because of their effective work, practical use, relatively cheap and safe prices. However, the injection contraception has side effects, namely menstrual disorders and slow fertility in the use of tri -month injection birth control for a long time. Several factors related to the contraception, This includes education, work, knowledge, and support of the husband. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors related to the use of injecting contraceptives the Naibonat Health Center in 2021. This study was analytic with cross-sectional design using primary data, namely questionnaires and secondary data from the KB register record for the January-December 2020. Simple random sampling as many as 58 people Data analysis using the Chi-Square statistical test with an error rate of 10%. The results showed a significant relationship with the use of injectable birth control is education (p-value = 0.001 &lt;0.05), knowledge (p-value = 0.024 &lt;0.05) and husband's support (p-value = 0,000&lt; 05). While work has no relationship with the use of injection family planning(pvalue=0.692&gt;0.05). The Naibonat Health Center can increase health promotion and health motivation through IEC (communication, information, and education) regarding family planning and contraceptives. To increase public knowledge about family planning and contraceptives self so that they can open community outlook and eliminate negative issues that develop in the community and suggest using long-term contraceptive methods (MKJP) such as implants, IUD, and more effective sterilization.

Understanding the Public Health Role, Motivations, and Perceptions of Community Health Workers Deployed to Low-Income Housing in Richmond, Virginia.

For the US health indicators to improve to the level of other developed countries, the use of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in vulnerable populations has been indicated as a possible long-term intervention. There are few models of long-term deployment of CHWs as part of the district level public health system in the US. In this study we interviewed CHWs who served as neighborhood-integrated health district staff assigned to low-income housing in Richmond, Virginia for 10years. Qualitative analyses of their taped and transcribed interviews resulted in 5 themes from the interviews. The themes were Activities, Satisfaction, Strengths, Facilitation/Resources and Challenges. We highlighted quotes from the CHWs interviews for themes and summarized the findings from each theme. CHWs carried out a variety of activities daily and these were described. The CHWs were generally satisfied with their job because it enabled them to assist others. The strength of their communities was resilience, and the resources they needed more included physical resources, human resources, political support, and more comprehensive programming. Their client's challenges include transportation, mental health, and physical safety and the CHWs challenge to effectively carrying out their work with clients was trust by community members. The information garnered from the CHWs would be useful in designing CHW programs at other health districts.

Vegetable and fruit growers’ intention to use biopesticides in India: application of TPB and HBM models

In a quest to examine people’s perceptions of biopesticide usage, the current research investigates the influence of the health belief model and theory of planned behavior constructs on farmers’ intentions toward using biopesticides. Furthermore, the study explores the mediation effect of attitude on usage intention. Data were collected from 323 vegetable and fruit growers from seven northern states of India and examined by applying the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique using SmartPLS software. The results reveal that all the factors, except perceived behavioral control, significantly influence farmers’ attitudes and behavioral intention to use biopesticides. Moreover, a mediation analysis reveals a full mediation effect of attitude for health motivation and a partial mediation effect for perceived benefits on behavioral intention. Finally, the proposed research model has substantial explanatory power and helps to examine farmers’ intention to use biopesticides. The government and policymakers may use the current research findings to develop strategies to enhance biopesticide usage.

Factors associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors among taxi drivers in Bangkok.

This paper aimed to identify factors associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors among taxi drivers in Bangkok. This cross-sectional study included 401 taxi drivers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The association between predisposing factors, enabling factors, and reinforcing factors with COVID-19 preventive behaviors was analyzed by using analysis of variance and Pearson's Product Moment Correlation. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the influencing factors in predicting COVID-19 preventive behaviors of taxi drivers. The present findings revealed that income adequacy, support from family, co-workers, and healthcare professionals, perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and health motivation, accessibility to personal protective equipment for COVID-19 and preventative measures against COVID-19 from other agencies were associated with good COVID-19 preventive behaviors among taxi-driver in Bangkok during COVID-19 pandemic (R 2 = 0.349, p = 0.008). The model could predict 34.9% of variance in COVID-19 preventative behavior among taxi drivers. Taxi drivers should be encouraged to engage in appropriate preventive behaviors against COVID-19, emphasizing the individual and organizational levels. There should be a policy by organizations to promote the implementation of COVID-19 safety control standards to ensure safe working conditions. In addition, appropriate welfare benefits should be provided for taxi drivers, such as loans, personal protective equipment, and access to health services to improve COVID-19 preventive behaviors.

Family and social class differences in sports behavior motivation among college students: An empirical study based on the latent class model.

This article aims to explore the potential categories of college students' sports behavior motivation and the differences between different family social classes on potential categories. In total, 1,092 college students were investigated in this study. This article used the "College Students' Sports Behavior Motivation Questionnaire" to survey 1,092 college students using the whole group sampling method. The potential profile analysis method was applied to classify the types of college students' sports behavior motivation and further analyze the characteristics of different family social classes and sports behavior motivation. College students' sports behavior motivation types can be divided into the following four categories: "low motivation type" (0.82%), "healthy appearance type" (11.45%), "healthy fun type" (37.36%), and "high motivation type" (50.37%). The higher the family's social class, the more the sports behavior motivation of college students tends to be healthy appearance, health, fun, and high motivation. The lower the family social class, the more motivational sports behavior of college students tends to be low motivation. The better the perception of health, the higher the probability that college students belong to the high-motivation type. The fewer chronic diseases that college students have are associated with a healthy appearance and high motivation. There is a certain relationship between the type of college students' sports behavior motivation and their family social class. Therefore, in school physical education, we should open all kinds of sports activities according to college students' sports behavior motivation needs and focus on college students with lower family social class in order to intervene precisely on their motivation for sports behaviors, improve participation, and promote the overall health of college students.

Self-esteem influences the willingness to engage in COVID-19 prevention behavior and persuasion efficacy

RationaleBehaviors such as hand-washing and vaccination save human lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Yet, people differ widely in their willingness to engage in them. This investigation examines whether people's willingness to protect themselves physically from contracting coronavirus depends on their self-esteem. Based on self-verification theory, we propose that people who hold negative self-views are less motivated to protect their health which reduces their willingness to engage in recommended preventive measures such as mask-wearing and social-distancing. ObjectiveWe set out to test (i) whether self-esteem predicts people's willingness to engage in COVID-19 prevention behaviors, (ii) whether this relationship is due to variance in motivation to protect one's health (as well as alternative mechanisms), and (iii) whether health messages can more successfully persuade low self-esteem people to follow preventive measures by framing those behaviors around protecting the health of others (vs. oneself). MethodsFour studies were conducted with U.S. and German residents. In Study 1, we examine the association between self-esteem, willingness to engage in self-protection behavior, health motivation, and several alternative accounts. In Study 2, we manipulate state self-esteem, and in Studies 3 and 4, we vary the target of COVID-19 prevention behaviors (self vs. other). ResultsPeople with chronic or temporarily induced low self-esteem report a lower willingness to engage in COVID-19 prevention behaviors because they lack motivation to protect their health. Varying the protection target of preventive behaviors (self vs. others) interacts with self-esteem: Low self-esteem people are more willing to follow preventive measures (e.g., vaccination) when they are framed as protecting others (vs. oneself). ConclusionsSelf-esteem impacts people's behavior during a global pandemic and needs to be considered when designing health communications. Public health messages can increase compliance among individuals with lower self-esteem by framing prevention behaviors as a way to protect the health of others.