This study assessed university students’ knowledge and precaution practices of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in South Korea, China, and Japan, and investigated their depressive states during the pandemic. This cross-sectional survey collected data from 821 respondents, using an anonymous online questionnaire designed by the Yonsei Global Health Center, from 23 March to 20 April 2020, which included socio-demographic questions, knowledge and perceptions of COVID-19, preventative practices, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale to assess mental health. High proportions of respondents showed good knowledge of the transmission pathways and information related to COVID-19. Contact history as well as concerns about family members and the disease showed statistically significant distinctions by nationality and gender. On the whole, all participants reported good levels of preventative practices. The Chinese group reported the highest preventative practice scores; and females scored higher than males. Moreover, the Japanese group showed the most severe depressive states; overall, females experienced more severe depression than males. Thus, authorities should especially emphasize the importance of COVID-19 precautions to males. Educational departments and health authorities should observe the mental health of university adults during the pandemic and plan interventions to improve it.

The COVID-19 pandemic is novel corona virus infection outbreak that has gone global in 2020. Current prevention policies consist of hand hygiene and social distancing. Emergencies overloaded health services and shocked the logistics chains in many countries, especially Italy and China. Having more than a quarter of its population being elderly, Japan is at high risk for COVID-19 induced morbidity and mortality. This situation cancelled schedules of all routine group exercise activities for the seniors in Japan. While the outbreak is ongoing, staying at home is safe. However, successive days of being house-ridden and limited movement can lead to excessive physical inactivity. Some elderly who are not moving much can lose a significant amount of muscle strength, flexibility and aerobic capacity. It can accelerate the frailty and dependency of the seniors, and subsequently, claiming of care and health services. Moreover, existing and new evidences showed that physical activity can promote antiviral immunity. An alternative to usual group exercise activities is crucial to keep seniors active without affecting social distancing. While staying at home for long, functional exercises maintaining basic level of physical activity and movements are urgently required to be introduced to the seniors in Tokyo and around the world to prevent functional decline. Home exercise is a practical option. Therefore, we made a home-version of the functional training exercise video with different sets of 10-minutes exercise for 7 days a week. This breakthrough alternative may sustain health promotion for the elderly persons to preserve their active aging and maintain optimal health.

Background: eHealth literacy is an essential skill for pursuing electronic health information, particularly for older people whose health needs increase with age. South Korea is now at the intersection of a rapidly digitalizing society and an increasingly aged population. eHealth literacy enables older people to maximize the effective use of emerging digital technology for their health and quality of life. Understanding the eHealth literacy of Korean older adults is critical to eliminating the gray digital divide and inequity in health information access. Objective: This study aims to investigate factors influencing eHealth literacy in older Korean adults and its impact on health outcomes and eHealth use. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey. Community-dwelling older adults 65 years and older in 2 urban cities in South Korea were included. eHealth literacy was measured by the eHealth Literacy Scale. Ordinal logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with eHealth literacy and multivariate ANOVA for the impact of eHealth literacy on health outcomes and eHealth use. Results: In total, 434 participants were analyzed. A total of 22.3% (97/434) of participants had high eHealth literacy skills. Increasing age, higher monthly income, and time spent on the internet were significantly associated with eHealth literacy (P<.001), and social media users were 3.97 times (adjusted odds ratio 3.97, 95% CI 1.02‐15.43; P=.04) more likely to have higher skill. Higher eHealth literacy was associated with better self-perceived health and frequent use of digital technologies for accessing health and care services (P<.001). Conclusions: Disparity in socioeconomic status and engagement on the internet and social media can result in different levels of eHealth literacy skills, which can have consequential impacts on health outcomes and eHealth use. Tailored eHealth interventions, grounded on the social and digital determinants of eHealth literacy, could facilitate eHealth information access among older adults and foster a digitally inclusive healthy aging community.

Few studies have assessed the association between health literacy (HL) and healthy lifestyle characteristics among Japanese people, and reports on the association between HL and prevalence of metabolic syndrome are also scarce. The present cross-sectional study included 1817 (781 men and 1036 women) Japanese individuals who participated in a medical health checkup at Bange Kosei General Hospital and Takada Kosei Hospital in Fukushima, Japan, from April 2013–2014. Information regarding HL and healthy lifestyle characteristics listed in Breslow’s seven health practices was collected by self-administered questionnaire. In multivariate logistic analysis, higher HL (≥14) was positively associated with healthy lifestyle characteristics [odds ratio (OR) = 2.08, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.33–3.23] and inversely associated with prevalence of metabolic syndrome (OR = 0.67, 95 % CI = 0.48–0.95) among men. Among HL items, the ability to make decisions based on health-related information was significantly associated with healthy lifestyle characteristics (OR = 2.04, 95 % CI = 1.34–3.10 for men, OR = 1.38, 95 % CI = 1.30–1.85 for women) and inversely associated with prevalence of metabolic syndrome (OR = 0.62, 95 % CI = 0.44–0.88 for men, OR = 0.68, 95 % CI = 0.49–0.95 for women) in both sexes. We found positive associations between HL and healthy lifestyle characteristics and an inverse association with prevalence of metabolic syndrome among men. Our findings also suggest that men and women are likely to engage in health-promoting behaviors and make decisions based on health-related information. These findings highlight the importance of comprehensive assessments, including HL, for health promotion in the community.

Background: Families are the backbone of caregiving for older adults living in communities. This is a tradition common to Thailand and many low- and middle-income countries where formal long-term care services are not so available or accessible. Therefore, population aging demands more and more young people engaging as family caregivers. Informal caregiving can become an unexpected duty for anyone anytime. However, studies measuring the burden of informal caregivers are limited. We aimed to determine the caregiver burden, both from the perspective of the caregivers as well as that of their care recipients. Method: We used the baseline survey data from a cluster randomized controlled trial providing a community integrated intermediary care (CIIC) service for seniors in Chiang Mai, Thailand, TCTR20190412004. Study participants were 867 pairs of older adults and their primary family caregivers. Descriptive analysis explored the characteristics of the caregivers and binary logistic regression identified factors influencing the caregivers’ burden. Results: The mean age of family caregivers was 55.27 ± 13.7 years and 5.5% indicated the need for respite care with Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) scores ≥24. The highest burden was noted in the time-dependence burden domain (25.7%). The significant associated factors affecting CBI ≥24 were as follows: caregivers older than 60 years, being female, current smokers, having diabetes, and caring for seniors with probable depression and moderate to severe dependency. Conclusions: A quarter of caregivers can have their careers disturbed because of the time consumed with caregiving. Policies to assist families and interventions, such as respite service, care capacity building, official leave for caregiving, etc., may reduce the burden of families struggling with informal care chores. Furthermore, caregiver burden measurements can be applied as a screening tool to assess long-term care needs, complementing the dependency assessment. Finally, implementation research is required to determine the effectiveness of respite care services for older people in Thailand.

One out of three people in Japan will be an older person before 2040. Half of those currently do not utilize the internet, smartphone apps, or digital technology. On the other hand, more than 70% of seniors in Republic of Korea use the internet, and 55% in Singapore had access to it in 2019. The use of digital technology for health promotion has the potential to promote individual and community empowerment, advocating for healthy, active aging. Maintaining equity in health promotion practice requires the digital inclusion of every senior. Therefore, we propose a cross-cultural study to explain the contextual influences of digital inclusion and its consequences on healthy aging in Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. Quantitatively: digital skills, e-health literacy, participation in health promotion, and quality of life will be analyzed in structural equation models. Qualitatively: thematic analysis will be developed to identify cultural patterns and contextual factors, making sense of what older persons in different countries materialize, say, do, think, and feel to reveal deeper beliefs and core values about digital inclusion and healthy aging. Logics and methods from this protocol would be useful to replicate the study in many countries globally. Evidence from this study is expected to pave the way to digitally inclusive, healthy aging communities (DIHAC) across Japan and Asia.