Time Of Pandemic Research Articles

Lessons from Covid-19 and the potential benefit of the implementation of Axon’s personal electronic health records (PEHR) into aesthetic care, plastic and reconstructive surgery

BackgroundCovid-19 pandemic highlighted the need for implementing Personal Electronic Health Records (PEHR) for patients’ data management. Furthermore, this pandemic underscored the relevance for integrated and interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHR) to support disease surveillance, hospital capacity planning and resource management (Peek N, Sujan M, Scott P (2020) Digital health and care in pandemic times: impact of COVID-19. BMJ Health Care Inf 27(1):e100166. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjhci-2020-100166). Due to the lack of comprehensive patients’ record in plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, Axon’s myHealth app offers a break-through patient-centric design allowing patients to be in control of their records and updating them in real-time for their plastic and aesthetic care providers to have a clearer understanding of patients’ history and progress from pre-op to post-op.MethodsThe Axon Dublin survey took place during Covid-19 pandemic in two phases: Phase 1 aimed to assess the feasibility of patients integrating the Axon myHealth application into their clinical visits. Testing occurred in a clinical environment, where patients were encouraged to download and use the Axon system with a health practitioner (HP) present. Phase 2 focused on home testing, evaluating patients’ willingness to manage their health remotely with HP assistance. This phase included self-testing activities such as performing rapid Covid-19 antigen tests, recording medical history, and measuring blood pressure at home.ResultsThe Axon Dublin Study aimed to assess patient engagement, clinical impact, and cost-effectiveness of the Axon myHealth application. Over 85% of patients showed interest in owning a Personal Electronic Health Record. Notably, 36% continuously monitored chronic conditions. Clinical decisions, informed by patient data, saw 61.9% compliance. Noteworthy, 23% of hypertensive participants required immediate medication changes. Patient self-capture of data reduced consultation time. Public health implications were significant, with 39% vaccinated and 31% reporting complications. High user satisfaction (97%) demonstrated the app’s effectiveness in infection control and chronic care.ConclusionsOffering patients the ability to update and control their data is a growing interest, with a clear need in plastic and aesthetic surgery to have a better understanding of a patient’s medical past and progress throughout the surgical process and period. This platform, which is time and cost efficient, can only facilitate personalised care and improve outcomes while maintaining patient’s confidentiality.Level of evidenceNot gradable.

Burnout Professional Fulfilment and Sleep Quality in Indian Healthcare Workers in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Aim and Background: With more than 210 nations affected, the SARS-COV-2 became the most widespread worldwide pandemic. As of 14 April 2022, over 500 million cases were confirmed globally Given these numbers, it was hardly surprising that the Covid-19 epidemic significantly strained healthcare systems worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the degree of Burnout, Professional fulfilment, and Sleep quality across various groups of healthcare professionals working during the Covid-19 pandemic and looked for any correlation between these three variables. Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional observational research design and gathered data from respondents across various regions of India through an anonymous online or paper-based questionnaire tailored to the preferences of each participating Healthcare Worker (HCW). The assessment of professional fulfilment was conducted by employing the Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index and the sleep quality of healthcare workers was determined via the use of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The variables were analyzed using statistical tools; Chi-square test, Fisher’s Exact test,Kruskal-Wallis One Way Analysis of Variance and Spearman’s rank correlation Results: Burnout was notably higher among the HCWs with poorer Sleep quality and lower in HCWs with higher Professional Fulfilment. Correlations further revealed that Burnout scores positively correlated with Work exhaustion and Interpersonal Disengagement Conclusion: This illustrates that HCWs with poorer sleep quality and lesser professional fulfilment experienced greater burnout at work during the COVID-19 pandemic Clinical significance: These insights guide healthcare providers and policy markers to optimize the well being of Healthcare Workers and foster informed preparedness in case of future pandemics. Keywords: COVID-19, PSQI, HCW, SPFI, Burnout, Professional Fulfilment, Sleep Quality.

Attendance in a Neonatal Follow-Up Program before and in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Prospective-Retrospective Observational Study.

Attendance to neonatal follow-up programs presents a significant factor associated with positive long-term outcomes of high-risk infants. Strategies to maximize participation benefit not only future interventions' effectiveness but also healthcare systems and society. While a number of studies have focused on attrition or loss to follow-up, no studies have focused on the contributive risk factors to abstaining from neonatal follow-up programs specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to reveal the main factors linked to non-compliance in a neonatal follow-up program of a tertiary hospital. In this ambidirectional observational study, data from 1137 high-risk neonates who participated in a hospital follow-up program were collected (573 before and 564 after the COVID-19 pandemic). The study sample was grouped to three groups: G1 (N = 831), who maintained participation in the program; G2 (N = 196), who discontinued; and G3 (N = 110), who never visited the outpatient clinics. Data were obtained from the hospital's Systems Applications and Products (SAP) Software and a structured questionnaire, answered by parents of newborns either discontinuing (G2) or not attending (G3) the follow-up program through a telephone contact. The most frequently reported reason for discontinuance before the pandemic onset was the parents' perception of no necessity to maintain participation (44.12%). During the COVID-19 pandemic, provider-related barriers to maintaining hospital access, inability to provide high-quality services (37.14%), and feelings of fear and insecurity (18.5%) emerged as factors for non-attendance. Citizenship and morbidity (respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, necrotic enterocolitis, jaundice) acted as incentives to join the follow-up program during both study periods. Multiple regression analysis showed that multiple-gestation infants had higher odds of maintaining participation during the COVID-19 period (OR, 4.04; CI, 1.09-14.9). Understanding the potential impact of COVID-19 and the transformative changes in neonatal follow-up clinics is crucial for applying compliance strategies. Removing barriers to maintain family participation can lead to increased attendance rates.

Considerations of Post-Pandemic Life

Abstract Although the duration of a pandemic has a limit, it is also a time wherein we comport ourselves toward a world where there is a pandemic. Pandemic time can be a time of panic, during which we may attempt to find solace in the comforting objectivity of the sciences. However much science is necessary, we should remember that science is not the only relevant discourse. Further, adjacent to the particulate matter that spreads airborne contagions, pandemic time can be a time of minuscule identity, the forgetting of our collective being when we are overwhelmed by a concern for personal survival. During a pandemic time, without a collaborative approach to scholarship in general, we can become stuck in pandemic time and isolated as precisely calculating beings that survive only to reproduce iterative knowledge and maintain existing routines.

Localization and developmentality: Policy pragmatism in pandemic times

AbstractMotivationLocalization is increasingly invoked in debates about how to reform international aid: to improve aid effectiveness and address ethical concerns by turning hierarchical aid relations on their head. This has proved to be easier said than done. The COVID‐19 pandemic produced logistical impediments to aid practitioners, which translated into a renewed, if temporary, interest in localization.PurposeThe initial scope of the research engaged with the notion of partnership during COVID‐19, but almost all informants drew attention to the concept of localization. The article maps and analyses the challenges and advantages of localization, as seen from the practitioners' perspective.Approach and methodsThe article draws on 24 interviews conducted in Oslo with representatives of various Norwegian development and humanitarian non‐governmental organizations and government agencies, in addition to policy and grey literature review.FindingsThe article shows that the re‐emergence of the localization debate during COVID‐19 occurred not because of any ambition to reform aid, but as a pragmatic and temporary response to the logistical impediments caused by the pandemic. Reflections from the interviewees on the pros and cons offer more substantial insights into why localization fails to change practice, while at the same time localization enables a form of indirect governance related to accountability regimes. This is analysed as developmentality, reflecting the logic that localization takes place when recipients do as donors want, but they do so voluntarily, which suggests that localization counterintuitively may reinforce existing power structures.Policy implicationsLocalization is poorly conceptualized. While a definition could be helpful in practice, one that is too rigid could undermine the diversity of actors and knowledge that localization aims to advance. At the operational level, localization requires greater flexibility and slack throughout the aid chain, especially in the audit and accountability regimes of donor and funding authorities, which permeate and uphold lopsided aid relations.

Antecedents of physical sickness presenteeism during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Physical sickness presenteeism––the behaviour of going to work despite being ill––constitutes a threat to organizations because it puts the health of their members at risk. Herein, we shed light on potential antecedents of physical sickness presenteeism during COVID-19. Specifically, we test several pre-registered hypotheses suggesting relations of (inter-individual) personality dimensions (e.g. Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Empathy) and COVID-19-related situational perceptions (e.g. Perceived Risk, Trust in Government) with physical sickness presenteeism. To test our hypotheses, we use both panel (N = 660) and cross-sectional (N = 1,959) survey data collected between mid-2020 and early 2021 in Denmark. Results from logistic random effects regression analyses show that individuals with higher levels of Emotionality engaged more often in physical sickness presenteeism. Further, individuals with higher levels of Honesty-Humility engaged less often in physical sickness presenteeism in times with COVID-19-related workplace restrictions. In general, the findings provide insights into what organizations and policy makers should focus on in order to mitigate physical sickness presenteeism in pandemic times.

Modelling and forecasting European Airbnb occupancy during the pandemic: The specific merits of panel-data and Markov-switching models

This study models European Airbnb occupancy from January 2017 to December 2020 for 43 European countries within an econometric panel-data framework. Besides typical economic covariates, the COVID-19 Stringency Index is employed to allow for the recent pandemic. The counterfactual observations created by two versions of the econometric model (one with and one without European aggregates of macroeconomic controls) are benchmarked against traditional univariate time-series models and a seasonal Markov-switching autoregression. For pandemic times, the latter performs very well in terms of several forecast accuracy measures due to its ability of (a) detecting the pandemic-induced structural break and (b) accounting for seasonal patterns in the data. The econometric models also predict well as they outperform the time-series models in the majority of cases. Hence, the panel-data approach is suitable when looking for economically interpretable Airbnb occupancy forecasts, even during the time of the pandemic.

Funerary Rituals in Greece: From Antiquity to the Time of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Handling the body of the deceased is a social event which is almost solidly connected with the Orthodox Christian tradition in modern Greek society. In the last few years handling the body of the deceased was mainly constricted to the Orthodox funeral and burial until recently and that collides with the practical commands which reinforced the issue of cremation/ burning of the body of the deceased.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease Encounters in a United States Uniformed Service Female Beneficiary Population.

We sought to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trends in chlamydia, gonorrhea, and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) encounter rates within the Military Health System. This cross-sectional study queried electronic health records of 18- to 44-year-old female active duty service members and dependents during the pre-pandemic period (January 2018-February 2020), pandemic period 1 (March 2020-March 2021), and pandemic period 2 (April 2021-April 2022). We calculated monthly chlamydia, gonorrhea, and PID encounter rates using ICD-10 codes. We used change point analysis for trends in encounter rates and Poisson regression for differences in rates by age, active duty status, military rank, TRICARE region, and pandemic period. There were 36,102, 7,581, and 16,790 unique individuals with chlamydia, gonorrhea, and PID encounters, respectively, over the pre-pandemic and pandemic time frames. Chlamydia and gonorrhea encounter rates were highest in ages 18 to 19, in active duty service members, and junior enlisted compared to senior enlisted and officer sponsor rank. Chlamydia and gonorrhea encounter rates varied by TRICARE region. Chlamydia encounter rates were lower in both pandemic periods 1 and 2 compared to the pre-pandemic period, whereas gonorrhea encounter rates were lower only in pandemic period 2 compared to the pre-pandemic period. Trend analysis showed monthly chlamydia encounter rates did not significantly change from January 2018 through August 2020, and then decreased 2.4% monthly through the remainder of the study period (P < .05). Gonorrhea encounter rates did not significantly change from the beginning of the study period through February 2021 and then declined 1.9% monthly through the remainder of the study period (P < .05). Pelvic inflammatory disease encounter rates were highest in ages 18 to 19 and 20 to 24, in the TRICARE North region compared to the South region, in active duty service members compared to non-active duty, and in junior enlisted compared to senior enlisted and officer sponsor rank. Pelvic inflammatory disease encounter rates were lower in pandemic periods 1 and 2 compared to the pre-pandemic period. Pelvic inflammatory disease encounter rates declined 8.0% monthly from January 2020 through April 2020 (P < .05), followed by a 11.0% monthly increase from May 2020 through July 2020 (P < .05) and a 0.9% monthly decrease for the remainder of the study period (P < .05). Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and PID encounter rates in the Military Health System all declined in the pandemic period. Pelvic inflammatory disease was most influenced by the pandemic onset as demonstrated by an immediate decline in encounter rates followed by an increase several months into the pandemic. Young age, active duty, and junior enlisted status were associated with higher chlamydia, and gonorrhea, and PID encounter rates over the pre-pandemic and pandemic time frames. Lower encounter rates during the pandemic may be related to decreased access to health care services, reduced screening for sexually transmitted infections, or changes in sexual behavior. The less profound decline in gonorrhea encounter rates likely reflects the more symptomatic nature of gonorrhea compared to chlamydia. TRICARE regional differences varied for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and PID encounters.

No Longer Seat-Less in Seattle: The Role of Coordinated Transportation and Land Use Planning in Sustaining Transit Ridership through the Pandemic Recovery Period

Transit ridership had been decreasing in major cities across the United States prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, with Seattle as a notable exception. I examine the relationship between travel behavior and Seattle’s land use planning program in conjunction with transit improvements. I use econometric methods to analyze multiple waves of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Household Travel Survey from 2014 to 2021. Living in one of Seattle’s Urban Villages is significantly associated with a higher likelihood of taking transit. This relationship holds during the pandemic time period and when controlling for self-selection.

Optimization Design Learning Language English Based Digital

The time of the Covid-19 pandemic is not yet end create atmosphere Study become more limited. Learning digital based no can avoided for the sake of creation continuity activity education. Teacher as provider, teacher and evaluator on process learning must always internal skill upgrades face reality participant increasingly educated _ fed up will situation condition limitations patterns, media as well access learning. devotion to public This give contribution to language teachers English in the district Sidrap the joined into the English Subject Teacher Conference (MGMP). which method used in activity This in the form of workshops and assistance around design learning Language English digitally based _ material regarding IT literacy teachers, use application KineMaster deep _ prepare learning videos creative, use of assessment platforms through application dojo class and creation of creative E-books with application flip book maker. End from activity accompaniment here, language teacher English can create a learning e-book used in teach and do evaluation to participant educate more online classes interesting and innovative so that presentation material learning can optimal.

Mario Telò. Greek Tragedy in a Global Crisis: Reading through Pandemic Times

Mario Telò. <i>Greek Tragedy in a Global Crisis: Reading through Pandemic Times</i>

Job Burnout and Satisfaction among Nurses at a Public Hospital in Bohol, Philippines

Nurses, the unsung heroes, have shown remarkable resilience as they continue to provide compassionate care and selfless service, especially during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. This correlational study aimed to investigate the possible relationship between the two perceived job burnout of nurses and their job satisfaction. Using Roasoft, sixty-eight (68) respondents were randomly selected to participate in the study. Two adapted survey tools were used to collect data representing the target population. A Pearson correlation coefficient was employed as the statistical treatment for analyzing the data. The study found that job burnout has no significant relationship to the job satisfaction of public nurses. It simply means the nurses' perceived fatigue, stress, and exhaustion do not lead to job dissatisfaction. Therefore, the study concludes that although nurses’ perceived job burnout was not directly linked to job satisfaction, the hospital management plays a crucial role in prioritizing the well-being and welfare of these frontliners. A stress management program and promoting work-life balance are the leading suggestions that significantly mitigate job burnout and enhance job satisfaction. Furthermore, augmenting potential mediating variables such as professional growth, company culture, support systems, or work environment might strengthen the present study. These findings are crucial for understanding and improving the working conditions of our healthcare professionals.

“The Kiss and the Cut”: Reassembling the Techno-Orientalist Clone through Multispecies Grief and Intimacy in Larissa Lai’s The Tiger Flu

Abstract: This article queries the revision of techno-Orientalist tropes in Larissa Lai’s 2018 novel The Tiger Flu , focusing primarily on how Lai repossesses the figure of the Asian female clone and imagines her as a formidable site of radical feminist, decolonial, and anti-capitalist knowledge in a time of planetary erosion and pandemic. I posit that Lai breaks the lineage of techno-Orientalist formations through the survivalist impulses of the Grist Sisters, a species of bioengineered clone factory workers, who move towards abolition from capitalism and compulsory heterosexuality by developing autonomous practices of reproduction, organ transplantation, and inter-generational storytelling. Through the Grist Sisters’ physical and symbolic acts of interdependent reliance and survival, Lai forges multispecies intimacies and embodiments as exertions of a radical politics of care that includes Asian American “women.” Further, Lai’s future world-building centers the multispecies grief of the Grist Sisters as a potent expression of feminist solidarity.

Clubhouse virtual programming: A trend analysis of member engagement patterns before, during, and after pandemic lockdown.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the mental health of individuals with serious mental illness, with restricting social gatherings and limiting access to essential community and psychosocial support services. For programs like clubhouses, adapting typically in-person programming to online settings led to the creation of virtual clubhouse programming that persists at many sites even after reopening. Although it has been documented how clubhouses adapted their programming online, it has not been investigated at the individual level how those programs were utilized over time, by different member cohorts, and how they persist in comparison to one another. The present article presents descriptive and inferential statistics, analysis of variance, and secondary trend analysis of the Fountain House clubhouse in-person and virtual engagements of three member cohorts who enrolled in either three time periods before pandemic restrictions (the prior cohort), during pandemic restrictions (the pandemic cohort), and after lockdown restrictions (the reopening cohort). Initial findings show that the prior cohort sustained their overall rate of engagement across time periods. The pandemic cohort had a significantly higher rate of engagement than the prior cohort within the during period but demonstrated a significant decrease in engagement rate between the during and after period. Prior and pandemic cohorts had statistically similar virtual and in-person engagement ratios in the after period, but the reopen cohort differed significantly with a predominant ratio of in-person engagements. Member engagement trends within in-person and virtual offerings across the three different pandemic related time periods indicate important considerations for the sustainability and innovation of clubhouse virtual programming. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Pregnancy-Associated Mortality During the Pandemic: Disparities by Rurality

IntroductionIn the US, rural areas experience higher rates of adverse maternal health outcomes, but little data exists on rural/urban differences in pregnancy-associated deaths (PAD, all deaths during pregnancy and postpartum) or rural/urban differences in those deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsCross-sectional US vital statistics mortality data from 2018 to 2021 was used to identify PAD (analyzed in 2024). PAD ratios (deaths per 100,000 live births) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by year, cause, and rurality (urban, suburban, rural). The percent change in PAD ratios between the pre-pandemic (2018 and 2019) and pandemic (2020 and 2021) time periods was calculated by rurality. ResultsDuring the pandemic, rural—compared to suburban and urban—areas had the highest pregnancy-associated death ratios due to obstetric causes (53.9 deaths/100,000 live births, 95%CI: 48.8, 59.4), drug-related causes (19.0, 95%CI: 16.0, 22.4), suicide (4.4., 95%CI: 3.0, 6.2), and other causes (the majority of which are motor vehicle accidents, 16.4, 95%CI: 14.0, 19.6). Rural areas experienced increases in all causes of pregnancy-associated death from pre-pandemic (2018 and 2019) to pandemic (2020 and 2021) with increases of 48.1% in obstetric deaths, 115.9% in drug-related deaths, 17.8% in homicide, 25.7% in suicide, and 11.6% in other causes. Rural areas experienced the largest (compared to urban and suburban) increase in drug-related deaths, and only rural areas experienced an increase in suicide during the pandemic. ConclusionsRural areas experience a high burden of pregnancy-associated death, and this inequity was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Redefining Coaching in a Pandemic: A Qualitative Exploration of Physical Educators&amp;apos; Responses to Sports During COVID-19

A sports coach is a total package individual who is competent and well-equipped for the role we are demonstrating. Coaches with the best level of training and the most years of experience in the sport have invested more in their education and are better at adjusting the content of the training to the developmental stages of children and adolescents. The main purpose of the study is to explore the experiences of PE teachers is sports coaching in times of COVID-19 Pandemic. On the professional aspect, the informants were able to bring their MAPEH teaching skills into practice in their own municipalities and provinces. As a result of the researcher&amp;apos;s inability to travel, online communication and interviews were used as data collection methods to elicit the informants&amp;apos; experiences. This part includes the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data gathered from the six informants from Guimaras, Aklan, Iloilo City, Ajuy, Potatan, and Pavia. It includes (1) Adversities of COVID-19 Pandemic with sub-themes of learning and training modalities and versatility of sports coaching strategies and styles (2) The Resiliency in Virtual Hubs with sub themes of life cycle on social media and (3) Discernments in the Midst of Global Dilemma with subthemes of internal enthusiasm and mind setting. Encouraging athletes to reset their mindsets to see quarantine as a learning opportunity, organizing suitable guidance, educating and motivating athletes to use proper preventive behavior, and establishing acceptable living isolation conditions. Some types of circuit-based body mass resistance training may aid aerobic adaptation. The athlete&amp;apos;s needs should be taken into account when organizing sports skills training. The acronym AGAMER was a practical and feasible intervention that can be used by any PE teacher and coach in their respective field of expertise.

Resilience and Adaptation: Investment Metrics of Indonesian Healthcare Companies Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The impact of dividend policy and stock valuation (price earning proportion and price to book value) on the prices of healthcare industry stocks listed on the Indonesia Stock Trade somewhere in the range of 2016 and 2021 is examined in this study. The research data used in this quantitative analysis are secondary data. This study included eighteen healthcare sector companies in its sample. Purposive sampling is the methodology used in this study, and SPSS 24 is the analysis tool. We explained the relationship between stock prices, dividend policy, and stock valuation. We order the variables into pre-pandemic and during-pandemic categories subsequent to testing them for like clockwork. That's what the experimental results demonstrate, for all periods, the earning-per-share notation has a significant impact on stock prices. Stock valuation, on the other hand, has a significant impact on stock prices, as does the final dividend policy with dividend payout proportion and dividend per share. Meanwhile, results from the pre-pandemic time frame indicate that EPS and DPR didn't significantly influence results; results from the pandemic time frame indicate that stock valuation didn't significantly influence stock price. This research provides fresh insights into what the recovery of economic exposure means for corporate conduct in Indonesia, where persistent financial and economic pressures from stock market unpredictability give substantial sources of uncertainty.

Vocational Rehabilitation in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed new challenges to actors in vocational rehabilitation (VR) for people with disabilities. In this study, we were interested in the following: How did actors like service providers and financers of VR (here: German Federal Employment Agency (FEA)) experience the Covid-19 pandemic, which process changes and delays have occurred, and what impact will this possibly have on the future of vocational rehabilitation for people with disabilities? Between July 2020 und July 2021, a total of 29 persons from service providers of VR programs (n=16) and representatives of the FEA (n=8) were asked about their experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic in the course of 24 guided expert interviews. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded in MAXQDA; the analyses of the transcribed material are based on a system developed from inductive and deductive categories. VR programs had to be conducted remotely, digital possibilities had to be created. As a result, VR was also forced to evolve technologically, revealing opportunities (in the provision of programs) and limitations (e. g. acquisition of social skills or assessment of mental health). Thus, continuous additional support by the service providers was indispensable to contain psychological crises, to ensure the understanding of the program contents and to avoid dropouts. Just like schools, the employment agencies and job centers closed their doors for a long time and VR and general vocational counseling did not take place nor did assessment procedures carried out at the medical and psychological services of the FEA for determining VR needs. A decline in access to VR had been apparent for some time, but it became increasingly evident, particularly for 2021/22. Individuals from poor households were more likely to be affected because they were more difficult to keep in touch with. Even though VR has experienced a major digital boost, experience from the pandemic has shown that programs in face-to-face formats with social contact are particularly important for young people and people with mental disabilities. Nevertheless, VR must change with the working environment in order to prevent people with disabilities from being left behind even further.

Embracing Change and Refraction: A Prism Through Pandemic Times

This special issue initially arose from the 2019 Provoking Curriculum Studies Conference at the University of Regina. Shortly after the conference, the world was thrown into the COVID-19 pandemic. The papers in this special issue view the pandemic through a prism to consider existing practices within the academy and reflect upon and imagine new possibilities for academic work and lives. Author explorations include arts-based inquiry, grief, peer-to-peer support, Indigenous Métissage, poetic inquiry and diasporic bodies.