Simon Bacon

• PhD, University of Birmingham
• Professor (Full) at Concordia University

Objective The climate crisis poses the largest threat to human health and survival and has been a public health emergency for many years. It is causing harmful consequences for physical and mental health and is amplifying existing health inequities. In this call to action, we highlight the relevance of the health psychology and behavioral medicine...

La crisis climática plantea la mayor amenaza para la salud y la supervivencia humana, y es una emergencia de salud pública conocida desde hace muchos años. Esta ha provocado consecuencias perjudiciales para la salud física y mental, y está amplificando las desigualdades sanitarias existentes. En este llamado a la acción, destacamos la relevancia de...

Facial Expression Recognition (FER) from videos is a crucial task in various application areas, such as human-computer interaction and health monitoring (e.g., pain, depression, fatigue, and stress). Beyond the challenges of recognizing subtle emotional or health states, the effectiveness of deep FER models is often hindered by the considerable var...

The climate crisis poses the largest threat to human health and survival and has been a knownpublic health emergency for many years. It is causing harmful consequences for physical andmental health and is amplifying existing health inequities. In this call to action, we highlight therelevance of the health psychology and behavioral medicine communi...

Traditional approaches to increase vaccination rely upon educating patients about vaccines. However, research shows that “knowing” vaccines are important is often insufficient: patients need to believe that getting vaccinated is important. Evidence-based motivational approaches, such as motivational interviewing/communication (MI/MC), have become i...

This is a qualitative systematic review in which we investigated barriers and enablers influencing dietary behavior change after metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS). Database searches retrieved publications reporting perceived factors influencing dietary behavior change post-MBS. Data (quotes, survey results, interpretative summaries) were extracted...

Purpose of Review Eating behaviour-focused interventions are essential for improving health and weight-related outcomes in patients undergoing metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS). This work aims to examine the content of eating behaviour-focused weight management interventions adjunct to MBS in terms of the type and quantity of behaviour change techn...

Active play allows children to develop social and cognitive skills, which could lead to higher school engagement. Little is known about the role of child socioemotional difficulty in these associations. This study aims to examine the interaction between active play and socioemotional difficulty in childhood and their prospective association with ac...

Systems for multimodal emotion recognition (ER) are commonly trained to extract features from different modalities (e.g., visual, audio, and textual) that are combined to predict individual basic emotions. However, compound emotions often occur in real-world scenarios, and the uncertainty of recognizing such complex emotions over diverse modalities...

Although state-of-the-art classifiers for facial expression recognition (FER) can achieve a high level of accuracy, they lack interpretability, an important feature for end-users. Experts typically associate spatial action units (AUs) from a codebook to facial regions for the visual interpretation of expressions. In this paper, the same expert step...

Although state-of-the-art classifiers for facial expression recognition (FER) can achieve a high level of accuracy, they lack interpretability, an important feature for end-users. Experts typically associate spatial action units (AUs) from a codebook to facial regions for the visual interpretation of expressions. In this paper, the same expert step...

Systems for multimodal emotion recognition (ER) are commonly trained to extract features from different modalities (e.g., visual, audio, and textual) that are combined to predict individual basic emotions. However, compound emotions often occur in real-world scenarios, and the uncertainty of recognizing such complex emotions over diverse modalities...

Background/Objectives: Physical activity is an important protective factor throughout life. However, little research has observed the associations between the practice of physical activity and academic success longitudinally, and none have done so with a pan-Canadian sample. This article aims to examine the prospective associations between active l...

This study explored the association between pandemic-related loss/reduction of employment, sex, COVID-19-related stress and relational conflicts. A sample of 5103 Canadians from the iCARE study were recruited through an online polling firm between October 29, 2020, and March 23, 2021. Logistic regressions revealed that participants with loss/reduct...

Objetivo: Si bien el asesoramiento sobre cambio de comportamiento (BCC, por sus siglas en inglés) dirigido a conductas de riesgo para la salud ha demostrado eficacia para mejorar los resultados de salud de los pacientes, las barreras para la traducción del conocimiento han resultado en una pobre aceptación entre los proveedores de atención médica (...

Systems for multimodal emotion recognition (ER) are commonly trained to extract features from different modalities (e.g., visual, audio, and textual) that are combined to predict individual basic emotions. However, compound emotions often occur in real-world scenarios, and the uncertainty of recognizing such complex emotions over diverse modalities...

Adapting a deep learning model to a specific target individual is a challenging facial expression recognition (FER) task that may be achieved using unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) methods. Although several UDA methods have been proposed to adapt deep FER models across source and target data sets, multiple subject-specific source domains are ne...

Although state-of-the-art classifiers for facial expression recognition (FER) can achieve a high level of accuracy, they lack interpretability, an important feature for end-users. Experts typically associate spatial action units (AUs) from a codebook to facial regions for the visual interpretation of expressions. In this paper, the same expert step...

Deep learning models for multimodal expression recognition have reached remarkable performance in controlled laboratory environments because of their ability to learn complementary and redundant semantic information. However, these models struggle in the wild, mainly because of the unavail-ability and quality of modalities used for training. In pra...

Multimodal emotion recognition (MMER) systems typically outperform unimodal systems by leveraging the inter-and intra-modal relationships between, e.g., visual, textual, physiological , and auditory modalities. This paper proposes an MMER method that relies on a joint multimodal transformer (JMT) for fusion with key-based cross-attention. This fram...

Nutrition-focused interventions are essential to optimize the bariatric care process and improve health and weight outcomes over time. Clear and detailed reporting of these interventions in research reports is crucial for understanding and applying the findings effectively in clinical practice and research replication. Given the importance of repor...

Background A large body of evidence indicates that behavioural interventions on modifiable risk factors for dementia can reduce cognitive decline in at‐risk older individuals. There is growing interest in making such interventions more widely accessible using technology‐based solutions. However, online programs would benefit from incorporating coac...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention policies have taken a toll on Canadians, and certain subgroups may have been disproportionately affected, including those with non-communicable diseases (NCDs; e.g., heart and lung disease) due to their risk of COVID-19 complications and women due to excess domestic workload associated with tradit...

Issue/problem The incorporation of evidence-based recommendations into policy documents and health guidance often does not lead to measurable changes in public health outcomes. Description of the problem All the preventative measures of COVID-19 were behavioural in nature, e.g., getting vaccinated, wearing masks, physically and socially distancing...

Objective In the context of COVID-19, Canadian healthcare workers (HCWs) worked long hours, both to respond to the pandemic and to compensate for colleagues who were not able to work due to infection and burnout. This may have had detrimental effects on HCWs’ mental health, as well as engagement in health-promoting behaviours. This study aimed to i...

Introduction Rapid systematic reviews (RRs) have the potential to provide timely information to decision-makers, thus directly impacting healthcare. However, consensus regarding the most efficient approaches to performing RRs and the presence of several unaddressed methodological issues pose challenges. With such a large potential research agenda f...

Automated emotion recognition (AER) has a growing number of applications, ranging from behavior analysis in assistive robotics and e-learning to depression and pain estimation healthcare. Systems for multimodal AER typically outperform unimodal approaches due to the complementary and redundant semantic information across modalities like visual, aud...

Background Ambivalence towards food and diet, which favours behavioural inertia, might be a barrier to adopting healthier eating behaviours. Measuring it can help researchers to better understand its relationship with behaviour change and design interventions aimed at resolving it. In this scoping review, we map and describe methods and tools emplo...

Background: Health behaviors such as physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, smoking tobacco, and alcohol use are each leading risk factors for non-communicable chronic disease. Better understanding which behaviors tend to co-occur (i.e., cluster together) and co-vary (i.e., are correlated) may provide novel opportunities to develop more comprehens...

We aimed to explore the relationships between childhood maltreatment and changes in weight, depressive symptoms and eating behavior post-bariatric surgery (BS). Participants (n = 111, 85% females) were evaluated pre-surgery, and at 6 months (6 M) and 12 months (12 M) post-BS. History of maltreatment was assessed at baseline (Childhood Trauma Questi...

Objective: The INTER-Change program aims to use systematic frameworks to develop adjunct behavioral interventions to enhance long-term behavior change and improve outcomes in patients undergoing bariatric surgery (BS). This paper details the program strategies and how engagement of interested parties is shaping the research. Method: The core elemen...

The BMRC has initiated a new initiative, the Behavioral Medicine Research Council (BMRC) Scientific Statement papers. The statement papers will move the field forward by guiding efforts to improve the quality of behavioral medicine research and practice and facilitate the dissemination and translation of behavioral medicine research. (PsycInfo Data...

Behavioral Medicine Research Council (BMRC) Statement Papers In his departing remarks, outgoing NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins lamented that he should have engaged more with behavioral science to develop COVID-19 mitigation strategies [1]. Behavioral medicine can contribute unique value to public health efforts to achieve optimal health for all....

Background: Bariatric surgery leads to profound changes in gut microbiota and dietary patterns, both of which may interact to impact gut-brain communication. Though cognitive function improves postsurgery, there is a large variability in outcomes. How bariatric surgery-induced modifications in the gut microbiota and dietary patterns influence the...

Abstract 104 https://psychosomatic.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/APS-2023-Abstract-Book.pdf

Background: Synthesising evidence on the long-term vaccine effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines (BNT162b2 [Pfizer-BioNTech], mRNA-1273 [Moderna], ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 [AZD1222; Oxford-AstraZeneca], and Ad26.COV2.S [Janssen]) against infections, hospitalisations, and mortality is crucial to making evidence-based pandemic policy decisions. Methods: In th...

Aims: Depression after bariatric surgery can lead to suboptimal health outcomes. However, it is unclear how depressive symptoms evolve over the 24 months after surgery. We determined the extent depressive symptoms changed up to 24 months after bariatric surgery and how this was impacted by measurement tool and surgical procedure. Methods: We con...

On behalf of the iCARE Study Team (see acknowledgments). Abstract: Studies have shown that the protection afforded by COVID-19 vaccines against hospitalization and death decreases slowly over time due to the emergence of new variants and waning immunity. Accordingly, booster doses remain critical to minimizing the health impacts of the pandemic. Th...

Objective: "Nature prescriptions" are increasingly being adopted by health sectors as an adjunct to standard care to attend to health and social needs. We investigated levels of need and interest in nature prescriptions in adults with cardiovascular diseases, psychological distress and concomitants (e.g. physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour, o...

Background: There is a paucity of literature exploring the role of bariatric surgery in class 1 obesity. We evaluated the 5-year outcomes after bariatric surgery in patients with class 1 obesity, assessing weight loss, resolution/reduction of obesity-related comorbidities, morbidity and mortality. Methods: We performed a single-centre retrospect...

COVID-19 research has relied heavily on convenience-based samples, which—though often necessary—are susceptible to important sampling biases. We begin with a theoretical overview and introduction to the dynamics that underlie sampling bias. We then empirically examine sampling bias in online COVID-19 surveys and evaluate the degree to which common...

A prothrombotic state (i.e., “thickened blood”), which can include hemostatic and endothelial changes, contributes to atherosclerosis progression as well as to atherosclerotic plaque rupturing, ultimately leading to myocardial infarction. Acute psychosocial stress elicits a significant increase in several prothrombotic factors. It is important to n...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention policies have taken a toll on Canadians, and certain subgroups may have been disproportionately affected, including those with non-communicable disease (NCDs; e.g., heart and lung disease) due to their risk of COVID-19 complications. Aims/Objectives: We investigated the impacts of COVID-19 on men...

Purpose Depression is a multifaceted psychiatric condition that has been associated with suboptimal weight loss follow- ing bariatric surgery. Previous variations of Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II) subscales been proposed, including those identified within bariatric populations; however, it is unclear whether the BDI-II items cont...

El objetivo del presente estudio fue analizar la difusión de noticias falsas (Fake News) en el marco de la estrategia de comunicación de riesgo implementada durante la pandemia de la covid-19 por el gobierno argentino. Se realizó un análisis cualitativo de contenido con complemento de datos cuantitativos de las notas publicadas a lo largo de 2020 e...

Objective: Given the role of sociocultural gender in shaping human behaviours, the main objective of this study was to examine whether sex and gender-related factors were associated with the public's adherence to COVID-19-recommended protective health behaviours. Design: This was a retrospective analysis of the survey that captured data on peopl...

Objective To examine rates of vaccine hesitancy and their correlates among Canadian adults between April 2020 and March 2021. Design Five sequential cross-sectional age, sex and province-weighted population-based samples who completed online surveys. Setting Canada. Participants A total of 15 019 Canadians aged 18 years and over were recruited thro...

Background: Strategies to support health care professionals on how to address vaccine hesitancy are needed. Methods: We developed a 4-h Motivational Communication (MC) training program tailored to help physicians address hesitancy related to influenza vaccination among patients living with rheumatoid arthritis. Five MC competencies were evaluate...

Background Adequate nutrition is important for bone health, especially for bone mineral accretion. Objective The primary objective tested whether increasing dairy intake using the motivational interviewing technique (MInt) improves lumbar spine (LS) bone mineral density (BMD) after 2 years in post-pubertal adolescents with habitual dairy intake of...

Objective To examine SARS-CoV-2 vaccine confidence, attitudes and intentions in Australian adults as part of the iCARE Study. Design and setting Cross-sectional online survey conducted when free COVID-19 vaccinations first became available in Australia in February 2021. Participants Total of 1166 Australians from general population aged 18–90 yea...

Governments, public health officials and pharmaceutical companies have all mobilized resources to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns, social distancing, and personal protective behaviours have been helpful but have shut down economies and disrupted normal activities. Vaccinations protect populations from COVID-19 and allow a return to pre-pan...

Background There is increasing evidence that modifiable lifestyle factors account for around 40% of worldwide dementia cases. Given the multifactorial etiology of dementia, multidomain lifestyle interventions have generated major interest. Results from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) suggest that implementing multidomain interventions in at‐ris...

Background. COVID-19 research has relied heavily on convenience-based observational samples, which—though often necessary—are susceptible to important sampling biases. We begin with a theoretical overview and introduction to the dynamics that underlie sampling bias. We then empirically examine sampling bias in COVID-19 surveys and evaluate the degr...

Objective: This scoping review aims to identify and understand the different tools and methods used in studies in the field of human eating behavior to assess, measure, or classify participants' ambivalence towards food and diet, as well as to identify which tools and methods are most frequently employed. Introduction: People's attitudes towards...

Objective: Key to reducing COVID–19 morbidity and mortality and reducing the need for further lockdown measures in Canada and worldwide is widespread acceptance of COVID–19 vaccines. Vaccine hesitancy has emerged as a key barrier to achieving optimal vaccination rates, for which there is little data among Canadians. This study examined rates of vac...

Health risk behaviours such as physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, smoking tobacco, and alcohol use are each leading risk factors for non-communicable chronic disease and each play a central role in limiting health and life satisfaction. However, much less is known about how co-occurring behaviours are associated with health outcomes. Understand...

Background Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are widely used devices that were initially created to aid in smoking cessation. However, their acute physiological effects are unclear and there have been a number of E-cig and Vaping Acute Lung Injury (EVALI) events reported. Research question What are the immediate physiological effects (i.e. cardiovasc...

Issue/problem In an unprecedented effort to end the pandemic, national mitigations strategies have been implemented and highly effective vaccines have been developed and rolled out in record time. Success of many of these public health endeavors is contingent upon people being willing to engage in proposed behaviours. Description of the problem Th...

Background COVID-19 containment measures, such as stay-at-home orders and transportation shutdowns, might have created barriers to healthcare access and impacted service utilization worldwide. This cross-sectional study aims to explore how COVID-19 impacted health service utilization in individuals with chronic health conditions across the globe....

Background Optimising physical distancing measures has been a critical part of the global response to the spread of COVID-19. Adherence to these recommendations has been poorer than adherence to other key transmission reduction behaviours. The current project aimed to identify psychosocial determinants of adherence to physical distancing, and to de...

Issue/problem COVID-19 global pandemic has had significant health, social and financial impacts on global communities. Many of the national mitigation strategies to curb the virus spread have been targeting human behaviours. Insights from behavioural sciences are crucial for effective community engagement and positive behaviour change on a populati...

Las representaciones son descriptas como un estilo específico de conocimiento, un modo determinado de descifrar la realidad, aludiendo al pensamiento del sentido común, siendo asociadas a un desarrollo personal que supone una ordenación cognitiva y a la vez halla su inicio, su difusión y cambio en el contexto sociocultural. En el contexto sanitario...

Objective: To examine SARS–CoV–2 vaccine confidence, attitudes and intentions in Australian adults. Methods: Nationwide survey in February–March 2021 of adults representative across sex, age and location. Vaccine uptake and a range of putative drivers of uptake, including vaccine confidence, socioeconomic status, and sources of trust, were examined...

Background: Italy was the first European country to be affected by COVID-19. Considering that many countries are currently battling the 2nd wave of the pandemic, understanding people's perceptions and responses to government policies remains critical for informing on-going mitigation strategies. We assessed attitudes towards COVID-19 policies, lev...

BACKGROUND Training physicians to provide effective behaviour change counselling (BCC) using approaches like motivational communication (MC) is an important aspect of non-communicable chronic disease (NCD) prevention and management. However, existing evaluation tools for MC skills are complex, invasive, time consuming, and impractical for use withi...

Background: Training physicians to provide effective behavior change counseling using approaches such as motivational communication (MC) is an important aspect of noncommunicable chronic disease prevention and management. However, existing evaluation tools for MC skills are complex, invasive, time consuming, and impractical for use within the medi...

The success of large-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaigns is contingent upon people being willing to receive the vaccine. Our study explored COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its correlates in eight different countries around the globe. We analyzed convenience sample data collected between March 2020 and January 2021 as part of the iCARE cross-section...

Objective: Key to slowing the spread of SARS-Cov-2 is adherence to preventive behaviours promoted through government policies, which may be influenced by policy awareness, attitudes and concerns about the virus and its impacts. This study assessed determinants of adherence to major coronavirus preventive behaviours, including demographics, attitude...

Background Health behaviors such as physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, smoking tobacco, and alcohol use are leading risk factors for noncommunicable chronic diseases and play a central role in limiting health and life satisfaction. To date, however, health behaviors tend to be considered separately from one another, resulting in guidelines and...

Objective: To assess and share learnings on the motivators and behavioural adherence across sex and age to evolving strategies in public policy to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 at the end of a first COVID-19 wave and the beginning of a second COVID-19 wave in Australia. Design and Setting: A national longitudinal survey using a framework based o...