Digital Commons Network^™

Opportunities For Mental Health Interventions In Rural Mississippi Communities During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Quantitative Analysis, Brice Fortinberry

Theses and Dissertations

COVID-19 presented unique challenges for rural Mississippi communities including impacts on the mental health of rural individuals. This research study aimed to identify opportunities for mental health interventions to provide health promotion professionals with quantitative data on the accessibility and the likelihood of engagement with mental health-fostering behaviors. A secondary objective of this research was to categorize these behaviors within the constructs of the Social Ecological Model. Demographics for rural Mississippi communities were collected and displayed, and using multivariate analyses including Spearman’s correlation and a Mann-Whitney U test the correlation between mental health fostering behaviors and demographic factors was obtained. …

Acoustic And Perceptual Effects Of Mask-Wearing On Voice And Communication In Healthcare Practitioners, Astrid C. Ortiz Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study aims to determine the perceptual and acoustic voice effects experienced by healthcare practitioners following prolonged use of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 19 participants were recruited and divided into control and experimental groups. Of these 19, 10 were assigned to the experimental group (E) which required participants to engage in increasing their fluid intake by 1 liter per day, while the remaining 9 were part of the control group (C) and had no additional instructions.

To gather perceptual data, a survey was created and conducted via Qualtrics software, and addressed …

Effect Of Covid-19 On The Wellbeing Of Healthcare Professionals In Public Isolation Hospitals In Egypt, Shaimaa Sabbah

Theses and Dissertations

One of the most vulnerable groups severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic has been the Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), especially the physicians, pharmacists, and nurses who work in public Isolation hospitals. The Egyptian medical syndicate declared the death of more than 600 physicians from February 2020 till January 2022. In the meantime, the Egyptian government has worked on different policies for relieving the negative effects of the pandemic on this vulnerable group; however, easing restrictions, no total lockdown implementation, and monitoring bureaucracy has negatively affected the wellbeing of those HCPs. The study aims to figure out recommended policies to protect HCPs’ …

Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Child Anxiety Symptoms: The Influence Of The Caregiver-Child Relationship, Rebecca Hoppe

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that youth are dealing with a myriad of worries during the COVID-19 pandemic (Ellis et al., 2020), which highlights the need for investigations focused on child anxiety. However, to date little research has examined children’s anxiety in the COVID-19 pandemic nor the potential protective effects of the caregiver-child relationship. Therefore, this research aimed to contribute to the literature by investigating the influence of COVID-19 related stressors in younger children and leveraging children’s report of their own attachment security within their relationship with their caregiver and mental health. The current study used a national, quantitative survey of young children …

Adaptations In Orthodontics For Current And Future Covid-19 Best Practices, Jordan Lamb

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: To determine what adaptations orthodontists made in their practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in response to safety recommendations and to determine which of these adaptations orthodontists plan to continue to implement after resolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: An original 34-question survey was sent by mail to a randomized and geographically proportionate selection of actively practicing orthodontic specialists (N = 1000). Questions asked orthodontists about the changes they made during the pandemic in four overarching categories (infection control, social distancing, appliance use, and tele-orthodontics) and whether they anticipated keeping those changes post-pandemic. The data were compared between categorical responses …

The Current State Of Health Care Facility Preparedness, Health Care Utilization, And Covid-19 Knowledge Amidst The Covid-19 Pandemic In The Malaria-Endemic Setting Of Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe, Julia Grace Scott

Theses and Dissertations

The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been felt worldwide, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). With fractured health systems, disrupted supply chains, limited resources, and continued fighting of endemic diseases such as malaria, SSA is at risk for greater impact. Manicaland Province has the highest incidence rate of malaria in Zimbabwe, and a higher malaria mortality rate than the national average. Manicaland also has the third highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Zimbabwe. In this study, health care facilities and households throughout Makoni, Mutare, and Buhera districts in Manicaland Province were administered cross-sectional surveys. We …

Understanding College Student Emotional Functioning During Covid-19, Dominique Marie Giroux

Theses and Dissertations

The novel coronavirus has resulted in mass infection and death. To prevent spread of the virus, colleges and universities shut down and transitioned to remote learning, which mandated all college students to leave residential housing and relocate to a permanent address. Previous literature suggests college students who experienced housing displacement due to a natural disaster reported heightened distress and poorer overall functioning (Davis, Grills-Taquechel, & Ollendick, 2010). Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, college student mental health was deemed a public health concern, however, it is expected to worsen following the outbreak (Galea, Merchant, & Lurie, 2020). Researchers suggest peer support …

Understanding Predictors Of Telemedicine Adoption Before, During, And After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Bradford S. Pierce

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined change in physicians’ use of telemedicine before, during, and expectations after the COVID-19 pandemic. It also examined the ability of personal and environmental variables to predict telemedicine adoption, and applied the theory of reasoned action and technology acceptance model to physicians’ adoption of telemedicine during the pandemic. A total of 230 licensed physicians currently practicing in the United States were recruited. Telemedicine accounted for 3.72% of physicians’ clinical work prior to the pandemic, 46.03% during the pandemic, and predicted 25.44% after the pandemic ends. Physicians within hospitals reported less telemedicine use during the pandemic (M = …

Estimating Covid-19 Survival Rate And Inferring Case Severity With Respect To Milwaukee County Policy Change Using Logistic Regression, Geoff M. Chappelle

Theses and Dissertations

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global issue, and it is affecting 170 countries in very different ways. In the United States, a lot of efforts have been made nationally and by individual states to curb the spread and severity of COVID-19. Policy changes and recommendations have been met with variable success across the country. There is a wealth of information on where COVID-19 infection and death are prevalent, and there are several articles discussing disparities in those outcomes among different populations. However, those findings are not necessarily tied to a policy change or, in the weeks that follow a …

Swipe Right For Condoms And Testing: Differences In High-Risk Sexual Behavior And Sexual Health Beliefs Among Dating App Users Compared To Non-App Users, Shelby A. Smout

Theses and Dissertations

Millions of Americans are currently using smartphone dating applications (apps) to socialize and meet with others. In some cases, app-based conversations lead to sexual interactions. Previous research examining the relationship between the use of dating apps and sexual behaviors has found that individuals who use dating apps and meet with partners from the app are more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behaviors such as having multiple partners and inconsistent condom use. Individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 are the group most likely to be using dating apps compared to other age groups and are a high-risk group …

Adoption Of The Health Information Exchange (Hie) System And The Role Of The Healthcare Leadership, Muhammad Faisal Ashfaque

Theses and Dissertations

The advancement in technology calls for improvement in service delivery in healthcare systems, especially in the present health pandemic of the COVID-19. At present, healthcare systems utilize several electronic health techniques. However, there is a need for the creation of interoperability that can assist healthcare organizations in exchanging data more effectively through the global adoption of healthcare information exchange (HIE). The current research examines the adoption of HIEs and healthcare leadership roles to realize a fully functional interoperable patient HIE. This study utilized the systematic document analysis method to review qualitative data on the different aspects of healthcare leadership, implementation …