The Effect of COVID-19 on Education

Changes in School-Age Children's Well-being and School-Related Needs Post COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 highlighted the importance of schools for child health, as emerging data suggest that pandemic-related school closures may have led to worsening child health and exacerbated health disparities. This study examines school-aged children's well-being, and characterizes changes in school-related needs, from 2021 to 2022. This is a secondary analysis of a longitudinal cohort study, where a nationally representative sample of parents of school-aged children were surveyed in June 2021 and 2022. The percentage of children with deficits in total difficulties, hyperactivity, and prosocial behavior decreased at follow-up, while a high percentage of children continued to experience peer problems. At least one school-related need remained for most parents. Highest priority needs were academic enrichment, socialization, physical activity, tutoring, and coping with stress. Academic support and social-emotional well-being remained major parental concerns, with social development showing significant deficit. Improvements in child well-being were experienced unequally across demographic groups.

Sufficient sleep and its contributing factors among high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from adolescent behaviors and experiences survey

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound changes in adolescent lives, including school closures, social isolation, family economic hardship, and sleep schedule. We aimed to assess the risk and protective factors of sufficient sleep among adolescents during COVID-19.

Methods

We conducted secondary analysis based on the cross-sectional school-based Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey in 2021 (n = 7,705). The ABES collected information on health-related experiences and behaviors during COVID-19. The outcome was sufficient sleep (eight and more hours of sleep on the average school night). The contributing factors included demographic, mental health, and adverse experiences indicators. We estimated the prevalence of sufficient sleep within each factor, and examined their associations using Chi-square test. We further investigated the contributing factors of sufficient sleep using multivariate logistic regression and reported the adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

During January-June 2021, 23.5% of the U.S. high school students reported getting sufficient sleep. The multivariate logistic regression indicated that younger age (AOR, 2.04; 95%CI, 1.59-2.62), heterosexual identity (AOR, 1.61; 95%CI, 1.19-2.18), no poor mental health during the past 30 days (AOR, 1.37; 95%CI, 1.03-1.82), no persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (AOR, 1.34; 95%CI, 1.09-1.66), no food and nutrition insecurity (AOR, 1.47; 95%CI, 1.17-1.85), never been abused by a parent emotionally (AOR, 1.38; 95%CI, 1.16-1.64), and no schoolwork difficulty (AOR, 1.24; 95%CI, 1.01-1.51) were associated with sufficient sleep.

Conclusion

We estimated the national prevalence of adolescent sufficient sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that younger students, sexual heterosexual students, and students without certain mental health conditions or adverse experiences are at higher likelihood of sufficient sleep. These findings can help develop effective interventions on sleep duration in the response to a possible future pandemic caused by Disease X.

Parental Neglect and Childhood Obesity Amidst COVID-19: A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on Health and Developmental Risks

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the mental health and developmental trajectories of children and adolescents, catalyzing a range of psychological and behavioral issues due to enforced lockdowns and other restrictions. This text explores these impacts through the lens of developmental psychopathology, which integrates clinical psychology and developmental science to examine the emergence and evolution of psychological disorders across a lifespan. This paper highlights how pandemic-related disruptions have exacerbated conditions such as anxiety and depression and, notably, increased childhood obesity due to changes in lifestyle and reductions in physical activity. The analysis includes a discussion of how isolation has not only restricted access to educational and psychological resources but also increased the risk of parental mental illness and related familial stress, thereby intensifying issues of neglect and their consequent impact on child health. By employing a developmental psychopathology framework, this paper argues for the necessity of targeted interventions that address these complex interplays of genetic, environmental, and psychological factors. Such interventions aim to support children through structured educational and health-oriented strategies, ensuring their well-being amidst the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic. This approach underscores the importance of early, multifaceted strategies involving parents, educators, and healthcare providers to foster healthier developmental outcomes for children facing unprecedented global health crises.

Nurses-Led Municipal Leadership and Governance Program: Experiences of Local Chief Executives in Central Visayas, Philippines

Background

The strategic response of nurses in addressing health inequities in marginal sectors led to the conduct of a health leadership governance training program for local chief executives.

Objective

This study aimed to explore and provide a description of the experiences of local chief executives (LCEs) or mayors who participated in the nurse-initiated health training named Municipal Leadership and Governance Program (MLGP).

Methods

A qualitative descriptive design was used through key informant interviews of fifteen mayors or local chief executives (LCE) in the provinces of Bohol and Negros Oriental, Philippines. Data were collected from 16 to 20 November 2022 and analyzed using a thematic approach.

Results

The findings generated six themes: a) Leadership capacitation promoting transformative experience, b) Pandemic and program-induced limitations in the training implementation, c) Personal leadership motivation, d) Experiential learning promoting learning as applied in real-world situations, e) Celebrating leadership transformation, and f) 3R's of MLGP: revisit, review, recommend.

Conclusion

The realizations of the training participants provided valuable implications for the quality of training offered by nurse leaders who advocated the MLGP implementation. It served as a proactive and responsive approach to the health leadership capacitation of mayors. It guided them in their personal realizations that inspired them to apply what they had learned and enabled them to effect experiences of personal to institutional transformation.

COVID-19 ethics: unique aspects and a review as of early 2024

COVID-19 presents a variety of ethical challenges in a set of arenas, arenas not always considered in past pandemics. These challenges include issues related to autonomy, distributive ethics, and the establishment of policies of equity and justice. Methods are a literature review based on regular editing of an online textbook during the COVID-19 outbreak and a literature review using key ethical terms. Patients are confronted with new issues related to autonomy. Providers need to expand their concepts of ethical issues to include decisions based on proportionality and public health ethics. The public health sector needs to assess the beneficence of alternative modes of disease control. The research community needs to redefine the concept of informed consent in emergent conditions. All elements of the medical spectrum-physicians, scientists, and the community-at-large including the pharmaceutical industry-need to consider the multifaceted methods for preventing future pandemics. This will require giving particular emphasis to public health funding and ending the documented discrimination that exists in the provision of proven therapies. The developing world is especially at risk for most of the ethical issues, especially those related to equity and justice. The ethical issues associated with the COVID-19 outbreak are not unique but provide a diverse set of issues that apply to patients, providers, social groups, and investigators. The further study of such issues can help with preventing future outbreaks.

Pharmacy Students' Attitudes Toward Distance Learning After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Study From Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND

Electronic learning refers to the use of assistive tools in offline and distance learning environments. It allows students to access learning tools and materials anytime and anywhere. However, distance learning courses depend on several factors that affect the quality of learning, which consequently affect students' preferences in the settings and tools used to deliver educational materials.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate students' preferences for continuing distance learning after the pandemic and to assess the distance educational environment after the pandemic. It also aimed to identify the factors affecting distance learning and evaluate students' preferences regarding modes of communication with instructors.

METHODS

A web-based survey was used to conduct this cross-sectional study. The target participants of this study were students in the doctor of pharmacy program at Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim, Saudi Arabia. All students enrolled from December 2022 to January 2023 received an invitation with a link to the web-based survey.

RESULTS

The survey was completed by 141 students (58 female students and 83 male students). The research results showed that most students (102/141, 72.3%) did not wish to continue distance education for laboratory courses, and 60.3% (85/141) did not wish to continue taking distance team-based learning after the pandemic. Additionally, 83.7% (118/141) of the students indicated that distance courses were simple. More than half of the participants (79/141, 56%) stated that having a camera on during class negatively impacted their learning, and only 29.1% (41/141) of the students stated that nonvisual communication with their fellow students impacted their learning. A large proportion of students (83/141, 58.9%) reported impairment of social engagement on campus, 44% (62/141) in-person interactions during classes, and 73.7% (104/141) were relieved that their classes were not disrupted.

CONCLUSIONS

Similar to all types of education, distance learning is characterized by advantages and disadvantages, as reported by students. Students felt that the course material was intelligible, and the distance course was uncomplicated. Moreover, they expressed relief that their studies were not disrupted. However, they also reported the loss of face-to-face contact during courses as the most significant drawback of distance learning versus face-to-face learning, followed by a lack of social connection on campus.

Teen dating violence and the COVID-19 pandemic: trends from a longitudinal study in Texas

PURPOSE

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a global public health and safety issue causing health impacts to youth people. This study aimed to examine: (1) the impact of the pandemic on TDV victimisation rates and (2) socioecological factors associated with sustained risk for TDV victimisation during the first year of COVID-19.

METHODS

Data are from an ongoing randomised controlled trial of a TDV prevention programme in Texas (n=2768). We conducted annual assessments in 2019-2021. We used regression modelling to assess demographic, individual, peer and family factors associated with TDV risks.

RESULTS

TDV rates declined from 11.9% in 2019 to 5.2% in 2021. While demographic, peer and family/household factors were not associated with TDV victimisation during the pandemic, individual-level factors (ie, early sexual debut, substance use, acceptance of violence and prior TDV involvement) were related to COVID-era risks. Only early sexual debut was uniquely linked to TDV victimisation risk the first year of COVID-19.

CONCLUSIONS

While TDV rates declined during the pandemic, previous victimisation, substance use and early sexual debut remained potent risks for relationship harm.

Chiropractic students' perception of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE

To investigate chiropractic students' preferences and perceptions of remote learning with a secondary aim of comparing individuals with and without learning challenges.

METHODS

Following the mandatory period of remote education, a 33-question, mixed-methods, anonymous online survey was distributed from March to September 2021 to a single-campus chiropractic student body with an estimated sample study population of N = 1375. Demographic variables, self-reported learning challenges, technology skills, and perceptions of remote and on-ground learning delivery modalities were gathered. Percentages, measures of central tendency, and chi-square tests were performed on the data.

RESULTS

There were 117 participants (8.5%), of whom 63.2% were female (n = 74) and 87.2% (n = 102) were aged 18-34 years. Self-identified learning challenges were present in 33.3% (n = 39) of participants, of whom 28 stated they had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or attention-deficit disorder. More than 85.5% (n = 100) of participants agreed they were proficient with the necessary technology. For basic science classes with a lecture and lab component, 61.5% (n = 72) preferred on-ground labs and remote lectures. Participants agreed that remote lectures and on-ground labs were a good use of time (75.2% [n = 88] and 79.5% [n = 93], respectively). There was a significant χ2 between individuals with and without learning challenges for the perception of "stimulating and interesting" (p = .044) and "attention" (p = .001) for on-ground lectures.

CONCLUSION

Chiropractic students preferred remote and on-ground education differentially for labs and lectures. On-ground labs provided greater perceived educational benefits; perceived benefits of remote lecture courses were only modestly supported. Students with self-identified learning challenges presented with some differences related to perception of on-ground lectures.

COVID-19 Virus Structural Details: Optical and Electrochemical Detection

The increasing viral species have ruined people's health and the world's economy. Therefore, it is urgent to design bio-responsive materials to provide a vast platform for detecting a different family's passive or active virus. One can design a reactive functional unit for that moiety based on the particular bio-active moieties in viruses. Nanomaterials as optical and electrochemical biosensors have enabled better tools and devices to develop rapid virus detection. Various material science platforms are available for real-time monitoring and detecting COVID-19 and other viral loads. In this review, we discuss the recent advances of nanomaterials in developing the tools for optical and electrochemical sensing COVID-19. In addition, nanomaterials used to detect other human viruses have been studied, providing insights for developing COVID-19 sensing materials. The basic strategies for nanomaterials develop as virus sensors, fabrications, and detection performances are studied. Moreover, the new methods to enhance the virus sensing properties are discussed to provide a gateway for virus detection in variant forms. The study will provide systematic information and working of virus sensors. In addition, the deep discussion of structural properties and signal changes will offer a new gate for researchers to develop new virus sensors for clinical applications.

Online case-based learning for medical students as a teaching method for biochemistry at King Abdulaziz University amid COVID-19 pandemic (a study conducted in 2021)

Online case-based learning (CBL) is a method used by King Abdulaziz University to teach medical students in their preclinical years. The use of CBL in basic sciences is important for enabling medical students to correlate basic sciences with future clinical practice. This study implemented online CBL for biochemistry teaching as part of the medical genetic module for 3rd-year preclinical students. Teaching during the study was completely online because of restricted precautions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, except for practical sessions that were held on campus. The case was presented to the students involved in prenatal screening and diagnosis. Students were guided to learn and discuss the biochemical tests used for prenatal screening and diagnosis and their clinical importance. They were divided into two groups: the control group was given an online lecture and the intervention group was given an online CBL session before the lecture. The online lecture was given to both groups simultaneously by the same instructor, and then 10 MCQs tests were distributed to both groups after the lecture, and their test scores were compared. A 10-question survey was administered to the intervention group to assess their perception of the online CBL session after the test. A significant difference was found between the intervention and control groups regarding test scores (p < 0.001), and most students found the online CBL session enjoyable and motivating.

COVID-19 and child education outcomes in Southern Ghana

This study analyses the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on child education outcomes by providing evidence on the gendered dimension, determinants and coping measures of informal households in Southern Ghana. We rely on a face-to-face interview undertaken in January 2022 (i.e., approximately 2 years after the beginning of the pandemic) involving 761 students across basic and secondary schools from 10 metropolitan, municipality and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. We document several disruptions to child education outcomes such as learning practices, school attendance, class participation and academic performance. The results also showed that per child education expenditure incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the informal households was GHS305 (US$ 49). Additionally, we assess the correlates of the negative effects on academic performance and COVID-19 related education expenditure as a result of coping measures. Our results from Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) show strong association between participation in online classes, age of students, ownership of television and district of residence on COVID-19 related education expenditure. Results from Logit models show that self-reported negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic on academic performance are affected by gender and age of student, distance to market and location of residence. Interestingly, we also found considerable gendered heterogeneity for the predictors of the COVID-19 pandemic on child education outcomes. We conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated countermeasures had negative effects on child education outcomes, and that informal households incurred considerable costs in attempting to address the associated education challenges in Southern Ghana. The findings have implications on the design and implementation of educational policies and programs to address the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on child education outcomes in developing countries.

Risk of partial school closure for COVID-19 by socio-economic level in the period 2020-22

BACKGROUND

The objective was to analyse the risk of partial school closure by economic level in Barcelona city.

METHODS

In this ecological study, the risk of partial school closure for the academic years 2020-21 and 2021-22 was estimated by dividing the total number of days that each child was in quarantine or isolation by the total number of days that each child was at risk to be in quarantine or isolation in the academic year. The association between partial school closure risk and mean income by district was estimated with the Spearman rho.

RESULTS

The lower the mean income, the higher the risk of partial closure (Spearman rho = 0.83; P-value = 0.003) during the academic year 2020-21. Specifically, the children from the district with the lowest income had a six times greater risk of partial school closure compared with those from the highest-income district. This risk did not show a significant socioeconomic gradient in the academic year 2021-22.

CONCLUSIONS

The risk of partial school closure presented an inverse socioeconomic gradient in the city of Barcelona according to average income by district in the academic year 2020-21. This distribution was not observed in the academic year 2021-22.

Strengthening E-learning strategies for active learning in crisis situations: a mixed-method study in the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Medical universities are responsible for educating and training healthcare workers. One of the fields significantly impacted by the pandemic is medical education. The aim of this study is to identify strategies for enhancing e-learning for active learning and finding solutions for improving its quality.

METHODS

This mixed-method (quantitative-qualitative) research was conducted in 2023 at three selected universities in Mazandaran Province. In the quantitative phase, 507 students participated via stratified random sampling using a standard questionnaire. In the qualitative phase, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 16 experts until data saturation was achieved. SPSS 21 and MAXQDA 10 software were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

In the multivariate regression analysis, an increase of one point in the dimensions of student-teacher interaction, active time, immediate feedback, and active learning corresponded to an average increase in learning scores of 0.11, 0.17, 0.16, and 1.42 respectively (p≤0.001). After the final analysis in the qualitative phase, four main domains (infrastructure, resources, quantity of education, and quality of education) and 16 sub-domains with 84 items were identified.

CONCLUSIONS

The greatest challenge in e-learning is the interaction and cooperation between students and teachers. The implementation of the identified strategies in this research could provide useful evidence for policymakers and educational administrators to implement interventions aimed at addressing deficiencies and enhancing e-learning.

An overview of the outreach of the 2019-2021 Endo-ERN knowledge generation webinars

The current study aims to assess the development of the knowledge generation program of the European Reference Network on Rare Endocrine Conditions (Endo-ERN) from its start in 2019 until December 2021, with special reference to webinars. We analyzed the number of webinars and live/postevent participants and whether participation and engagement of the attendees changed over time. A total of 30 (86%) self-prepared webinars comprising 300 h of knowledge and competence sharing were broadcasted (2019 - 3; 2020 - 13; 2021 - 14). A total of six webinars were broadcasted live prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (https://endo-ern.eu/events/webinars/). The most active main thematic group (MTG) was MTG3 Genetic Disorders of Glucose and Insulin Homeostasis with eight (27%) webinars. Two (25%) MTGs fulfilled the goal to prepare at least two to three webinars per year. Patients were actively involved in 20% of the accounted webinars as both creators and presenters. The total number of live and postevent participants was 3023. The availability of the webinars after the live broadcast increased their outreach with a larger number of postevent viewers (n = 1629, 54%). Within the formal structured evaluation of the webinars, 40-85% of the participants replied on separate occasions and helped improve content. The free webinar access is among the perceived reasons for the rapidly increasing number of total hits to the Endo-ERN website. In conclusion, for its short existence, the Endo-ERN rapidly developed educational outreach, and further efforts to attract creators and learners are warranted.

Impact of COVID-19 on the education and healthcare services of persons with disabilities in Lebanon

This study examines the impact of the compounding crises that engulfed Lebanon during the COVID-19 pandemic on the schooling and healthcare opportunities and experiences of persons with disabilities. It further explores how disability interacts with other forms of discrimination, such as gender and socioeconomic factors, exacerbating the risk of exclusion from mainstream education and healthcare services. Qualitative research methods were employed to delve into the complexities of these issues. The researchers conducted a comprehensive review of 37 relevant COVID-19 reports, research studies, guidelines, documents, and rapid analysis studies generated by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, local and international NGOs, and UN agencies. Additionally, analysis of social media content and COVID-19 awareness campaigns was carried out to assess their accessibility and acknowledgment of the needs of persons with disabilities (PWD). Furthermore, eighteen virtual open-ended interviews were conducted with adults with disabilities, parents of children with disabilities, local and international disability organizations, and representatives from the education and healthcare sectors. The findings from the interviews revealed that while the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the daily routines of individuals, persons with disabilities encountered additional barriers on top of the pre-existing ones they faced before the implementation of lockdown restrictions. The study identified five overarching themes at the policy and decision levels, as well as the academic and healthcare services levels, which hindered persons with disabilities from accessing education and healthcare. Drawing from the five main themes, this study presents and discusses key findings, implications, and recommendations. These findings shed light on the challenges faced by persons with disabilities during the compounding crises and the implications for their access to education and healthcare. The study provides recommendations to address these issues and improve the opportunities and experiences of persons with disabilities in times of crisis.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Global Public Health and Risk Modelling Framework Using an Environmental Deep Neural Network, Sentiment Classification with Text Mining and Emotional Reactions from COVID-19 Vaccination Tweets

Popular social media platforms, such as Twitter, have become an excellent source of information with their swift information dissemination. Individuals with different backgrounds convey their opinions through social media platforms. Consequently, these platforms have become a profound instrument for collecting enormous datasets. We believe that compiling, organizing, exploring, and analyzing data from social media platforms, such as Twitter, can offer various perspectives to public health organizations and decision makers in identifying factors that contribute to vaccine hesitancy. In this study, public tweets were downloaded daily from Tweeter using the Tweeter API. Before performing computation, the tweets were preprocessed and labeled. Vocabulary normalization was based on stemming and lemmatization. The NRCLexicon technique was deployed to convert the tweets into ten classes: positive sentiment, negative sentiment, and eight basic emotions (joy, trust, fear, surprise, anticipation, anger, disgust, and sadness). t-test was used to check the statistical significance of the relationships among the basic emotions. Our analysis shows that the p-values of joy-sadness, trust-disgust, fear-anger, surprise-anticipation, and negative-positive relations are close to zero. Finally, neural network architectures, including 1DCNN, LSTM, Multiple-Layer Perceptron, and BERT, were trained and tested in a COVID-19 multi-classification of sentiments and emotions (positive, negative, joy, sadness, trust, disgust, fear, anger, surprise, and anticipation). Our experiment attained an accuracy of 88.6% for 1DCNN at 1744 s, 89.93% accuracy for LSTM at 27,597 s, while MLP achieved an accuracy of 84.78% at 203 s. The study results show that the BERT model performed the best, with an accuracy of 96.71% at 8429 s.

An exploration into the challenges of managing the COVID-19 pandemic in mass education centers in Iran: A qualitative content analysis

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Iran's mass education centers, which house a large number of trainees, encountered numerous difficulties in managing the disease. Understanding these challenges can help manage future pandemics. This study was conducted to explore the challenges of managing the COVID-19 pandemic in mass education centers in Iran. Methods: In this qualitative study, we used a qualitative content analysis of data collected from June to October 2022 in eight mass education centers in Iran. Semi-structured interviews (n=19) were used for data collection. Results: Four main themes and eleven subthemes were identified: The essence of dormitory life (Subthemes included: "The high population density in the dormitory", "Public toilets" and, Interprovincial travel), the inflexibility of the profession (Subthemes included: "Inapplicable health protocols" and, "Inflexible rules and regulations"), Negligence (Subthemes included: "Not adhering to health protocols", "Non acceptance of illness", and "High-risk taking"), and Weakness of health-care platform (Subthemes included: "shortage of healthcare facilities", "Lack of specialized personnel", and "The uni-dimensional aspect of healthcare services"). Conclusion: We identified several challenges that made the handling of COVID-19 difficult in Iran's centers for mass education. These findings can help future research in addressing the challenges and designing adaptable plans for pandemic management in mass education centers.

Strategies for conducting online-based physical education research during COVID-19: investigate the lecturer's perception

Purpose The many obstacles and difficulties to carry out research in the field of physical education are the gaps and urgency in this research. This study aims to investigate perceptions from lecturers regarding the conveniences and difficulties when carrying out research in physical education during COVID-19. Material and Methods This study uses a qualitative approach with phenomenological methods through online-based in-depth interviews. Five lecturers from two universities in Indonesia and one lecturers from universities in Hungary were willing to participate in this research. The way to select them was by sending an email to their respective universities and only 10 people participated in this study. However, 4 people did not qualify because they did not have 10 years of research experience.  All participants signed a consent letter to participate in this study. The interview started with explanation from participants regarding their research experiences, the conveniences and the difficulties faced when carrying out research during pandemic. After the activity was completed, the results of the interviews were collected and then a qualitative statistical analysis was carried out In this study, statistical analysis used thematic method in the form of interviews transcribed word for word.The transcripts were read repeatedly by researchers and three experts, coding and a collection of phrases were arranged into themes. Results The findings of this study indicate that there were several conveniences in carrying out research physical education during the COVID-19 period, including the implementation can be done anywhere and anytime, cost-effective and saving time, data collection is easier and faster. Meanwhile, the difficulties were in obtaining research subjects, subjects who have inadequate technological literacy, poor internet network and inaccurate data. Conclusions Thus, the conveniences and difficulties of carrying out research were important and must be continuously evaluated, in order to ensure the study able to conduct optimally even during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Global SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance: What we have learned (so far)

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant challenges for genomic surveillance strategies in public health systems worldwide. During the past thirty-four months, many countries faced several epidemic waves of SARS-CoV-2 infections, driven mainly by the emergence and spread of novel variants. In that line, genomic surveillance has been a crucial toolkit to study the real-time SARS-CoV-2 evolution, for the assessment and optimization of novel diagnostic assays, and to improve the efficacy of existing vaccines. During the pandemic, the identification of emerging lineages carrying lineage-specific mutations (particularly those in the Receptor Binding domain) showed how these mutations might significantly impact viral transmissibility, protection from reinfection and vaccination. So far, an unprecedented number of SARS-CoV-2 viral genomes has been released in public databases (i.e., GISAID, and NCBI), achieving 14 million genome sequences available as of early-November 2022. In the present review, we summarise the global landscape of SARS-CoV-2 during the first thirty-four months of viral circulation and evolution. It demonstrates the urgency and importance of sustained investment in genomic surveillance strategies to timely identify the emergence of any potential viral pathogen or associated variants, which in turn is key to epidemic and pandemic preparedness.

The effect of the COVID-19 disruption on the gender gap in students' performance: a cross-country analysis

BACKGROUND

This paper investigates how the COVID-19 school closure has affected the gender gap in grade-8 students' performance and what are the drivers behind this. By analysing four different countries (i.e., the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates), the paper represents the first study addressing the issue from a comparative perspective.

METHODS

The study uses data from the Responses to Educational Disruption Survey (REDS) survey, which comprises international comparable data on how students approached remote learning during the COVID-19 disruption. The extent of the gender gap is estimated by employing an ordered logit model, while the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) decomposition method is used to analyse the different potential channels that could account for the gender gap during COVID-19.

RESULTS

The empirical results reveal that, during the COVID-19 school closure, girls tended to perceive changes in their learnings less favourably than boys, both in terms of improvement in self-perceived learning and self-reported improvement in grades-with odds of a more affirmative response between 20 and 25% lower for girls relative to boys. The main drivers explaining this gender gap are physical activity and psychological distress of students during the COVID-19 disruption, as well as the perceived family climate.

CONCLUSIONS

The paper shows systematic gender differences in how students perceived their educational outcomes changed due to the COVID-19 disruption, providing evidence on the factors driving these differences. The findings could be employed to design policy actions aimed at increasing gender equality in education.

Natural multi-hazard risk perception and educational insights among Geography and Tourism students and graduates amid the Covid-19 pandemic

Multi-hazard risk perception is an emerging research topic that has been gaining more and more interest since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the unprecedented interactions between the management practices of the pandemic and of other co-occurring natural hazards, and to the compounded impact of these multi-hazards. This paper aims to investigate the specialization and study level-dependent differences concerning multi-hazard risk perception and hazard-related education insights of future potential specialists in natural hazard-induced risk management and tourism reconstruction. These differences were explored by applying a multi-layer questionnaire on 547 Geography and Tourism students and graduates from two universities in Iași City (Romania) and Novi Sad (Serbia), and performing descriptive and differential statistical analyses. The statistically significant differences that emerged refer to estimations of the impact level of the Covid-19 pandemic and of other natural hazards at different spatial scales and on different socio-economic activities, on the training/career of the respondents, and to the hazard-related education improvements. Up to date, none of the papers in the existing literature integrate both the Covid-19 pandemic and the co-occurrent natural hazards as objects of students' perception, which makes the present study a starting point for such research endeavours.

'Teachers are the guinea pigs': teacher perspectives on a sudden reopening of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic

Primary and secondary education systems experienced substantial disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about how public health policy has affected Australian teachers during the pandemic. This study examines teacher perspectives on a sudden change of policy, whereby schools were abruptly opened to students at the beginning of the pandemic. At the same time, strict social distancing rules applied to the remainder of the population. Qualitative data from 372 Western Australian schoolteachers were analysed using thematic analysis. Results highlight substantial impacts on teachers' workloads and adverse effects on wellbeing. Perceptions that they were acting as guinea pigs and subjected to different social distancing rules than other citizens were particular stressors. Findings highlight substantial consequences of public health policies on the roles and wellbeing of teachers.

Time course of adverse reactions following BNT162b2 vaccination in healthy and allergic disease individuals aged 5-11 years and comparison with individuals aged 12-15 years: an observational and historical cohort study

We aimed to investigate the type and frequency of adverse events over 7 days following the first and second BNT162b2 vaccination. This observational and historical cohort study included patients aged 5-11 years who received two doses of BNT162b2 and provided consent along with their guardians. We collected data on sex, age, height, weight, blood type, history of Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccination, allergic disease, medication, history of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and adverse reactions 7 days following the first and second BNT162b2 vaccination using a questionnaire. Our results were compared with previously reported results for individuals aged 12-15 years. A total of 421 participants were eligible for this study. Among the 216 patients with allergic disease, 48 (22.2%) had experienced worsening of their chronic diseases, and the frequency of fatigue and dizziness after the second dose was higher than that of healthy individuals. The experience of systemic adverse reactions was associated with asthma. The frequency of headache, diarrhea, fatigue, muscle/joint pain, and fever after the second BNT162b2 vaccination was lower in individuals aged 5-11 years than in those aged 12-15 years. Fever was the only systemic adverse reaction that lasted longer than 5 days (1.0% of participants).

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals with allergic diseases, who are potentially susceptible to COVID-19, may experience worsening of their chronic diseases and more frequent adverse reactions after BNT162b2 vaccination than healthy individuals. To ensure that children with allergic diseases receive the vaccine safely, further information needs to be collected.

WHAT IS KNOWN

• Adverse reactions after BNT162b2 vaccination among individuals aged 5-11 years are generally nonserious, more common after second vaccination, and substantially less common compared to those observed among individuals aged 12-15 years.

WHAT IS NEW

• Individuals with allergic diseases experienced worsening of their chronic diseases and more frequent adverse reactions after BNT162b2 vaccination than healthy individuals. • Systemic adverse reactions were associated with asthma. Fever was the only systemic adverse reaction that lasted longer than 5 days.

YouTube as a complementary learning tool in times of COVID-19: Self-reports from sports science students

OBJECTIVES

This study reports on sports science students' educational experience in times of the COVID-19 pandemic and explores their interactions with online technologies, exclusively for learning purposes.

METHODS

A total of 181 Tunisian final-year sports science students were surveyed using, a custom-designed questionnaire, following the end of the academic year 2020/2021. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for triangulation and validation of the findings.

FINDINGS

Participants reported that COVID-19-induced educational disruptions had detrimental effects on their learning experiences. Even though they deemed emergency remote teaching to be less effective than classroom-based teaching, participants recognized the role technology had played in mitigating the impact of the pandemic on their graduation year. They reported using a wide range of online technologies to complement remote curriculum delivery. Ranking second after Google Meet, with a marked difference from the rest of the list, YouTube seemed to be sports science students' best "learning companion" in times of COVID-19. YouTube helped them better understand instructional content delivered remotely and compensate for the missed opportunities for knowledge and motor skill acquisition.

CONCLUSIONS

It is very likely that curriculum-based YouTube videos can smoothen emergency implementation of flipped classrooms during future crises that may force teachers and students into home confinement once again, but further empirical research is needed in this area.

COVID-19-related fear, stress and depression in school principals: impacts of symptoms like COVID-19, information confusion, health-related activity limitations, working hours, sense of coherence and health literacy

BACKGROUND

School principals have been reported to have a higher prevalence of burnout and psychological problems than their colleagues. During the pandemic, extra workload and pressure from unprecedented situations potentially cause fear, stress and depression. Therefore, we aimed to explore associated factors of stress, fear of COVID-19 (F-CoV-19S) and depressive symptoms among school principals.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Taiwan from 23 June to 16 July 2021. Data of 413 school principals were collected, including socio-demographic factors, COVID-19-related factors, work-related information, health status, sense of coherence (SoC), health literacy (HL), F-CoV-19S, stress and depression. Multiple linear and logistic regression models were utilized to explore associations.

RESULTS

School principals with symptoms like COVID-19 (S-COVID-19-S), or with health-related activity limitations had a higher score of stress (B = 0.92; p = .039) (B = 1.52; p < .001) and a higher depression likelihood (OR = 3.38; p < .001) (OR = 3.06; p < .001), whereas those with a better SoC had a lower stress score (B = -1.39; p < .001) and a lower depression likelihood (OR = 0.76; p = .020). School principals confusing about COVID-19-related information had a higher score of stress (B = 2.47; p < .001) and fear (B = 3.77; p < .001). The longer working time was associated with a higher fear score (B = 1.69; p = .006). Additionally, school principals with a higher HL score had a lower stress score (B = -1.76; p < .001), a lower fear score (B = -1.85; p < .001) and a lower depression likelihood (OR = 0.53; p = .043).

CONCLUSIONS

Health-related activity limitations, S-COVID-19-S, COVID-19-related information confusion and longer working hours were positively associated with at least one mental health problem (e.g. stress, fear and depression), whereas better SoC and HL showed the benefits to mitigate fear, stress and depressive symptoms in school principals. Our study provides evidence for appropriate strategies to improve principals' mental health during the pandemic.Key messages:School principals with health-related activity limitations or with symptoms like COVID-19 were more likely to be stressed and depressed.Higher levels of stress and fear were observed in school principals who confused about COVID-19-related information, and who had longer working time than before the pandemic.Better sense of coherence and higher health literacy could potentially mitigate the fear, stress and depressive symptoms in school principals.

Dental students’ academic performance before and after the Covid-19 pandemic: A retrospective analysis

Delivering quality education to students with fair assessment strategies is a key indicator of an excellent educational institution. The present study explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the academic performance of dental students in terms of the evaluations/grades awarded to them before and during the pandemic. The targeted groups were dental students, studying in the third year of 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 academic years. The sample size included all male and female students who enrolled and completed the following courses: pre-clinical fixed prosthodontics (SDS333), pre-clinical removal prosthodontics (SDS323), clinical operative dentistry-1 (RDS313), and pre-clinical endodontics (RDS323). Evaluations for students who did not complete the requirements were not included in the statistical analysis. Paired sample statistics were used for comparisons between the different groups at p < 0.05. Results revealed statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) for all the course pairs. It was found that students’ grades for all the courses during the pandemic year were higher compared to the grades before the pandemic. While female students demonstrated the highest mean difference (6.13) before and during the pandemic year for RDS323, males demonstrated the highest mean difference (8.14) for SDS323. However, both male and female students demonstrated the lowest mean difference (0.25 and 2.03, respectively) for SDS333. The grades were higher during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, female students achieved higher grades than male students.

Healthcare providers' intention to leave their jobs during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Background and Aims

During the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), healthcare providers confronted risks of disease transmission to themselves and their family members, resulting in physical and psychological burdens. This might affect their decisions to leave their jobs temporarily or permanently, fearing infection and protecting their families. This study examined the factors related to the intention to leave a job among healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Jordan.

Methods

A cross-sectional correlational design was used to collect data using a convenience sample of 557 healthcare providers working in different sectors across Jordan. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire about the intention to leave jobs during the pandemic.

Results

The sample included 368 females (63.8%) and 209 males (36.6%) participants. The mean age of participants was 30.8 years (SD = 6.65). Differences found in intention to leave job during COVID-19 in relation to age (t = 2.60, p < 0.05), gender (X 2 = 4.25, p < 0.001), and marital status (X 2 = 18.2, p < 0.001). Participants with a high risk of exposure to COVID-19 and who experienced higher workloads had higher scores of intention to leave their job during COVID-19, while being married had lower scores.

Conclusions

Policy-makers need to pay attention to young and single healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent them leave their job. Crucial guidelines for managing workload during the COVID-19 pandemic are needed. Policy-makers during pandemics have to protect healthcare providers who feel they are at high risk of infection.

Parents' personality, parenting stress, and problem behaviors of children with special needs in China before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

The positive predictive effect of children's problem behaviors on parenting stress has been verified to some extent, but research on parents of children with special needs remains insufficient. Moreover, the role of parental personality traits in the relationship between children's problem behaviors and parenting stress, and whether it differs from before the COVID-19 pandemic, remains unclear. Accordingly, in this study, online questionnaires were used to survey parents of children with autism and intellectual disabilities in China - 337 parents before and 604 during the COVID-19 pandemic - to explore the relationship between problem behaviors in the children and parenting stress as well as the moderating effect of parents' personality. The results showed that problem behaviors of children with autism and intellectual disabilities had a positive predictive effect on parenting stress. However, there was no significant difference in this effect before and during the pandemic. In addition, the relationship between children's problem behaviors and parenting stress was moderated by the Agreeableness and Neuroticism of the parents, but only during COVID-19 pandemic. The research results suggest that, during the pandemic when facing problem behaviors of children with autism or intellectual disabilities, positive personality characteristics such as Agreeableness have a protective effect on parenting stress. By contrast, negative personality characteristics such as Neuroticism are risk factors. The study results provide evidence from special groups regarding the role of parents' personalities in the parent - child interaction and the parenting stress models.

Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on professional identity development of intern nursing students in China: A scoping review

PURPOSE

Clinical experience plays a vital role in the development of the professional identity (PI) of nursing students. China has applied a strict zero- COVID health policy in combating the COVID-19 pandemic since December 2019 and studies have been conducted in different places of China to explore PI development of nursing students during the pandemic time among the intern nursing students who are on clinical practices. This review study aims to synthesize the previous studies and provide a comprehensive picture of the impacts of the pandemic on the PI development of intern nursing students.

METHODS

Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage scoping review framework was used. Combinations of keywords were used to search relevant articles in both Chinese and English databases published from inception of the articles until the final search date (10 March 2022). The initially included articles were also appraised for their quality, and those that passed the appraisal were left for data analysis. The analytic results were cross-checked among the reviewers.

RESULT

Three themes emerged from the included studies: 1) the PI levels, 2) the impacts of personal and social factors of PL, and 3) the specific impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The levels of students' PI ranged from 66%-80% of the total scores in PI instruments, almost the same levels as in pre-pandemic time, despite the elevated social image of nurses after the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no consensus about the impacts of most personal and social factors on students' PI across the studies. The impacts of COVID-19 on PI were both positive and negative.

CONCLUSIONS

COVID-19 epidemic exerted complicated impacts on the PI of intern nursing students. While it is necessary to address the fear of the COVID-19 pandemic among intern nursing students, the pandemic may not be an opportunistic time to enhance the students' PI.

COVID-19-Related Stressors and Mental Health Disorders Among US Adults

Objectives:

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to severe mental health repercussions. We examined rates of anxiety and depression in the United States during the pandemic by demographic characteristics, individual stressors, and COVID-19 infection rates and policy contexts.

Methods:

We merged data from the April 2020–March 2021 US Household Pulse Survey with state-level data on COVID-19 rates and mitigation policies, including stay-at-home orders, face mask mandates, and restaurant closures. We estimated weighted logistic regression models to assess correlates of anxiety and depression.

Results:

Rates of anxiety and depression peaked in late 2020 at 39% and 32%, respectively. Food insecurity and disrupted medical care were associated with more than twice the odds of anxiety and depression (food insecurity: odds ratio [OR] = 2.58 for anxiety and 2.61 for depression; disrupted medical care: OR = 2.40 and 2.27). Being not employed (OR = 1.32 for anxiety and 1.45 for depression), uninsured (OR = 1.30 and 1.38), housing insecure (OR = 1.41 and 1.34), and experiencing disruptions in education (OR = 1.28 and 1.25) were linked to 25% to 45% increased odds of anxiety and depression. Increases in state COVID-19 infection rates were associated with significantly heightened odds of anxiety and depression (OR = 1.01 for anxiety and depression), but state mitigation policies were not.

Conclusions:

Levels of anxiety and depression rose during the pandemic, particularly among economically vulnerable individuals and those experiencing economic and service disruptions. Future research should assess the effectiveness of policies targeting COVID-19 economic and service disruptions.

Missed Vision Screenings for School-Age Children During The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey Based Study of NASN Representatives

During the 2020-21 academic year, COVID-19-related educational disruptions impacted school-based vision screenings. However, limited information regarding changes in vision screening and the number of students impacted has been reported. Delayed screenings can negatively impact students' referral to eye care providers, which may affect a child's ability to see clearly and academic success. This study aims to describe changes in school-based vision screening practices through a survey of National Association of School Nurses state representatives (n = 49). Among states with vision screenings mandates, participants reported that 23.7% (9/38) states waived screenings, 31.6% (12/38) continued screenings, and 36.8% (14/38) modified requirements, such as grades screened or assessments included (e.g., color vision and stereoacuity screenings). These results suggest that millions of students across the United States missed vision screenings during the 2020-21 academic year. Efforts by education and school health stakeholders should be directed towards addressing the pandemic-related disruption in vision screening.

Enhancing GAN-LCS Performance Using an Abbreviations Checker in Automatic Short Answer Scoring

Automatic short answer scoring methods have been developed with various algorithms over the decades. In the Indonesian language, the string-based similarity is more commonly used. This method is difficult to accurately measure the similarity of two sentences with significantly different word lengths. This problem has been handled by the Geometric Average Normalized-Longest Common Subsequence (GAN-LCS) method by eliminating non-contributive words utilizing the Longest Common Subsequence method. However, students’ answers may vary not only in character length but also in the words they choose. For instance, some students tend only to write the abbreviations or acronyms of the phrase instead of writing meaningful words. As a result, it will reduce the intersection character between the reference answer and the student answer. Moreover, it can change the sentence structure even though it has the same meaning by definition. Therefore, this study aims to improve GAN-LCS method performance by incorporating the abbreviation checker to handle the abbreviations or acronyms found in the reference answer or student answer. The dataset used in this study consisted of 10 questions with 1 reference answer for each question and 585 student answers. The experimental results show an improvement in GAN-LCS performance that could run 34.43% faster. Meanwhile, the Root Mean Square Error (RSME) value became lower by 7.65% and the correlation value was increased by 8%. Looking forward, future studies may continue to investigate a method for automatically generate the abbreviations dictionary.

A Radial Basis Function Neural Network Approach to Predict Preschool Teachers' Technology Acceptance Behavior

With the continual development of artificial intelligence and smart computing in recent years, quantitative approaches have become increasingly popular as an efficient modeling tool as they do not necessitate complicated mathematical models. Many nations have taken steps, such as transitioning to online schooling, to decrease the harm caused by coronaviruses. Inspired by the demand for technology in early education, the present research uses a radial basis function (RBF) neural network (NN) modeling technique to predict preschool instructors' technology usage in classes based on recognized determinant characteristics of technology acceptance. In this regard, this study utilized the RBFNN approach to predict preschool teachers' technology acceptance behavior, based on the theory of planned behavior, which states that behavioral achievement, in our case the actual technology use in class, depends on motivation, intention and ability, and behavioral control. Thus, this research design is based on an adapted version of the technology acceptance model (TAM) with eight dimensions: D1. Perceived usefulness, D2. Perceived ease of use, D3. Perceived enjoyment, D4. Intention to use, D5. Actual use, D6. Compatibility, D7. Attitude, and D8. Self-efficacy. According to the TAM, actual usage is significantly predicted by the other seven dimensions used in this research. Instead of using the classical multiple linear regression statistical processing of data, we opted for a NN based on the RBF approach to predict the actual usage behavior. This study included 182 preschool teachers who were randomly chosen from a project-based national preschool teacher training program and who responded to our online questionnaire. After designing the RBF function with the actual usage as an output variable and the other seven dimensions as input variables, in the model summary, we obtained in the training sample a sum of squares error of 37.5 and a percent of incorrect predictions of 43.3%. In the testing sample, we obtained a sum of squares error of 14.88 and a percent of incorrect predictions of 37%. Thus, we can conclude that 63% of the classified data are correctly assigned to the models' dependent variable, i.e., actual technology use, which is a significant rate of correct predictions in the testing sample. This high significant percentage of correct classification represents an important result, mainly because this is the first study to apply RBFNN's prediction on psychological data, opening up a new interdisciplinary field of research.

Relationship between the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Well-Being of Adolescents and Their Parents in Switzerland

This study is based on two waves of data collected by the Swiss Household panel, the first one in 2019, before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the second one in May-June 2020, just after the end of the partial lockdown that was decided by the Swiss government. We considered "couples" of adolescents (age 14-24, mean = 18.82, 51.96% female) and their parents living together (n = 431). Our main goal was to determine whether the evolution of the well-being among adolescents was similar to the evolution of the well-being among parents. Ten indicators of well-being were measured identically in both waves and for both adolescents and their parents. Results indicate that while almost all indicators of well-being decreased during partial lockdown for both adolescents and their parents, adolescents were more strongly impacted than their parents. Furthermore, the change observed in adolescents was virtually unaffected by the change observed in their parents, and vice versa. This research is a reminder that while different population groups may be affected differently by a sudden and extreme event, it is not only older people who will be most affected. Here, adolescents appear to have been more adversely affected than adults.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on hand surgery: a FESSH perspective

COVID-19 has affected us all. The following collection of short essays highlights various aspects of the pandemic and how it has impacted hand surgery and lessons learned, from the perspective of the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand (FESSH) Executive Committee members. A range of topics were individually chosen by each of the five committee members and presented.

Caregivers' Intention to Vaccinate Their Children Under 12 Years of Age Against COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Multi-Center Study in Milan, Italy

The impact of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the pediatric population is increasingly recognized. A widespread vaccination in childhood would provide benefits for children and might help ending the pandemic by enhancing community protection. Following recent approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) of Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech) for children aged 5-11 years, we aimed to investigate caregivers' intention to vaccinate their children <12 years of age against COVID-19. A structured questionnaire was administered to caregivers of children aged <12 years visiting the Emergency Department or the outpatient clinics in three major hospitals of Milan, Italy, from 20 September to 17 October 2021. A total of 612 caregivers were invited to participate and 604 accepted (response rate >98%). Three questionnaires were excluded due to compiling errors and 601 were included in the analysis. A total of 311 (51.7%) caregivers stated they would have their child vaccinated, 138 (23%) would refuse to vaccinate their child and 152 (25.3%) were unsure. The intention to vaccinate the child was higher in caregivers vaccinated against COVID-19, in those with a bachelor's degree or higher level of education, and in those with friends/acquaintances who became ill or died due to COVID-19. This study shows that increasing efforts are necessary to provide evidence-based tailored information to caregivers and to promote vaccination in this pediatric age group.

Teaching during COVID-19 pandemic in practical laboratory classes of applied biochemistry and pharmacology: A validated fast and simple protocol for detection of SARS-CoV-2 Spike sequences

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) is still a major health issue. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the university teaching to consider in high priority the switch from in-presence teaching to remote teaching, including laboratory teaching. While excellent virtual-laboratory teaching has been proposed and turned out to be very useful, the need of a real-laboratory in-presence teaching is still a major need. This study was aimed at presenting a laboratory exercise focusing (a) on a very challenging therapeutic strategy, i.e. SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, and (b) on technologies that are playing a central role in applied biochemistry and molecular biology, i.e. PCR and RT-PCR. The aims of the practical laboratory were to determine: (a) the possibility to identify SARS-CoV-2 sequences starting from a recombinant plasmid and (b) the possibility to discriminate cells with respect to the expression of SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein. This activity is simple (cell culture, RNA extraction, RT-qPCR are all well-established technologies), fast (starting from isolated and characterized RNA, few hours are just necessary), highly reproducible (therefore easily employed by even untrained students). We suggest that this laboratory practical exercises should be considered for face-to-face teaching especially if the emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic is maintained. The teaching protocol here described might be considered in order to perform fast but meaningful in-presence teaching, making feasible the division of crowded classes in low-number cohorts of students, allowing the maintenance of the required social distance.