COVID-19 Health Crisis Research Articles

The Contributions of a Mental Health Research Process Concomitant with the Covid-19 Crisis.

This article takes stock of the research work carried out in Europe over the period 2020-2022 by a multidisciplinary consortium of specialists in psychiatry and mental health that brings together university research laboratories, psychiatric hospitals, universities, and training centers. Our work focuses on the difficulties encountered by care and psycho-social support professionals during the COVID-19 period. These difficulties are individual and organizational to ensure a service of accompaniment and follow-up of psychiatric users. What synthesis can we achieve of our successes, our failures, our limitations, and for which avenues of work for the future? After presenting the methodological protocol, we conduct a self-critical reflection of the achievements in 3 main axes of analysis: 1. Evolution of working conditions in a context of uncertainty, 2. Organizational dimensions and hindered care, 3. Digital technologies. From these results emerges a set of controversies and ethical questions relating to the legitimacy of remote care, confidentiality and protection of personal data, and equity in access to care. It appears that the professional practices deployed during the COVID-19 health crisis question the way in which the organization of care and social support integrate the possibilities offered by digital applications. They are about promoting the autonomy and empowerment of mental health service users and professionals. From this perspective, the extension of this work develops a forward-looking approach included in Community digitization policies for new European projects. It appears necessary to carry out multidisciplinary in-depth work, by 2030 on hospital psychiatry and "outside the walls", the care pathway of the user, social support, digitalization, data management, and the training of professionals in technological changes.

On the transmission of oil supply and demand shocks to CO2 emissions in the US by considering uncertainty: A time-varying perspective

In an economic context increasingly governed by structural changes, crises, and uncertainty, our understanding of the transmission of oil price shocks to real economic activity and the resulting effects on CO2 emissions is found to evolve over time. Our understanding is also found to evolve when considering the sources of oil price fluctuations as emanating from the supply or demand side. So far, there is still few answers provided by the literature on how economic and policy uncertainty influences the response of CO2 emissions to different sources of oil price shocks. This paper tries to investigate this ‘missing link’ by estimating the time-varying transmission of oil supply and demand shocks to CO2 emissions in the US, while considering the simultaneous effect of uncertainty. Using monthly data covering a period including the Covid-19 health crisis, a two-step estimation procedure is adopted: before constructing a time-varying parameter structural vector autoregression model with stochastic volatility (TVP-SVAR-SV), a structural VAR model (SVAR) is implemented to decompose oil price shocks in four structural shocks namely: oil supply shock, aggregate demand shock, domestic demand shock and oil-specific demand shock. Estimation results and robustness tests show that the level of uncertainty shapes the transmission of oil price shocks to CO2 emissions. Oil supply and oil-specific demand shocks impact negatively CO2 emissions mostly when uncertainty is low. A high uncertainty level leads to a perverse positive impact of aggregate demand shocks on CO2 emissions. Interestingly, CO2 emissions are found to increase during low levels of uncertainty in response to domestic demand driven oil price shocks. This finding may be due to the expansive economic policies enforced to decrease uncertainty and increase consumption in reaction to domestic demand shocks. These results imply that workable solutions targeting an optimal level of CO2 emissions should not only consider different sources of oil price fluctuations but also the level of uncertainty. Discarding the level of uncertainty may lead to a sub-optimal calibration of the regulatory and fiscal measures aiming to protect the environment against different sources of oil price shocks and to adapt these measures to the time horizon of carbon emissions responses.

General and COVID19-specific emotional stress: Religious practice as a potential coping strategy

Using Spanish microdata from the Survey on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic conducted in February 2021 by the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS), this paper aims at identifying individual factors associated with an increased risk of mental or emotional distress arising from two different sources: a general pattern of depression or anxiety and distress specifically associated with the pandemic as measured by fears and worries about one’s own or others’ lives and job and income insecurity due to the COVID-19 health crisis. We explore gender differences in both types of mental distress as well as the role of individual religiosity, measured as religious beliefs and behaviours, as a potential coping strategy. In both general and COVID-specific mental distress, our results provide evidence of gender differences in the risk of suffering these conditions, with a higher incidence among women. We also find that religious beliefs and practice seem to have served as a coping strategy that has allowed females to narrow the gender gap, particularly for practising Catholics. The evidence is stronger for mental distress associated with anxiety or depression. However, it is still present, albeit to a lesser extent, for suffering caused by pandemic-related mental stressors. Our results suggest that religious practices and beliefs might play a key role in alleviating additional distress symptoms caused by emergency situations such as those suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roles of Crisis Memory Narratives in Public Health Crisis Responses: An Experimental Study Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response Theory

ABSTRACT When a new crisis occurs, narratives surrounding past crises are often intensively created and shared on social media, which together form a kind of crisis memory in current crisis communication and these narratives are referred to as crisis memory narratives. This study examined the effects of the public’s exposure to various crisis memory narratives of SARS (i.e. nationalism, heroism, identity, trauma, criticism, and historical reference) on their cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to the current public health crisis of COVID-19 through an online experiment with a Chinese adult sample (n = 745). Based on the stimulus-organism-response theory, a parallel-serial mediation model was tested. The overall findings revealed that crisis memory narratives had limited direct effects on behavioral responses (i.e. supportive behavioral intentions); however, the effects on cognitive (i.e. perceived threats, efficacy, and government controllability) and affective responses (i.e. positive and negative emotions) were significant, and these responses greatly mediated between certain types of crisis memory narratives and supportive behavioral intentions.

Navigating a public health crisis: Governance and sensemaking during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

The COVID-19 pandemic required people to navigate complex information landscape situated in changing and uncertain environments. In places like Australia, where rigid restrictions were in place for over a year, most did so from their homes. Although expert advice cautions that inflexible government measures undermine compliance, research indicates that many Australians demonstrated both willingness and intention to follow these preventative measures. We examine the conditions underpinning this seeming anomaly by studying how Australian residents made sense of the COVID-19 health crisis and its governance. Semi-structured interviews with 40 participants evince how they sought out various forms of information and knowledge to produce meaning in actionable ways—in short, their sensemaking. Building on insights from information science and regulatory governance research, we trace individuals’ sensemaking practices, capturing how government-backed messaging became interconnected with diverse forms of information and knowledge drawn on by participants. Findings illustrate how sensemaking practices shifted over the first two years of the pandemic and how active information-seeking often reinforced trust in government responses during that time. This analysis demonstrates how sensemaking can inform the development of bottom-up pathways for encouraging compliance with public health interventions and promoting health literacy, especially in times of crisis.

Perceived gender equality in caregiving and mental health: the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis in a sample of Andalusian women

The restrictions during COVID-19 seem to have had an unequal impact on the mental health and habits of the population in terms of gender. The literature states that crises such as this have a more negative impact on women. We explored perceived overload due to household chores and informal caregiving in a sample of Andalusian women, their perception of an increase in this overload after the pandemic, and its possible effect on mental health. To do this, we administered an online retrospective questionnaire to explore the perception of 166 women on care economy variables by estimating hours, effort, overload, and sharing of chores at three different times: before the onset of the pandemic, during lockdown, and at the time of data collection (one year after lockdown). We also measured depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction at the time of data collection through validated scales. Results showed that women estimated significantly more time and effort on household chores and caregiving for the lockdown period. The retrospective estimation of the sharing of tasks was similar over the three moments but women perceived that they did more than their heterosexual partners. One in four women perceived an increase in caregiving overload after the pandemic. Women who felt mental overload due to caregiving scored higher in depression than those who felt physical overload. Considering these findings, and despite the limitations of this study, the pandemic may have led to an increase in informal caregiving overload for many women. Furthermore, the relation between depression and overload one year after lockdown was demonstrated. Measures are required to reduce the impact of gender in crises by designing prevention policies and programs that promote co-responsibility.

The creative body memory in Covid’s time: a participatory pedagogic methodology with site-specific dance and performance in urban places

ABSTRACT Given the social circumstances arising from the COVID-19 health crisis, we developed a participatory pedagogic methodology involving body experimentation and performing arts to explore ‘body memory’ as a tool for redefining new affective bonds and adaptation processes within urban environments and public spaces. This experimental methodology, addressed to community participation, involves exercises of body movement improvisation, physical theatre techniques and site-specific dance. We aim to draw an arc of cumulative learning and individual and group awareness that should facilitate a critical rediscovery of everyday urban experiences inside a ‘body-place-community’ dialogue. In the performative exercises, we inquire about a ‘creative body memory’ composed of conscious, temporal, and cognitive knowledge built on interpretive fragments, images, and mental representations; and an embodied unconscious and extemporal one, built on emotional and adaptive ‘body-place-community’ connections. This methodology was tested in a pilot laboratory addressed to a group of adolescents living in Raval’s multicultural neighbourhood (Barcelona) and some of them at risk of social exclusion. It was implemented with the collaboration of ‘Xamfrà, Raval’s Music and Performance Centre’ in the context of Raval’s summer youth activities organised in July 2021.

Changes in cycling practices in France during the Covid-19 pandemic. An illusory reduction in inequalities

IntroductionThe Covid-19 health crisis and the attendant pro-bicycle policies have accelerated the development of urban cycling worldwide. Bicycle traffic flows have generally been well documented, with particular focus on utilitarian trips during lockdowns. However, little research has examined the profiles of social groups affected by changes in bicycle use. That is the purpose of this article, which examines the socio-spatial factors behind changes in utilitarian and recreational cycle use. MethodsThe study is based on a nationwide questionnaire completed by 7343 cyclists in France between May and October 2021. The analyses are based on bivariate treatments, tests of independence, logistic regressions, and additional comments by some respondents (n = 1594). ResultsOur results show both utility and leisure cycling were more likely to have increased than decreased over the period under study. However, while utility practice was driven by fear of Covid-19 but inhibited by teleworking, recreational practice was driven by both working-at-home and by the desire to get out for some physical exercise. Compensatory phenomena, blurring the boundary between leisure and utility, are perceptible. Reductions in both the gender gap and the income gap in bicycle use are measured. However, since these were mainly forced changes and since inequalities in access to cycling persist, the narrowing of these gaps cannot be interpreted as steps toward gender or class equality. ConclusionsThe article recommends further research to assess the persistence of observed changes in leisure and utility cycling. At the same time, it warns against the pitfall of considering that a reduction in inequalities in cycling practices implies a reduction in social inequalities.

The Weaponisation of Public Comment Rules in Policy Deliberations

The Covid-19 pandemic heightened already intense and increased scrutiny of public education in recent years. The administrative impulse to stage community engagement efforts to deliberate upon these questions, however well-intentioned, rarely realises full community engagement and reflection. Based on an examination of public engagement events held at Florida schools related to the Covid-19 health crisis, the proposed essay identifies a more concerning transformation of “public comment” into a weaponisable prop for lawmakers seeking the public legitimacy necessary for their agenda, marrying the worlds of critical studies with those of public administration and its orientations. More than merely failing to genuinely engage the public, we argue that such events forestall a more productive arrangement of the democratic form that does not rely on publicness and the leader that secures that space. Ultimately, we suggest a path that affords the possibility of public engagement, but that does not seal off the possibility of that more radical democratic future to come.

The Influence of COVID-19 on Exports and Imports European Cases during 2020-2021

Abstract The COVID-19 health crisis generated an economic crisis at global level and consequently determined numerous economic disturbances at different levels. The study of the economic impact of the health crisis at various levels became legitimate in order to identify the influences of the health crisis on the economic activity, among others. This paper concentrates on the study of the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on international trade with the focus on two countries. The regression method was used to measure the impact of the COVID-19 burden (number of cases and number of deaths) on the international trade flows of two Central and Eastern European countries from European Union, namely Romania and Poland. The analysis includes the first two years of the pandemics, 2020-2021. The results of the analysis illustrate that the COVID-19 burden had an effect on international trade in the two countries. The import flows were more affected than export flows by COVID-19 in both countries in the analyzed period. However, the influences differed in the two countries, with international trade in Poland being more affected by COVID-19 than that in Romania.

The Construction of the Iraqi Child in the UNICEF Reports during Covid19 Pandemic: A Critical Discourse Analysis

The present paper aims at investigating the linguistic image portrayed by UNICEF reports on the Iraqi child from a critical discourse analysis perspective during Covid19 pandemic (2020). The paper attempts to fill a gap in research literature concerning the linguistic construction of the Iraqi child by the UNICEF reports during the critical health crisis of Covid19. Van Leeuwen’s (2008) approach of social actor representation has been adopted for this purpose. From Van Leeuwen’s approach, the category of determination (single determination and overdetermination) has been selected to be the main analytical tool for its high compatibility with the set of objectives put forward to figure out how such a globally effective and easily accessible discourse constructs the Iraqi child. The research is qualitative in nature and the findings are supported by some figures and percentages. The paper has come up with a number of conclusions that spot an interesting situation. First, The USRs do not imprison the IC within a limited vision that usually accompanies the linguistic reliance towards single determination. Second, the USRs have assigned the IC a number of social roles that are compatible with the IC him/herself. This leads to the third conclusion which states that the USRs put the IC in wider perspectives that come within the domains of reality which is bound to the surrounding physical environment. Fourth, although the social roles assigned to the IC vary in the attitude they embed towards the IC, the neutral roles have outperformed the positive and negative ones.

Residents’ Negative Perception of Fellow Countryman’s Travelling During Epidemiological Restrictions

This research explored the creation of negative perception towards returning travellers in response to the threat of spreading the virus and positive travel behaviour during the relaxation of travel restrictions at the time of the COVID-19 health crisis. The data for research was collected from 530 respondents and analysed using hierarchical multiple regression, confirmatory factor analysis, and the Sobel test of significance. The study results revealed that people had a perception of a high risk of catching COVID-19, which has led to a negative perception of travel during a pandemic. Moreover, malicious travel behaviour reinforced discrimination, while positive travel behaviour reduced the negativity in perceptions of returning travellers but did not spare the returnees from discrimination. Implications for both practice and theory, as well as limitations and future directions are further discussed. Based on research findings, resilience of travel should not limit its focus on just the recovery and health control measures of regions that receive travellers, but also pay close attention to the perceptions of travellers returning home after vacations, so as to avoid social distress and stimulate a continuous growth of the demand for travel. In order to stimulate sustainable travel activity with no negative perception of travel and travellers among resident, maintaining local getaways is recommended.

Predictors of young people's anti-vaccine attitudes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The objective of this research was to explore how attitudes to science and scientists may be related to anti-vax positions and whether the psychological trait known as Need for Closure may influence the relationship between any or all of these attitudes. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 1128 young people aged 18-25 living in Italy during the COVID-19 health crisis. Based on the results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which allowed the extraction of a three-factor solution (scepticism about science, unrealistic expectations about science and anti-vax postures), we tested our hypotheses by means of a structural equation model. We found that anti-vax positions are strongly correlated with sceptical views of science, while unrealistic expectations about science affect attitudes to vaccination only indirectly. Either way, Need for Closure emerged as a key variable in our model, as it significantly moderates the effect of both factors on anti-vax positions.

A longitudinal study on organic food continuance behavior of Generation Y and Generation Z: can health consciousness moderate the decision?

PurposeThis study examines the organic food continuance behavior (OFCB) of young (Generations Y and Z) Bangladeshi consumers as a part of green consumption for sustainable development. Based on the extended “Theory of Planned Behavior” (TPB), this study investigates the reasons for continuing organic food (OF) consumption. This research aims to create a model highlighting the characteristics influencing Bangladeshi consumers to continue eating OFs while considering the moderating role of health consciousness during the COVID-19 health crisis (CHC).Design/methodology/approachThis is a longitudinal study, the first phase of which was conducted in 2020, whereas the second phase of data collection is completed on December 31, 2021. Thus, a longitudinal research design (N = 196) was used to investigate whether TPB element have the same impact over the period of time in two data collection phases. It also attempted to reveal if there is any change in the level of influences of Knowledge of organic food health benefit (HAK), and health consciousness on OFCB. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants of Generations Y and Z. Partial least square structural equation modeling validates the proposed research model.FindingsResearch results of phase two ensure that out of the five direct hypotheses related to social norm (SNRM), attitude (ATD), perceived behavioral control (PBRC), HAK and CHC, four (ATD, PBRC, HAK and CHC) significantly influence OFCB of Bangladeshi consumers. SNRM has no significant statistical influence on OFCB. On the other hand, all the direct hypotheses, including SNRM, were accepted during the first phase of the study. Hence, when people begin eating OF and recognize the health benefits, their firm behavioral control ensures that what others think has no significant influence on OFCB.Research limitations/implicationsMost of the data for this study came from those born after 1980, commonly known as Generations Y and Z. Thus, including more data from different age groups may result in different research conclusions. The survey contains a large proportion (62%) of respondents with an income of less than BDT 40,000 per month, a price-sensitive demographic in Bangladesh. The price of OF was not included in this study though price sensitivity may have impacted the study’s findings.Practical implicationsThis research used one moderating and four exogenous variables to determine Bangladeshi consumers’ OFCB. HAK and PBRC are proven to be the strongest determinants. Though health consciousness, Knowledge and self-control are essential, Bangladeshi citizens’ awareness of OF and sustainable consumption is still far below compared to other countries. Consequently, this study urges policymakers to raise health awareness through various social efforts.Social implicationsThe Bangladesh government has various initiatives to encourage sustainable development, including promoting OF consumption. Increased OF consumption will increase demand, resulting in an enormous need for organic production. This phenomenon will benefit society as bio-fertilizers are ecologically benign, resolving soil fertility issues and reducing disease risks while enhancing nutritional content. This study can serve as the foundation for developing a plan to boost the consumption of OFs, which can have a beneficial social impact.Originality/valueSince no longitudinal study to explain the continuance of OFs has been observed in Bangladesh, this research uniquely contributes to predicting sustainable consumption behavior.

The French General Population's Perception of New Information and Communication Technologies for Medical Consultations: National Survey.

The development of telehealth and telemedicine, in the form of increased teleconsultation and medical telemonitoring, accelerated during the COVID-19 health crisis in France to ensure continued access to care for the population. Since these new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are diverse and likely to transform how the health care system is organized, there is a need better to understand public attitudes toward them and their relationship with peoples' current experience of health care. This study aimed to determine the French general population's perception of the usefulness of video recording/broadcasting (VRB) and mobile Health (mHealth) apps for medical consultations in France during the COVID-19 health crisis and the factors associated with this perception. Data were collected for 2003 people in 2 waves of an online survey alongside the Health Literacy Survey 2019 (1003 in May 2020 and 1000 in January 2021) based on quota sampling. The survey collected sociodemographic characteristics, health literacy levels, trust in political representatives, and perceived health status. The perceived usefulness of VRB in medical consultations was measured by combining 2 responses concerning this technology for consultations. The perceived usefulness of mHealth apps was measured by combining 2 responses concerning their usefulness for booking doctor appointments and for communicating patient-reported outcomes to doctors. The majority (1239/2003, 62%) of respondents considered the use of mHealth apps useful, while only 27.6% (551/2003) declared VRB useful. The factors associated with the perceived usefulness of both technologies were younger age (≤ 55 years), trust in political representatives (VRB: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.68, 95% CI 1.31-2.17; mHealth apps: aOR 1.88, 95% CI 1.42-2.48), and higher (sufficient and excellent) health literacy. The period of the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic, living in an urban area, and being limited in daily activities were also associated with perceiving VRB positively. The perceived usefulness of mHealth apps increased with the level of education. It was also higher in people who had 3 or more consultations with a medical specialist. There are important differences in attitudes toward new ICTs. Perceived usefulness was lower for VRB than for mHealth apps. Moreover, it decreased after the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also the possibility of new inequalities. Hence, despite the potential benefits of VRB and mHealth apps, people with low health literacy considered them to be of little use for their health care, possibly increasing their difficulties in accessing health care in the future. As such, health care providers and policy makers need to consider those perceptions to guarantee that new ICTs are accessible and beneficial to all.

Social Protection in the health and humanitarian crisis of COVID-19 in the artisanal fishing territories at Resex Acaú-Goiana, Paraíba, Pernambuco - BRAZIL

This article results from the research entitled “Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the socio-territorial management of social protection in the Resex Acaú-Goiana, Paraíba, Pernambuco” (PIBIC/CNPq/UFPB, 2021-2022). The objective was to analyze the impacts of COVID-19 on socio-territorial management from the construction of the Ecosocial Ethnomapping and the study of plans to contain the health crisis in the Resex, together with the Associação das Marisqueiras de Acaú-PB and public agents. Fishing communities, in addition to the ecosystem services provided to nature and society, symbolize a historic and traditional life. The methodological procedures of the quantitative and qualitative type, of a descriptive, exploratory nature, comprised the realization of Guided Tours, free interviews and questionnaires to experienced fisherwomen, gathering information that contributed to the construction of a systematized diagnosis. The results show that most artisanal fisherwomen have social markers that corroborate with a historical lack of social protection experienced in their territories, which were aggravated by the socio-sanitary crisis of COVID-19. There is a racialization of artisanal fisherwomen, 88.90% declare themselves to be black, brown or brown, 55.60% are between 30 and 50 years old, and 55.60% have practiced artisanal fishing for more of 40 years. The study points out that artisanal fisherwoman enjoy restricted access to social policies that guarantee constitutional rights that consider their demands and specificities.

Impact of a Brief Training on Mental Health Stakeholders’ Implementation of Evidence-Based Strategies for Trauma in the Caribbean Within the Context of COVID-19

Abstract. Objective: Lack of governmental funding/infrastructure for mental health has created urgent need for effective training in evidence-based treatments for trauma in the Caribbean for under-resourced providers. Furthermore, impacts of the COVID-19 health crisis on providers’ implementation of skills in this region are currently unknown. Method: We examined impacts of a one-day training workshop for stakeholders in the Caribbean providing psychoeducation on trauma and PTSD and training in short-term interventions. Participants ( n = 46) were surveyed at preworkshop and postworkshop and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up (which coincided with the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic) to assess retention of any changes in perceived knowledge about trauma/effective treatments and subsequent skill implementation. Results: Participants reported significant pre–post workshop increases in perceived knowledge (pre M = 31.61, post M = 44.63) about trauma and its effective treatments ( t[45] = −6.17, p < .001). This perceived knowledge was significantly maintained over time (3M M = 42.66, 6M M = 40.75). Furthermore, participants reported significant use of several of the strategies taught at the workshop at follow-up. Higher reported emotional distress related to the pandemic was associated with lower implementation at 6M, despite significant retention in perceived knowledge from the workshop ( B = −0.02, β = −1.55, p < .05). Conclusions: Brief trauma-focused trainings can be helpful for providers in under-resourced global settings with observable impact on implementation practices over time, but providers’ emotional distress stemming from public health crises can influence practice behaviors. Subsequent impacts on policy/budget allocations are discussed.

Protecting Whom, Why, and from What? The Dutch Government’s Politics of Abjection of Sex Workers in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sex workers in the Netherlands experienced severe financial and social distress during the COVID-19 health crisis. Notwithstanding them paying taxes over the earnings, they were excluded from government financial support, faced discriminatory treatment concerning safe reopening, and experienced increased repression and stigmatization. In this contribution, I explore whether the concept of “vulnerability” contributes to understanding (and addressing) that situation. Data acquired through participatory action research, partly taking place online during lock-down measures, and literature and content analysis show that labeling sex workers “vulnerable” deflects attention away from the (in)actions of Dutch authorities responsible for sex workers’ precarious conditions during the pandemic. Government denial and strategies of abjection explain these conditions better than “vulnerability” does, as they return the gaze to actors and processes accountable for sex workers’ exclusion and criminalization during the COVID-19 health crisis and thereby put responsibility where it belongs.

Off-the-Cuff Law-Making: Policing Pandemic Dispossession in Spain

This article presents a discussion concerning the role of police rationale(s) in Spain within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, where exceptionalist strategies aimed at curtailing the spread of the virus came to dramatically strengthen existing social divisions. In line with some authors who have already approached this phenomenon from different disciplines, our premise is that most serious emergencies boosted by Covid-19 were not a mere matter of public health, but rather a particularly harmful expression of accumulation by dispossession. Thus, rather than a flaw in the system produced by an exceptional friction between public security and public health, securitarian performances deployed by neoliberal states can be read as symbiotic strategies, from both law and order and business as usual approaches, to manage the social “externalities” of capitalist predatory strategies. As we will argue, phenomena such as the reinforcement of the policing consensus, police production of law, or the authoritarian turn favored by the Covid-19 health crisis must all be analyzed in this context.

Burnout and Brownout in Intensive Care Physicians in the Era of COVID-19: A Qualitative Study.

The health crisis has had a strong impact on intensive care units. The objective of this study was to investigate the experience of resuscitation physicians during the COVID-19 health crisis to understand the associated determinants of quality of life, burnout, and brownout. This qualitative, longitudinal study covered two periods (T1, February 2021, and T2, May 2021). The data were collected in individual semi-directed interviews with 17 intensive care physicians (ICPs) (T1). Nine of the latter also participated in a second interview (T2). The data were examined using grounded theory analysis. We identified a multiplication of burnout and brownout indicators and factors already known in intensive care. In addition, burnout and brownout indicators and factors specific to the COVID-19 crisis were added. The evolution of professional practices has disrupted the professional identity, the meaning of work, and the boundaries between private and professional life, leading to a brownout and blur-out syndrome. The added value of our study lies in identifying the positive effects of the crisis in the professional domain. Our study revealed indicators and factors of burnout and brownout associated with the crisis among ICPs. Finally, it highlights the beneficial effects of the COVID-19 crisis on work.