Effects of Changes in Discretionary Trips and Online Activities on Social and Mental Health during Two Different Phases of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors.

I like your article, it is very interesting

.I don't have any general comments, but my specific comments are:

Statistical analysis section is missing (please describe bivariate and multivariable/ regression analysis method

Table 1 and 2: display only one decimal digit, in case of mean values please add standard deviation

Table 2: add standard deviation to mean values in brackets – e.g. Mean (SD)

Table legend: please change "no sign" to "no asterisk"

Fig 1 and 2 are very comprehensive, difficult to follow, perhaps regroup columns, working MCO, than working RMCO and so on

Regression analysis results are too comprehensive; please remove all non-significant variables from Table 4

Author Response

First of all, the authors would like to thank the Editor and two anonymous reviewers who gave us productive feedback to improve our paper. Now the paper has been revised and some sentences and sections have been clarified as the reviewers’ suggested. We believe that we have addressed all the comments in detail as below.

Hope now, it can be accepted by the reviewers.

The reviewers’ comments are in red-colour font below and our responses are in the black-colour font. The bold sentences are the ones that have been newly revised or added to the manuscript.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

I am glad review the revised manuscript entitled, “Effects of Change in Discretionary Trips and Online Activities on Social and Mental Health During Two Different Phases of The COVID 19 Pandemic in Malaysia.”

This study describes that behaviour change has been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the implementation of travel restraints or ‘lockdown’ using aggregate analysis in many countries. Using aggregate analysis, reductions in work and recreation trips have been observed to significantly correlate with worse mental health (MH), whereas reducing trips for grocery shopping, going to pharmacies and visiting parks showed the opposite effects. However, studies on the effects of behaviour change on MH using disaggregate analysis are lacking. Lockdown is also assumed to cause social isolation, which is hypothesised to deteriorate social health (SH) due to cutting socialising time. This study answers those research gaps and examines the effects of behaviour change during the pandemic on SH and MH.

Abstract

The abstract quality needs improvement to reach a standard of meeting the merit of academic writing. It needs a quality standard of writing to publish in outstanding journals like SUSTAINABILITY. Please revise the whole article and remove English grammar problems. I suggest the authors take English editing services from some agencies to improve the quality of this study.

Introduction section

I suggest that authors to read the suggested studies add the latest citations to the introduction, literature and method sections to enhance the quality of the study. Cite these studies to improve the quality of this section.

Rahmat, T. E., Raza, S., Zahid, H., Abbas, J., Mohd Sobri, F., & Sidiki, S. (2022). Nexus between integrating technology readiness 2.0 index and students’ e-library services adoption amid the COVID-19 challenges: Implications based on the theory of planned behavior. J Educ Health Promot, 11(1), 50. doi:10.4103/jehp.jehp_508_21

I suggest checking minor typo errors to enhance the quality of this study. I will accept this manuscript for publication after modifications, as suggested.

Literature section:

Add literature section. You cannot delete this section. Read the suggested studies and cite these papers in the literature to enhance the quality of your work.

Al Halbusi, H., Al-Sulaiti, K., & Al-Sulaiti, I. (2022). Assessing Factors Influencing Technology Adoption for Online Purchasing Amid COVID-19 in Qatar: Moderating Role of Word of Mouth. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, 942527. doi:10.3389/fenvs.2022.942527

Materials and Methods

This section is very weak. Please follow the suggested studies and improve your paper. The authors need to improve this section. I am recommending some good studies. Read the methods of these studies, improve your paper, and cite these studies in this section. Suggested useful articles citations:

Schmidt, C. A., Cromwell, E. A., Hill, E., Donkers, K. M., Schipp, M. F., Johnson, K. B., . . . Hay, S. I. (2022). The prevalence of onchocerciasis in Africa and Yemen, 2000-2018: a geospatial analysis. BMC Med, 20(1), 293. doi:10.1186/s12916-022-02486-y

Local Burden of Disease, H. I. V. C. (2021). Mapping subnational HIV mortality in six Latin American countries with incomplete vital registration systems. BMC Medicine, 19(1), 4. doi:10.1186/s12916-020-01876-4

Discussion section:

I suggest you to discuss the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. How it has affected business activities. Read the proposed studies to improve your analysis. See the recommended studies and improve your sections.

Conclusion

Climax creativity and scientific contribution of this study to the body of literature. The English level needs corrections to meet scientific merit for publication. I accept and endorse this manuscript for publication after minor corrections, as suggested.

Author Response

First of all, the authors would like to thank the Editor and two anonymous reviewers who gave us productive feedback to improve our paper. Now the paper has been revised and some sentences and sections have been clarified as the reviewers’ suggested. We believe that we have addressed all the comments in detail as below.

Hope now, it can be accepted by the reviewers.

The reviewers’ comments are in red-colour font below and our responses are in the black-colour font. The bold sentences are the ones that have been newly revised or added to the manuscript.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

I have reviewed the revised manuscript, “Effects of Change in Discretionary Trips and Online Activities on Social and Mental Health During Two Different Phases of The COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia.”

This study describes behavior change observed during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the implementation of travel restraints or ‘lockdowns’ using aggregate analysis in many countries. Using aggregate analysis, reductions in work and recreation trips have been observed to correlate significantly with worse mental health (MH), whereas reducing trips for grocery shopping, going to pharmacies, and visiting parks showed the opposite effects. However, studies on the effects of behavior change on MH using disaggregate analysis are lacking. Lockdown is also assumed to cause social isolation, hypothesized to deteriorate social health (SH) due to cutting socializing time. This study answers those research gaps and examines the effects of behavior change during the pandemic on SH and MH.

Literature sections

I mentioned the authors to improve literature support and suggested articles in the literature section. These research articles have identified health-related topics. I believe it will improve the quality of your work. I advise authors to revisit their literature section of the recommended studies to enhance your research study's quality to reach scientific merit for publication.

I want to see publish this creative work after some corrections. I have endorsed this study as; it deserves the merit for publication. Please read and execute the suggested studies in the introduction, literature, and method sections. How social media and internet use among students is helpful. Add a few lines in the literature sections.

Yu, S., Draghici, A., Negulescu, O. H., & Ain, N. U. (2022). Social Media Application as a New Paradigm for Business Communication: The Role of COVID-19 Knowledge, Social Distancing, and Preventive Attitudes. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.903082

Li, Y., Al-Sulaiti, K., Dongling, W., Abbas, J., & Al-Sulaiti, I. (2022). Tax Avoidance Culture and Employees' Behavior Affect Sustainable Business Performance: The Moderating Role of Corporate Social Responsibility. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10. doi:10.3389/fenvs.2022.964410

Materials and Methods

This section indicates how you arranged your article. You can see the suggested study and improve your method section. 

Liao, X., & Lyu, B. (2022). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Rituals as Prevention and Management Strategies in the COVID-19 Crisis. Front Public Health, 10, 1007086. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.1007086

Schmidt, C. A., Cromwell, E. A., Hill, E., Donkers, K. M., Schipp, M. F., Johnson, K. B., . . . Hay, S. I. (2022). The prevalence of onchocerciasis in Africa and Yemen, 2000-2018: a geospatial analysis. BMC Med, 20(1), 293. doi:10.1186/s12916-022-02486-y

I will endorse this manuscript for publication as it has presented a good research topic, although it needs corrections. Pay attention to English quality to reach scientific merit. I accept and endorse this manuscript for publication after the suggested minor corrections.

Author Response

First of all, the authors would like to thank the Editor and one anonymous reviewer who gave us productive feedback to improve our paper. Now the paper has been revised and some sentences and sections have been clarified as the reviewers’ suggested. We believe that we have addressed all the comments in detail as below.

Hope now, it can be accepted by the reviewer.

The reviewer’s comments are in red-colour font below and our responses are in the black-colour font. The bold sentences are the ones that have been newly revised or added to the manuscript.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx