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This paper aims to explore the public’s attitude toward medical tourism activities by developing a measurement instrument in Turkey, an emerging medical tourism destination.

During the development phase of the scale, 24 question pools were created. After the pilot study, data from a 20-question survey were collected from a study group consisting of Turkish citizens who received services from hospitals in the city of Ankara. Data were collected through convenience sampling of 221 study participants as they were walking in the Square of Kızılay, one of the most important centers and junction points in Turkey, between November 25, 2017, and December 27, 2017.

The content validity of the scale was assessed by expert opinion. The scale reliability is high with Cronbach’s α (0.908). A factor analysis was performed to assess the factor structure of the scale. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (0.895) and Bartlett’s test (χ² = 2,020.967; p = 0.001) were applied to determine the conformity of the scale of factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation was performed to determine the factor structure of the scale. The 20 questions loaded under three factors: “contribution to the country,” “anxiety in getting services” and “service justice”. These factors explained approximately 55% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed with goodness-of-fit index (0.877), Bentler comparative fit index (0.909) and root mean square error of approximation index (0.069) to determine the validity of the factor structure, and the results indicated that the three-factor model is an acceptable level. All the results show that this new scale is valid and reliable in measuring the public’s attitude toward the development of medical tourism in Turkey.

The public’s attitudes on the medical tourism scale show that, as a measurement tool, it can be used validly and reliably in determining the public’s attitudes toward medical tourism.

This study examined how audience characteristics and attitudes relate to their perceptions of sincerity and forgiveness of apologies by public figures posted on YouTube.

Four hundred twenty-seven adult participants recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk completed an online survey via Qualtrics. Participants were randomly assigned to view two of four public figure apologies posted on YouTube.

Results indicated that audience fandom and perceived reputation and attractiveness of the public figure were related to perceptions of sincerity and forgiveness; and perceptions of sincerity and forgiveness were related to intentions of future support.

“Sameness” between the public figure and audience did not garner a more favorable response to the apology, and this is not consistent with earlier studies. For race similarity, the results could have been a reflection of the low number of non-White participants. However, results could indicate that “sameness” is not as simplistic as demographic sameness, such as race, sex or age.

The authors’ findings elevate the importance of gathering and benchmarking pre-crisis attitudinal research to better equip and inform communication professionals for crisis response. In addition, the study suggests that a public figure's strong reputation and fanbase provide a type of inoculation, lessening reputational damage.

The finding that perceived attractiveness relates positively to perceptions of sincerity and forgiveness is consistent with psychological research indicating attractiveness has many positive social implications – even in mediated communication.

Evidence suggests social media apologies matter. Communication professionals need to approach apology opportunities with a keen awareness that relational outcomes and intentions of future support can shift based on social media audiences' attitudes related to the public figure.

This research updates and expands upon Decker’s article “Citizen attitudes toward the police: a review of past findings and suggestions for future policy” by summarizing the findings from more than 100 articles on perceptions of and attitudes toward the police. Initially, the value of research on attitudes toward the police is discussed. Then the research pertaining to the impact of individual level variables (e.g. race) and contextual level variables (e.g. neighborhood) on perceptions of the police is reviewed. Studies of juveniles’ attitudes toward the police, perceptions of police policies and practices, methodological issues and conceptual issues are also discussed. This review of the literature indicates that only four variables (age, contact with police, neighborhood, and race) have consistently been proven to affect attitudes toward the police. However, there are interactive effects between these and other variables which are not yet understood; a finding which indicates that theoretical generalizations about attitudes toward police should be made with caution.

To conduct an exploratory mixed-methods study of attitudes toward extramarital relationships in the context of spousal Alzheimer’s disease.

We present descriptive analyses of quantitative data from the National Social, Health, and Aging Project and of qualitative comments posted online by readers of newspaper articles that focus on extramarital relationships in the context of caring for a spouse with Alzheimer’s disease.

Analyses of the quantitative data indicate the Alzheimer’s caregivers report more negative attitudes toward extramarital sex in the context of spousal Alzheimer’s disease. However, this difference is driven by non-spousal caregivers’ attitudes; spousal caregivers have substantially less negative attitudes. Analyses of public comments suggest that those who are most negative are focused on traditional religious and family values. Those who express less negative attitudes espouse a compassionate pragmatism that makes allowances for caregiver needs in the context of managing the difficulties of the spouse-caregiver role.

Quantitative data are limited by the small number of Alzheimer’s caregivers; qualitative analyses are based on a convenience sample of online comments.

Findings can inform future research, educational initiatives for professionals, the media, and people living with Alzheimer’s disease and their family members.

The number of individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and spousal caregivers will increase as the Baby Boomer generation ages. Norms regarding extramarital relationships in the context of caring for a spouse with Alzheimer’s disease are evolving.

Little social scientific research examines attitudes toward extramarital relationships in the context of spousal Alzheimer’s disease.

The purpose of this paper is to address individual factors predicting punitive attitudes towards sexual and domestic offences and offenders have received little attention.

In Study 1,137 participants completed a 25-item online questionnaire exploring individual factors hypothesised to predict punitive attitudes towards four sexual crimes: rape, paedophilia, incest and bestiality. In Study 2,100 participants completed a similar questionnaire exploring individual factors hypothesised to predict punitive attitudes towards male and female emotional, physical and sexual abusers.

The standard multiple regression models of Study 1 found that age (i.e. being older), belief in a just world and gender (i.e. being female) were predictors of harsher punitive attitudes. The models of Study 2 found that the low score on the social dominance scale was the most common predictor.

This survey-based project presents a nuanced picture that could be complemented by the inclusion of a wider range of more complex factors and follow-on qualitative studies.

The key message from this study is to inform the public on the role of personality factors in developing punitive attitudes.

It is vital to increase the legislators’ and the people’ awareness of the factors shaping the public impressions of criminal justice processes and evidence-based treatment effectiveness.

This relatively modest paper offers insight of personality factors into people’s punitive attitudes shaping actual legislation.

The outbreak and continuation of COVID-19 have spawned the transformation of traditional teaching models to a certain extent. The Chinese Ministry of Education’s guidance on “keep learning and teaching during class suspension” has made OTC and learning (OTC) become routinized, and the public’s emotional attitudes toward OTC have also evolved over time. The purpose of this study is to segment the emotional text data and introduce it into the topic model to reveal the evolution process and stage characteristics of public emotional polarity and public opinion of OTC topics during public health emergencies in the context of social media participation. The research has important guiding significance for the development of OTC and can influence and improve the efficiency and effect of OTC to a certain extent. The analysis of online public opinion can provide suggestions for the government and media to guide the trend of public opinion and optimize the OTC model.

This paper takes the topic of “OTC” on Zhihu during the COVID-19 epidemic as an example, combined with the characteristics of public opinion changes, chooses Boson emotional dictionary and time series analysis method to build an OTC network public opinion theme evolution analysis framework that integrates emotional analysis and topic mining. Finally, an empirical analysis of the dynamic evolution of the communication network for each stage of the life cycle of a specific topic is realized.

This paper draws the following conclusions: (1) Through the emotional value table and the change trend chart of the number of comments, the analysis found that the number of positive comments is greater than the number of negative comments, which can be inferred that the public gradually accepts “OTC” and presents a positive emotional state. (2) By observing the changing trend of the average daily emotional value of the public, it is found that the overall emotional value shows a stable development trend after a large fluctuation. From the actual emotional value and the fitted emotional value curve, it can be seen that the overall curve fit is good, so ARIMA (12, 1, 6) can accurately predict the dynamic trend of the daily average emotional value in this paper. Therefore, based on the above-mentioned public opinion, emotional analysis research, relevant countermeasures and suggestions are put forward, which is conducive to guiding the development direction of public opinion in a positive way.

Taking the topic of “OTC” in Zhihu as an example, this paper combines Boson emotional dictionary and time series to conduct a series of research analyses. Boson emotional dictionary can analyze the public’s emotional tendency, and time series can well analyze the intrinsic structure and complex features of the data to predict the future values. The combination of the two research methods allows for an adequate and unique study of public emotional polarization and the evolution of public opinion.

Food products developed using genetically modified (GM) animals may soon be introduced in Europe and beyond. Their successful commercialisation depends on consumer acceptance, and so it is timely to review the existing literature in this respect. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A systematic review identified 42 English language peer reviewed papers assessing public opinion of GM animals associated with food production. Thematic analysis was applied to the results to identify and explain consumer attitudes.

Publication peaked in 2004, and declined thereafter. European consumers were less accepting of GM animal technology than the US and Asian consumers, although the latter reported more ethical concern. Risk and benefit perceptions, ethical concerns (e.g. related to animal welfare) may explain negative consumer attitudes towards animals in food production.

There is a lack of data on consumer attitudes to GM animals applied to food production, in particular in relation to consumers in emerging economies and developing countries. This is problematic as applications of GM animal products are about to enter the market.

There is a need to track changes in public opinion as GM food production animals are further developed. The introduction and commercialisation of applications with specific characteristics may further shape consumer attitudes.

Methods need to be developed to involve consumers and other stakeholders in shaping future applications of agri-food applications of GM animals.

The review collates existing quantitative and qualitative knowledge regarding the drivers of consumer attitudes towards GM animals used in food production using systematic review methodology.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the similarities and differences in police officers’ attitudes toward citizens between China and Ghana, and explore the extent to which officers’ perceptions of citizens influence their effectiveness and behavior.

In total, 271 Chinese police officers were surveyed representing those attending in-service training program at a national police university in China in 2014, and a random sample of 145 Ghanaian police officers was surveyed in 2013, representing those from five police districts in the Accra region of Ghana Police service.

Results revealed significant perceptual variations across the two countries. While Ghanaian officers were found to have more favorable perceptions of citizens’ cooperation and recognition, Chinese officers reported greater levels of citizens’ compliance and disrespectfulness. Moreover, results indicated significant relationships between officers’ attitudes and their sense of effectiveness and behavior in the two countries.

This study is based on a convenient sample of Chinese police officers, which restricts the generalizability of the results.

Findings offer insights for police administrators to reform the police with a focus on improving police perceptions of citizens.

Although there are a few comparative studies that compare police attitudes toward citizens between developing and developed countries, and between western democracies, there is a profound lack of studies comparing these attitudes between developing/transitional countries. This study is an initial attempt to identify variations in officers’ perceptions of the public between two developing/transitional countries.

Public participation is essential for mitigating local resistance faced by the environmentally stigmatized facilities. The purpose of this study is to investigate public participation intention in the decision-making of waste incineration power (WIP) projects by examining the role of perceived corporate social responsibility (PCSR) and public knowledge (PK) based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB).

A theoretical model correlating PCSR with public participation intention was developed by using the constructs of TPB as the mediators and PK as the moderator. Drawing on structural equation modeling (SEM), the data collected from 485 local residents of the WIP projects in Jiangsu, China were analyzed to test the model.

Companies' CSR practice went through public attitude, subjective norm and personal norm as mediating steps towards promoting participation intention. PK positively moderated the indirect relationships between PCSR and participation intention. Moreover, attitude, subjective norm and personal norm were found to have a positive effect on participation intention.

This study advances the understanding of public participation intention and enriches the literature relating to CSR and TPB involved in infrastructure development. In order to improve public participation intention, companies should take strategic social responsibility actions and present the benefits and moral values of the activities to the public, and as well make effort to diffuse WIP-related knowledge through interactive activities with the public. Authorities should establish social and personal value systems that praise public participation and improve their expectations of participation outcomes.

It has been eight months into the global pandemic health crises COVID-19, yet the severity of the crises is just getting worse in many parts of the world. At this stage, it is essential to understand and observe the general attitude of the public toward COVID crises and the major concerns the public has voiced out and how it varies across months. Understanding the impact that the COVID-19 crises have created also helps policymakers and health-care organizations access the primary steps that need to be taken for the welfare of the community. The purpose of this study is to understand the general public's response towards COVID-19 crises and the major issues that concerns them.

For the analysis, data were collected from Twitter. Tweets regarding COVID-19 crises were collected from February 1, 2020, to June 27, 2020. In all, 433,195 tweets were used for this study. Natural language processing (NLP), which is a part of Machine learning, was used for this study. NLP was used to track the changes in the general public's sentiment toward COVID-19 crises and LDA was used to understand the issues that shape the general public's sentiments the crises time. Using Python library Wordcloud, the authors further derived how the primary concerns regarding COVID crises various from February to June of the year 2020.

This study was conducted in two parts. Study 1 results showed that the attitude of the general public toward COVID crises was reasonably neutral at the beginning of the crises (Month of February). As the crises become severe, the sentiments toward COVID increasingly become negative yet a considerable percentage of neutral sentiments existed even at the peak time of the crises. Study 2 finds out that issues including the severity of the disease, Precautionary measures need to be taken, and Personal issues like unemployment and traveling during the pandemic time were identified as the public's primary concerns.

The research adds value to the literature on understanding the major issues and concerns, the public voices out about the current ongoing pandemic. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study with an extended period of timeframe (Five months). In this research, the authors have collected data till June for analysis that makes the results and findings more relevant to the current time.