Pandemic Experience Research Articles

Covid-19 Pandemic Experience and Human Rights Protection in Nigeria

Covid-19 Pandemic Experience and Human Rights Protection in Nigeria

Video double-lumen tube for one lung ventilation: implementation and experience in 343 cases of routine clinical use during the first 20 months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

BackgroundDouble-lumen tubes (DLTs) are the preferred device for lung isolation. Conventional DLTs (cDLT) need a bronchoscopic position control. Visualisation of correct DLT positioning could be facilitated by the use of a video double-lumen tube (vDLT). During the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic, avoiding aerosol-generation was suggesting using this device. In a large retrospective series, we report both general and pandemic related experiences with the device.MethodsAll anesthesia records from patients aged 18 years or older undergoing surgery from April 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2021 in the department of thoracic surgery requiring intraoperative lung isolation were analyzed retrospectively.ResultsDuring the investigation period 343 left-sided vDLTs (77.4%) and 100 left-sided cDLTs (22.6%) were used for one lung ventilation. In the vDLT group bronchoscopy could be reduced by 85.4% related to the cDLT group. Additional bronchoscopy to reach or maintain correct position was needed in 11% of the cases. Other bronchoscopy indications occured in 3.6% of the cases. With cDLT, in 1% bronchoscopy for other indications than conforming position was observed.ConclusionsThe Ambu® VivaSight™ vDLT is an efficient, easy-to-use and safe airway device for the generation of one lung ventilation in patients undergoing thoracic surgery. The vDLT implementation was achieved easily with full interchangeability to the left-sided cDLT. Using the vDLT can reduce the need for aerosol-generating bronchoscopic interventions by 85.4%. Continuous video view to the carina enabling position monitoring of the DLT without need for bronchoscopy might be beneficial for both employee’s and patient’s safety.

Impact of COVID-19 Public Health Restrictions on the Pregnancy Experience: A Mixed-Methods Study

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the provision of obstetrical care. This mixed-methods study explores pregnant women’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic using an explanatory sequential design. The experiences and opinions of obstetrical patients were elicited using an online questionnaire and semi-structured interview as a follow-up. There were 162 completed questionnaires, and 17 interviews. Qualitative analysis themes included worries about the intrapartum experience, its impact on partners, and lack of postpartum support for breastfeeding and mental health. This study provides an understanding of how the pandemic impacted pregnancy experiences, and the potential future repercussions of isolation and restrictions on wellbeing during public health crises.

A View on technology and controls for epidemic preparedness and the growth of COVID-19 disease in Saudi Arabia

This work emphasizes that the best chance of ending the pandemic lies in the Measures that can help us respond to these epidemic threats more effectively than before in the scope of protection from epidemic risks that we were not aware of before the outbreak of the disease, which is to benefit from the study of previous experiences. The work show the importance of technology about how to prepare for and handle any pandemic by discussing a successful case from the past. We examine Saudi Arabia's COVID-19 pandemic response experiences. We proposed a case evolution study from the southern region of Jazan to demonstrate the consequences of these techniques. Data on the daily Jazan COVID-19 infection curve collected from July 1st to September 30th, 2020, was processed using multiple Python software modules, such as encoder-decoder LSTM, 1D-CNN, and Complex network analysis of time series to identify changes within the infection curve's structure. A Gaussian modeling study was performed to compare the data movement with the protection from epidemic risks computed by stratification based on the data group.The network analysis shows that hubs are stable while medium and low-degree nodes are unstable. Also, from the perspective of Gaussian modeling, the COVID-19 infection curve parts indicate that the pandemic in Saudi Arabia is about to peak and move into the second (declining) half of the bell-shaped distribution.Technology in many areas and internet access make Saudi Arabia's social separation strategies a pandemic-eradication success story

What supports and services post COVID-19 do children with disabilities and their parents need and want, now and into the future?

Children and youth with disabilities and special healthcare needs, and their families, have been uniquely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the voices of children themselves are still not well represented in the existing literature. This qualitative descriptive study used a combination of visual methods and interviews to learn about the experiences of Canadian children with disabilities (n=18) and their parents (n=14) during the COVID pandemic and into the post-pandemic period. Data collection was carried out between January and July 2023. The aim was to identify the supports and services children and families need at present and moving forward. Families' pandemic experiences were complex and nuanced. For many, the pandemic complicated and disrupted everyday activities and supports. These disruptions were largely buffered by parents. However, some families also identified unexpected benefits. Key themes pertaining to present and future needs included the need for services that are flexible; consistent; conducive to relationship-building; comprehensive; coordinated across sectors; and designed to support the needs of the whole family. Implications for policy and practice are outlined.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality of Tourism Research: A Review and Research Agenda

ABSTRACT This study aims to present a critical literature review on virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in tourism and hospitality research and propose future research areas. A systematic review with bibliometric analysis using the software VOSviewer on 204 articles from 1995 to 2022 of a Scopus database. Four emerging research areas are discovered: (1) VR tourism marketing; (2) AR applications in heritage (3) VR consumption behavior after the pandemic and (4) tourist experience. Researcher collaborations occur mostly in the same institution and country. Future research directions are theoretical development, qualitative study method, cross-cultural studies and hospitality. This project extends the previous reviews by proposing a future research framework. Future research directions include role of presence between media richness & interactivity and consumer responses; VR and AR values from Chinese and United Sates customers; and how VR commercials generate a higher level of vividness and interactivity among customers. This study provides an updated version of the bibliometric visualization of VR/AR in tourism research. It shows how to capture distinct clusters on existing research areas using keywords co-occurrence, collaboration patterns using co-authorship analysis, and bibliographic coupling. New frameworks on the topic are proposed.

"It made me feel like a shit parent": an intersectional analysis of pandemic mothering.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the fore the everyday and exceptional challenges for mothers. Rarely, however, did research or social commentary acknowledge the multiplicities of motherhood during this prolonged period of risk, disruption, and uncertainty. This paper draws upon interviews with 24 mothers living in Aotearoa New Zealand during the pandemic, including women who were pregnant and gave birth during lockdowns, teenage mothers, single and low-income mothers, and working mothers. The sample was intentionally diverse, including Māori, Pacific, Asian and migrant mothers. Engaging an intersectional lens on motherhood and women's health, this paper builds upon and extends feminist research on mothers' experiences during the pandemic, highlighting the many different challenges facing mothers of diverse social, cultural, and economic positionalities and during various stages of motherhood. Across the sample, we reveal the significant emotional toll on mothers, particularly with the absence of critical social, medical and health support systems during lockdown periods and sustained social restrictions. Many of the women described how the pandemic affected their feelings about motherhood, prompting new reflections on their relationships with the home, family, work, and broader society. Despite some similarities, the pandemic experiences of Māori, Pacific, migrant and single mothers were further intensified by various forms of isolation, judgement, and discrimination. In this way, the pandemic shed light on the gendering of everyday maternal life, but also the need for more intersectional culturally and gender-responsive policies that acknowledge the multi-layered complexities of mothers' lives.

International Schools and De-globalisation: Exploring the tensions during the Covid-19 crisis

This paper explores the thesis of de-globalisation in relation to international education. Through interrogating accounts of international school leadership during the Covid-19 crisis, the tension between international expectations and localised realities is charted, with four central tenets of internationalism undermined by the pandemic experience. It is argued that the Covid-19 crisis, ostensibly a single global event, resulted in the fractalisation of international education; the conceptualisation of unified internationalism was undermined by the inherently localised material effects of the pandemic. In place of an internationalism that is unified, transcendent, inclusive and connected, international school leaders’ accounts of leading through the pandemic focused on their sense that their schools were fractured, rooted, privileged and isolated. It is suggested that this international crisis demonstrates the precarious nature of the respatialising of the global that is intrinsic to international schooling.

Pathways to resilience: The parallel change in children's emotional difficulties and family context during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy.

The study analyses which pathways to adjustment emerged at the family level during the COVID-19 containment period in Italy, during which children were locked down with their families for 56 days from March 11 to May 6. Using a longitudinal design, with data pre- and postevent, a bivariate latent change score model analyzed the covariance of the change in family well-being (FW) and in emotional difficulties (ED), testing if the longitudinal change in ED is a function of the starting level of FW, and vice-versa. Children's stress reactions to the pandemic and other related experiences were included as additional predictors. A total of 166 middle school students (86 females) with a mean age of 11.14 (SD = .47) completed two online questionnaires, in January 2020 (T0) and in June 2020 (T1). Results showed that children's ED decreased significantly, on average, during the lockdown period, and FW remained constant. ED and FW change scores had a significant and negative covariation (β = - .46; p = .01). When family well-being increased emotional difficulties decreased, and vice versa. FW at T0 predicted no change in FW, nor did T0 scores of ED predict any change in FW. The strong intercorrelated change between children's ED and FW during the lockdown does not seem influenced by preexisting levels of individual and family functioning. Findings supported the view that for some families, the COVID-19 lockdown was also an opportunity to experience deeper emotional connections, contributing to a decrease in ED. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of midwifery students' changing life conditions and e-learning experiences on the state of their anxiety and hopelessness during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Giving the existing formal education through the internet without a planned transition to distance education negatively affected the learning processes of the students. The study aims to identify the midwifery students' changing life conditions and e- learning experiences on the state of their anxiety and hopelessness during the Covid-19 pandemic. Designed as cross-sectional research, the study was performed with the participation of 1,296 midwifery undergraduate students. The survey form comprised of questions that explored the students' demographic characteristics, life conditions changing during the Covid-19 pandemic and distance education experiences, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale were used in the data collection. It was discerned that, of the participant midwifery students, 55.2% spent the period of the pandemic in the province center, 51.7% used smartphones to have access to the distance education, 50.3% had trouble in following up the courses due to the limited computer and internet access, 63.5% failed to follow up the courses because of the infrastructure problems related to the distance education. It was found that, of the participant midwifery students, 54.6% exhibited anxiety symptoms and 26.3% had hopelessness symptoms. It was identified that having trouble in following up the courses increased anxiety by 1.438 times (CI:1.103-1.875) and hopelessness by 1.980 times (CI:1.459-2.687), having tensions in the family relations increased anxiety by 2.362 times (CI:1.780-3.134) and hopelessness by 1.789 times (CI:1.235-2.594), and having psychological support for anxiety and worry increased anxiety by 2.914 times (CI:2.208-3.8477) and hopelessness by 1.875 times (CI:1.083-3.247). It was ascertained that hopelessness increased anxiety by 2.878 times (CI:2.075-3.991) whilst anxiety increased hopelessness by 2.755 times (CI:1.985-3.823) (p<0.05). As well as the Covid-19 pandemic, health, social life, and economic changes; the digital separation that accompanies distance education also affects the students' mental health. Solving the technical problems experienced in distance education, facilitating the follow-up of the courses, and equipping the midwifery students with problem-solving and coping skills will be useful for reducing the midwifery students' hopelessness and anxiety levels.

Governing the Resilient Self: Influencers’ Digital Affective Labor in Quarantine Vlogs

This article explores quarantine vlogs on YouTube to examine the cultural production of influencers during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. By using a grounded theory approach to analyze 9 quarantine vlogs filmed by woman creators along with 480 user comments, this article argues that quarantine vlogs are shaped by influencers’ competing desires of (1) offering care and soothing content to the viewers and (2) instrumentalizing the discontents of the pandemic moment as a neoliberal device to preserve their aspirational self. In quarantine vlogs, influencers interact with their audiences by recognizing the emotional and mental strains of navigating the pandemic or their relative privilege, while they reframe the pandemic experience as an opportunity for productivity and self-growth. Consequently, influencers engage in significant affective labor and self-governance during a global health crisis to establish a resilient persona and maintain their online visibility.

Experiences of Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Avoidance and self-isolation are often adapted as safety behaviours to manage social anxiety. However, such safety behaviours were actively encouraged throughout the COVID-19 outbreak to reduce the spread of infection. This study aims to explore the impact of pandemic-related social isolation among anxious and non-anxious university students. Participants were screened using the Generalised Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7) and allocated to anxious and non-anxious groups based on their scores. Fifteen participants (9 female and 6 male) were interviewed remotely (mean age=28.6). The study found that whilst social anxiety and anxiety about pandemic related socialising co-occurred, there were no distinct differences between the two groups. Instead, intragroup difference (the impact of COVID-19, adaptability, and self-development) differentiated participants’ experiences. An increased desire for human connection, online communication, and the perspective of others were protective factors against the development of social anxiety related to pandemic lockdown for participants, regardless of their group. This research develops the field in understanding early pandemic experiences and its link to social distancing and isolation practices.

Italian society and politics to the test of the pandemic

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to reflect how the pandemic experience has shaped Italian society, under some key aspects.&#x0D; THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The pandemic is changing much of our lives: relationships, politics, economics, religious attitudes, European and global scenarios. The essay tries to study the most important dynamics in this epochal change.&#x0D; THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The argumentation starts from anthropological and ethics aspects to end with social and political elements of pandemic time.&#x0D; RESEARCH RESULTS: The essay try to present a multidisciplinary approach to understand the pandemia. The most important result is to “read” the pandemia as a multifaced phenomena.&#x0D; CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: It’s important to encourage studies where the complexity of our world is interpreted by researchers fo different disciplines. In this particular historical moment, probably, we should do the same lecture about the many wars and conflicts around the world.

Singles-friendly work cultures and work-life balance during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study across four European countries

This study examined the correlations between perceptions of social acceptance of singlehood, a singles-friendly work culture (SFWC), and work-life balance (WLB), as well as the differences in the levels of the mentioned variables among single employees without children in four European countries: Croatia, Denmark, Italy, and Portugal. Since the study was performed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it also considered single employees’ pandemic unique experiences. Using a cross-sectional study design, a total of 722 single employees without children, of which 191 from Italy, 182 Portugal, 180 Croatia, and 160 Denmark, completed an online set of self-report scales. The results were mostly in line with the expectation that singlehood acceptance and WLB is higher, and work cultures are more single-friendly in more egalitarian countries, with highest levels being reported in Denmark, lower in Croatia, even lower in Portugal, and lowest in Italy. In all countries, variables indicating social acceptance of singlehood were weakly to moderately positively correlated to WLB and SFWC, while these variables’ correlations with the SFWC factors were mostly non-significant for Denmark. The participants additionally indicated that they felt they were expected to pick up extra shifts or be more flexible in planning private schedules, and they experienced financial differentiation.

COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences of Counselors and Their Families

COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences of Counselors and Their Families

COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts and addiction severity among service users in selected substance use treatment facilities in Nairobi, Kenya

ABSTRACT Background The onset of COVID-19 brought about disruption in almost every sector globally. Among the affected places in Kenya were substance use treatment facilities where service users were discharged to avoid infection. This was accompanied by closure of bars and introduction of curfews among other measures. Data on the possible impact of these disruptions on Alcohol Use Disorders is still scant. This study aimed at examining the relationship between COVID-19 pandemic experiences and severity of Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs) symptoms. Methods Data were collected from 176 residential service users in selected substance use treatment facilities in Nairobi using Epidemic – Pandemic Impacts Inventory (EPII) and the Modified Addiction Severity Index. Results The study revealed a weak positive and significant correlation between COVID-19 impacts and addiction severity. Conclusion The findings imply the need for substance use treatment facilities to include life disruptions such as COVID pandemic in their assessment and intake history. The study recommends that treatment facilities need to enhance family programmes with patients’ families in order to address the higher addiction severity reported on this domain. This will enhance their treatment programs to address the COVID-19 challenges and future pandemics on addiction.

Pathological buying on the rise? Compensative and compulsive buying in Poland in the pre- and (Post-)pandemic times.

The study concerns the development of compensative and compulsive buying in Poland comparing the results of three waves of a cross-sectional study conducted before and at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six predictors of susceptibility to compensative and compulsive buying are in focus: materialism, self-esteem, gender, age, frequency of online shopping, and experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the importance of the first four predictors in explaining compensative and compulsive buying is already very well described in the literature, while the novelty consists in the predictive model including the variables that describe frequency of online shopping and negative experiences related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as coronavirus infection, hospitalization or death of a loved one. On the one hand, a stronger susceptibility to compensative and compulsive buying could be a reaction to these negative experiences of the pandemic; on the other hand, the increased frequency of online shopping as a result of the pandemic may be an important factor in the development of compensative and compulsive buying due to the easy implementation of purchase acts and weaker social control. To achieve the above research objectives, the German Compulsive Buying Indicator (GCBI) was used to measure susceptibility to compensative and compulsive buying. The data were obtained within three waves of the study (2010, 2019, 2022) based on a random sample of about 1,000 respondents representing statistically the general adult population. Drawing on this study, the prevalence of compensative and compulsive buying is observed at 12-19% and 2-4%. The predictors of GCBI are materialism, self-esteem, gender in all examined models and additionally age, frequency of online shopping, and experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in selected models. Although the findings related to the role of materialism, self-esteem, and gender in the prediction of GCBI reflect the results reported in the literature, the analogous conclusions about age, online shopping, and experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic are different from the established opinions. The commonly reported effect of age becomes statistically significant when the examined population is limited to Gens Y and Z. Although extensive online shopping co-exists with compensative and compulsive buying in the total population, the obtained data lead to reverse conclusions in the case of women's subpopulation representing Gens Y and Z. The negative experience with the COVID-19 pandemic operationalised as hospitalization of a close friend predicts GCBI, but again only in the case of representatives of Gens Y and Z, especially among women. The findings show how important the creation of appropriate intervention strategies is within the consumer policy directed to representatives of the younger generations who may develop pathological buying as a response to negative experiences such as COVID-19 pandemic. The findings can inform of the goals behind therapeutic support for compulsive buyers, and implications for social work. People affected by excessive compensative or compulsive buying need to be given opportunities to build up their strengths and growth of their psychological resources towards healthy self-esteem, which seems to be the best protection against excessive compensative and compulsive buying.

Perceived life threat in children during the COVID-19 pandemic: associations with posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

Defining children's "trauma exposure" in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a source of debate. Children were exposed to threatening messaging about COVID-19 but might interpret this information differently than adults. Perceived life threat (PLT), the belief that one's life is in danger, has been identified as a robust predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and may be a better predictor of PTSS than actual life threat (ALT). This study investigated parent reports of children's self-PLT (belief that they might die from COVID-19) and family-PLT (belief that a family member might die from COVID-19). The aims were to compare PLT to ALT, evaluate their associations with children's psychological functioning, and identify risk factors associated with PLT. We hypothesized an association between PLT and children's psychological functioning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents (N = 140) reported on their child's (M age = 9.81years, 47% female) pandemic experiences, psychological functioning, and both self-PLT and family-PLT. Results revealed self-PLT for 10% of the children and family-PLT for 43% of the children, yet only 6% experienced ALT (i.e., they or their parent tested positive for COVID-19). Children with reported self- or family-PLT had higher PTSS, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and functional impairment compared to children without these reported beliefs. PLT, but not ALT, was associated with psychological outcomes. Children with only PLT had greater PTSS and impairment than children with ALT. There were differences in parental functioning and pandemic-related information/media exposure between children with and without PLT. Children's perceptions, rather than objective experiences, may be more central to their psychological functioning. This has implications for screening for pandemic-related symptomatology in children as traditional trauma exposure measures may not adequately identify distressed children.

Impact of COVID-19-related experiences on health-related quality of life in cancer survivors in the United States.

Little evidence exists on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survivors, limiting recommendations to improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in this population. We describe survivors' pandemic experiences and examine associations between COVID-19-related exposures, psychosocial experiences, and HRQoL. Between May 2020-April 2021, survivors completed cross-sectional questionnaires capturing COVID-19-related exposures (e.g., exposure to virus, job loss); psychosocial experiences (i.e., COVID-19-related anxiety/depression, disruptions to health care and daily activities/social interactions, satisfaction with providers' response to COVID, financial hardship, perceived benefits of the pandemic, social support, and perceived stress management ability); and HRQoL. Data were collected from N = 11,325 survivors in the United States. Participants were mostly female (58%), White (89%) and non-Hispanic (88%), and age 63 on average. Breast cancer was the most common diagnosis (23%). Eight percent of participants reported being exposed to COVID-19; 1% tested positive. About 6% of participants lost their jobs, while 24% lost household income. Nearly 30% avoided attending in-person oncology appointments because of the pandemic. Poorer HRQoL was associated with demographic (younger age; female; non-Hispanic White), clinical (Medicare; stage IV disease; hematologic/digestive/respiratory system cancer), and psychosocial factors (low perceived benefits and stress management ability; more disruption to health care and daily activities/social interactions; financial hardship). COVID-19-related stressors were associated with various psychosocial experiences in cancer survivors, and these psychosocial experiences were associated with HRQoL above and beyond demographic and clinical factors.

Teamwork and Collaboration: Bright Spots of Governmental Public Health Employee Reflections on the COVID-19 Response.

The public health emergency response following the outbreak of COVID-19 necessitated greater internal public health agency teamwork and external collaboration. Building on previous research, this article is the third of 3 research briefs that highlight "bright spots" or valuable experiences and opportunities from the COVID-19 response. Using PH WINS 2021 data, we qualitatively examined responses to a question about pandemic workforce experiences. Teamwork and collaboration were emphasized as a critical component of employees' experiences. Across 260 responses, 7 subthemes emerged, generally commemorating the ways that the response effort and employees were supported by teamwork and collaboration. Findings highlight the value of ongoing cross-division teamwork within agencies, the role of leaders in teamwork, and that lessons from teamwork/collaboration experiences can inform organizational system improvements. Maintaining and expanding on improved external collaboration and partnerships should be prioritized for preparing for future emergency events and serving public health communities on a daily basis.