Time Of COVID-19 Research Articles

Thinking of and with Another: Caring for Schreiner in the Time of COVID

Olive Schreiner’s elusive, unfinished novel From Man to Man is a timely text as it engages with questions pertaining to survival and healing. In today’s pandemic world, care and community – specifically, how much we need both, and what is lost when either is missing, or fails – have proven essential. This article presents a close reading of a ‘specially loved’ novel, an Anglo-South African’s challenging examination of gender, race, and class inequities. Schreiner’s imaginative effort toward justice, toward the goal of collective flourishing, guides this reparative reading to vaster insight pertaining to interpretive practice, academic community, kinship, and social change.

Comparing Students’ Multicultural Awareness Development in Online vs. Face-to-Face Diversity Courses Before, During, and After COVID-19

Creating a global workforce is a driving need for our time. Higher education institutions are prioritizing helping students develop an awareness of their own and other cultures, as they are expected to participate in a diverse workforce. This study examines a large data set of learning assessment data for undergraduate students from an agriculture course focused on diversity and social justice, using the Beliefs, Events and Values Inventory (BEVI) instrument to assess the multicultural awareness development of the students. The study compared the impact of the medium of instruction (face-to-face versus online) in helping students develop multicultural awareness. The results revealed that students did not differ much in multicultural awareness across the medium of instruction. Moreover, to understand the multicultural awareness of the students in the pre-COVID period, during COVID and in the post-COVID period, the pre-test BEVI scores of the students were compared using ANOVA. The goal of this analysis was to capture the change in worldview of the students from the pre-COVID period to during COVID and post-COVID periods. The results revealed that pre-test BEVI scores for the pre-COVID period showed a lower degree of multicultural awareness than students during the COVID and post-COVID times. Also, there was no significant difference in the pre-test BEVI scores for the students in the COVID and post-COVID periods. Overall, the study makes important contributions to higher education literature as it reveals that (1) medium has negligible impact on the multicultural awareness of the students, and that (2) student worldviews have shifted significantly since the height of the global pandemic.

Revitalizing grand rounds in the time of COVID

COVID presented an opportunity to revolutionize the traditional format of Medical Grand Rounds (MGR). In this Commentary, we explore the educational ramifications of shifting MGR virtually with a focus on COVID-related content and its long-term sustainability. This transformation offers an inclusive interdisciplinary approach to sustain learner interest and improve education.

Mobile Payment Fintech Service Adoption and Security Concerns

In India, the adoption of financial technology (Fintech) or financial technology innovation (FTI) has expanded due to the development of mobile devices and their use. The need for mobile Fintech payment systems that facilitate online and offline transactions has increased, especially during and after COVID times. However, mobile payment services are still used in limited areas due to concerns over the security of mobile applications for customers and Fintech companies alike. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the findings of this paper support the notion that usefulness, ease, user design, information security, and trust impact of mobile payment concerns and adoption factors in the Fintech environment are important variables.

Introduction: research on Japan in (post-) COVID times

From today’s perspective, the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic appears as one of several recent events that have profoundly impacted our personal and professional lives. This impact was especially severe in areas related to ethnographic research. Given the personal involvement required for this methodological approach, how did the pandemic affect researchers’ ability to conduct fieldwork? How did they change their understanding of the notion of “field” in their ethnographic activity? And what were the implications and consequences of remote or digital ethnography for their work? In short, how has the pandemic affected and been reflected in their research projects? Drawing on their fieldwork experiences, the contributing authors to this special issue—resulting from an international conference on the Anthropology of Japan in post-COVID-19 times—discuss the challenges and opportunities of conducting anthropological research (both in-person and/or online) in/on Japan during the pandemic. They explore the difficulties encountered, as well as the new opportunities that emerged at both methodological and analytical levels, in a scenario where restrictions on international mobility forced them to rethink the core element of ethnographic research: “being there.”

International students’ experiences in Brisbane during COVID times through a social justice lens

ABSTRACT The article examines the situation of international students living in Brisbane during COVID lockdowns, through a social justice lens. Despite the significant economic contribution of tertiary international students towards the Australian economy, they were excluded from government pandemic support. Help provided by other organisations was limited. International students felt undervalued and excluded, facing challenges due to their lack of income from part-time jobs, mental health issues, constraints in relation to home arrangements, online study, and lack of sense of belonging. Our findings further show that although place was a determinant in the wellbeing of students, social attachment (either spatially or a-spatially) was the most valued support to students. While there has been research on the needs of international students in Australia during lockdowns, no studies yet link these three variables: COVID lockdowns, their effects on international students left in Australia, and considerations of city scale, in a mutually influencing relationship. We followed a qualitative research design, using interviews and focus group discussions with international students and support providers in Brisbane during COVID times. We argue that both distributive and institutional dimensions of justice are important to understand the disadvantaged situation experienced by international students: the institutional COVID restrictions greatly affected students ‘trapped’ in the country, while there was a very limited distribution of resources that did not match the needs of students. We conclude with some recommendations as a result of our research. Practitioner pointers During a global pandemic, government needs to ensure that all people stranded in the country, including international students, are entitled to the same financial assistance. International students should have been consulted about, and appropriately informed through effective ways of communication about the services provided to them during the pandemic. All levels of government and educational institutions dealing with international students, need to fully consult with students and listen to their concerns.

How to Take Modern Healthcare Facilities to Rural India

COVID times has proved that modern healthcare facilities available in urban India can be carried to rural India. The way COVID has been managed, controlled and citizens have been vaccinated is a testimony to the fact that in spite of splurging population, we have been able to reach out to the healthcare needs of majority. Objective of this commentary is to study the present state of rural health, compare it with urban areas and check the feasibility of adoption of NinC’s Indian model of Innovation for improving the same. This commentary is based on Literature survey. Results have concluded that coverage of primary healthcare services, such as antenatal care, institutional deliveries and insurance coverage is very low among the rural poor population. Effective adoption of Ninc model would change the rural healthcare scenario.

Integrating and extending the SOR model, TAM and the UTAUT to assess M-commerce adoption during COVID times

Integrating and extending the SOR model, TAM and the UTAUT to assess M-commerce adoption during COVID times

Oncological Outcomes in Patients with Delayed Cytoreductive Surgery During COVID Times

Oncological Outcomes in Patients with Delayed Cytoreductive Surgery During COVID Times

Vaccine hesitancy in the time of COVID: How to manage a public health threat.

Vaccine hesitancy in the time of COVID: How to manage a public health threat.

Literature Review on cross-infection control in dental care in time of covid 19

Currently the covid-19 virus, thousands of people are presenting a pathology that affects the respiratory tract, whose infections grew immeasurably with a high mortality rate, generating a pandemic, significantly affecting work in the different areas of health. The objective of this research was: Determine the importance of cross infection control in dental care in times of COVID -19 and its analysis from the actions applied from the positive and the negative in dental medical practice. For the development it self the methodology applied was a qualitative research, one of the elements in consideration was that the participants in the dental practice are exposed to a high risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2, in addition many references on this topic can be found in articles and information sources that express that dentists are the most exposed in dental practice to the contagion of covid-19, also highlighting the survey was carried out through the identification of scientific articles to find results. The studies on the subject concluded that the levels of contamination are high in the bucal area since an elementary factor of contagion is the secretion of saliva particles

An Early Childhood Educator’s Learning Story in the Time of COVID

While it began with a variety of narrative representations of writing personal experiences, since Ellis (2004; Bochner & Ellis, 2016), evocative, performative, and creative nonfiction forms of storying have coalesced to form contemporary autoethnography. For over a decade, Canadian arts education researchers have blazed trails to employ those forms of autoethnography as “learning stories” (Carr, 2001; Carr & Lee, 2012) to study teaching and learning practices in a variety of school and community educational contexts. Learning stories enable educators to reveal teaching and learning experiences that cannot be represented by, or communicated through, other research forms. The present inquiry, which begins with the story of an early childhood educator, is rooted in the fusion of evocative autoethnography and learning stories with arts-based research, particularly a/r/tography.

Women in political power and school closure during COVID times

Summary This study explores the relationship between women’s representation in political power and school closures during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Using a cross-country dataset in Europe, we document a striking negative relationship between the share of female members in national governments and school closures. We show that a one-standard deviation increase in female members of national governments is associated with a significant reduction in the likelihood of school lockdowns by 24% relative to the average share of school closures. This result is robust to an extensive set of sensitivity checks. We attribute this pattern to a higher awareness of female politicians about the potential costs that school closures imply for families, in particular working mothers with young children.

An exploratory study of a multi-species probiotic formulation and markers of health in a real-world oncological cohort in the time of covid

IntroductionThe efficacy of cancer treatments has links to the intestinal microbiome. Mucositis is a dose-limiting intestinal pro-inflammatory side effect of cancer treatments, that increases the risk of diarrhoea, mucositis, and in severe cases, febrile neutropenia.MethodsThe effect of cancer treatments on Quality of Life (QoL) was assessed using the FACT C questionnaire that included patient wellbeing and gut adverse symptoms (e.g. diarrhoea). Participants rated faecal samples via the Bristol Stool Chart. In addition, bacterial DNA was extracted from faecal samples, sequenced, and taxonomically examined. The incidence / severity of neutropenia was assessed with white blood cell and neutrophil counts. Circulating SCFAs and plasma lipopolysaccharide (LPS) endotoxin levels were recorded and correlated to intestinal mucositis.ResultsImprovement in bowel function, with reduction in constipation and or diarrhoea or absence of significant disturbance to bowel function was recorded in 85% of the participants. One participant developed febrile neutropenia and two developed bowel toxicity during the study, that was unrelated to the test formulation. No significant changes in microbiota alpha- and beta-diversity at the phylum and species levels respectively from baseline to end of study treatment was observed. None of the participants had raised plasma-endotoxin levels from baseline to the first and subsequent treatment cycles for their cancers. Probiotics in this cohort were deemed safe and tolerable. Significant improvement in emotional QoL scores (p = 0.015) was reported with increased number of chemotherapy cycles. In a related observational study of exceptional responders to chemotherapy, participants were found to have had a high intake of fruits, vegetables, and fibre possibly indicative of a more balanced intestinal microbiota.ConclusionA multi-strain probiotic formulation was safe and tolerated in this chronically ill cohort that were undergoing oncological treatment. The probiotic formulation alleviated diarrhoea, constipation and maintained stool consistency/frequency during the multiple treatments with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Intestinal dysbiosis that is characterised by decreased microbial diversity and increased pro-inflammatory species was not observed. Probiotic supplementation may have helped reduce dysbiosis during cancer treatments. These improvements may have been critical with the observation that emotional wellbeing was significantly improved from baseline. Hence albeit that the study had limitations, the probiotic intervention provided adjunctive treatment support to the patients. What is of scientifically plausible interest is that probiotics have a long association historically with human hosts and as such ratify their inclusion offering a significant adjunctive therapeutic potential. Future studies warrant larger sample sizes, control groups and should limit recruitment to a largely homogenous group of patients.

An antidote to “armageddon and potential doom”: accounts of canine-human companionship during Covid-19

ABSTRACT Though the anthropause of Covid-19 was peculiarly human-centric, it also brought into sharp relief our more-than-human world. Canine-human companionship can support human mental and physical wellbeing in ‘normal’ times, but this article explores the pandemic as a unique context for animal/human relations. I interrogate the pandemic component of the Dog Talking and Walking Project online survey (n = 673), and subsequent interviews (n = 41). A novel two-step qualitative data analysis comprised, firstly, examining participants’ written qualitative survey accounts about how Covid catalysed canine companionship, and descriptions of how canine closeness attenuated losses. Secondly, I explore key interview themes: ‘closeness’ of canine companionship; dogs as ‘mediator’ in families; and dogs as ‘moderator’ of the impacts of the pandemic. The analysis offers an important counter to the speciesism and anthropocentrism embedded in our recollections of Covid times. Methodologically, I suggest that qualitative surveys alongside the traditional interview can yield richer understandings of more-than-human relationships.

Community in times of COVID: building resilience in a self-help neighborhood in Medellin

ABSTRACT This article looks at resilience-building in Moravia, an inner-urban, self-help neighborhood constructed on and around the former principal landfill of Medellin, Colombia. Based on a photovoice project carried out with a group of children and youth in 2019, an image is presented of social cohesion within the neighborhood. Moravia's case shows that social cohesion in the neighborhood fosters three concrete forms of resilience-building: (1) maintaining networks of aid and care, (2) cultivating a sense of neighborhood identity, and (3) engaging in direct and indirect forms of reciprocity. Data from digital ethnography obtained in 2021 demonstrate that these resilience-building practices were maintained online during quarantine. This article contributes to the literature on social cohesion, first, by departing from children and youth views of community dynamics in their neighborhood and, second, by connecting social cohesion to resilience-building in the context of an auto-constructed, underprivileged neighborhood in Latin America and the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it contributes to the literature on the photovoice methodology and the expanding work on digital ethnography, respectively by showing the efficacy of photovoice when researching community-related themes with children and youth, and investigating neighborhood-based Facebook groups as a space for enhancing social cohesion and resilience in times of crisis.

Leaning in and moving forward: a call to action and review of diversity initiatives in SAGES.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been an intentional focus for SAGES well before the COVID-19 pandemic and the coincident societal recognition of social injustices and racism. Longstanding inequities within our society, healthcare, and the surgery profession have come to light in the aftermath of events that rose to attention around the time of Covid. In so doing, they have brought into focus disparities, injustices, and inequalities that have long been present in the field of surgery, selectively affecting the most vulnerable. This White paper examines the current state of diversity within the field of surgery and SAGES (Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons) approach and effort to pave the way forward to meaningful change. We delineate the imperative for diversity, equity, and inclusion for all. By all, we mean to be inclusive of the diversity of gender and sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, geography, sex, and disability in the field of surgery. SAGES is an organization that lives at the intersection of education and innovation. It has a vital role in assisting the surgical profession in addressing these issues and needs and being a force alongside others for sustained and necessary change. SAGES can only realize these goals through a commitment across all aspects of the organization to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into our very fabric. True diversity, equity, and inclusion within a surgical organization is vital for its longevity, growth, relevance, and impact. Unfortunately, the absence of DEI limits opportunity, robs the organization of collective intelligence in an environment in which its presence is critical, contributes to health inequities, and impoverishes all within the society and its value to all with whom it interfaces. SAGES is an organization that lives at the intersection of education and innovation. It has a vital role in assisting the surgical profession in addressing these issues and needs and being a force alongside others for sustained and necessary change. SAGES can only realize these goals through a commitment across all aspects of the organization to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into our very fabric. Strategies like those highlighted in this White Paper, may be within our grasp and we can learn yet more if we remain in a place of humility and teachability in the future.

Post Pandemic Mental Health and Care Strategies

This article highlights the changes, pandemic COVID-19 brought along with it. In this phase, people have witnessed huge number of deaths, loss of loved ones and risks with physical health. Of even greater significance is the mental health of the individuals. Apart from boredom in social isolation, they underwent serious symptoms of depression and anxiety. There has been an increase in domestic abuse in the families. Recession and unemployment have led to despair in populations. With no sign of an easy life yet and more drastic changes experienced after the pandemic, people are coping by seeking help of mental health professionals. Revenge tourism and revenge shopping has currently dominated the minds of people and people are seeking wider stimulations after experiencing such a prolonged distress. Therefore, this article will highlight the psychological problems experienced during the COVID times and the mental health of the individuals after the pandemic phase. Keywords: Revenge tourism, travel, mental health, Integrative care

In COVID Times: Scholars of Health and Medicine Meet Disaster Studies.

This essay builds on the exciting trove of disaster social science research surfacing since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It tracks the ways that both practitioners of medicine and public health, and their social science analogues, have approached the pandemic, explicitly considering the ways they reached for new concepts to explain the temporal phenomena presented by COVID-19 and its global course. The essay highlights a series of interviews conducted in the first two years of the pandemic as part of the COVIDCalls podcast. COVID is the moment for a scholarly convergence that was missed after September 11, and again after Hurricane Katrina, and should not be missed again. Accordingly, this essay explores themes where medicine/health studies and disaster studies seem to offer great help to one another in making sense of our COVID times: the origins of disaster, disasters in combination, and the end of a disaster.

Model of perinatal care but not prenatal stress exposure is associated with birthweight and gestational age at Birth: The Australian birth in the time of COVID (BITTOC) study

ObjectiveThe present study aimed to understand, relative to standard care, whether continuity of care models (private midwifery, continuity of care with a private doctor, continuity of care with a public midwife), and women’s experience of maternity care provision, during the perinatal period buffered the association between prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) and infant birth outcomes (gestational age [GA], birth weight [BW] and birth weight for gestational age [BW for GA]). Methods2207 women who were pregnant in Australia while COVID-19 restrictions were in place reported on their COVID-19 related objective hardship and subjective distress during pregnancy and provided information on their model of maternity care. Infant birth outcomes (BW, GA) were reported on at 2-months postpartum. ResultsMultiple linear regressions showed no relationship between PNMS and infant BW, GA or BW for GA, and neither experienced continuity of care, nor model of maternity care moderated this relationship. However, compared with all other models of care, women enrolled in private midwifery care reported the highest levels of experienced continuity of care and birthed infants at higher GA. BW and BW for GA were higher in private midwifery care, relative to standard care. ConclusionEnrollment in continuous models of perinatal care may be a better predictor of infant birth outcomes than degree of PNMS exposure. These results highlight the possibility that increased, continuous support to women during pregnancy may play an important role in ensuring positive infant birth outcomes during future pandemics.