Digital Commons Network^™

Cross-Sectional Study To Assess Depression Among Healthcare Workers In Lusaka, Zambia During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sandra Simbeza, Jacob Mutale, Musunge Mulabe, Lazarus Jere, Chama Bukankala, Kombatende Sikombe, Izukanji Sikazwe, Carolyn Bolton-Moore, Aaloke Mody, Elvin H. Geng, Anjali Sharma, Laura K. Beres, Jake M. Pry

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVES: We sought to assess depression among healthcare workers (HCWs) in the context of COVID-19 in Lusaka Province, Zambia.

DESIGN: This cross-sectional study is nested within a larger study, the Person-Centred Public Health for HIV Treatment in Zambia (PCPH), a cluster-randomised trial to assess HIV care and outcomes.

SETTING: The research was conducted in 24 government-run health facilities from 11 August to 15 October 2020 during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Lusaka, Zambia.

PARTICIPANTS: We used convenience sampling to recruit HCW participants who were previously enrolled in the PCPH study, had more than 6 months' experience working …

Shifting Into “Neutral”: Evaluating Mediation As A Peaceful Alternative To The Forceful Resolution Of The 2022 Canada–Freedom Convoy Dispute, Teresa (Tessa) Griego

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

In early 2022, the Canadian government found itself confronted by a group of truck drivers—in what came to be known as the “Freedom Convoy”—protesting government-imposed restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article evaluates how mediation could—and should—have been used as an effective means for the government and protestors to resolve their dispute. It begins by defining the government health and safety measures that prompted the protests and describing the ensuing protest movement by the Freedom Convoy. The article then discusses the protest’s implications on commerce and on the communities where it was located. Next, the article describes the unilateral …

Taking Care Of Business: An Empirical Examination Of The Top S&P 500 Companies And Their Role As Public Health Regulators During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan M. O’Malley

University of Miami Business Law Review

Data from the top 15 constituents by weight on the S&P 500 is assembled to identify trends among the policies these companies implemented in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some policies were fairly consistent across the board, especially in regard to remote work opportunities and health and safety measures for essential and/or in-person employees. Other policies, including vaccination requirements and vaccine incentives, varied across and within industries. Some companies that were examined went beyond the relevant federal, state, or local requirements in effect at the time, while other companies pushed back against public health guidance.

The Value And Impacts Of Academic Public Health Departments, Paul C Erwin, Julie H Grubaugh, Stephanie Mazzucca-Ragan, Ross C Brownson

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The academic health department (AHD) is a partnership between an academic institution and a governmental health agency. These partnerships are meant to provide mutual benefits that include opportunities for student field placements and internships, practice-informed curriculum, and practice-based research. The term academic health department dates back only to 2000, although there are several examples of academic-practice partnerships prior to that date. In addition to AHDs that have been established over the past two decades, other forms of academic-practice engagement provide similar mutual benefits, such as prevention research centers and public health training centers. Current research on AHDs explores how these …

Advanced Care Planning For Hospitalized Patients Following Clinician Notification Of Patient Mortality By A Machine Learning Algorithm, Stephen Chi, Seunghwan Kim, Matthew Reuter, Katharine Ponzillo, Debra Parker Oliver, Randi Foraker, Kevin Heard, Jingxia Liu, Kyle Pitzer, Patrick White, Nathan Moore

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Goal-concordant care is an ongoing challenge in hospital settings. Identification of high mortality risk within 30 days may call attention to the need to have serious illness conversations, including the documentation of patient goals of care.

OBJECTIVE: To examine goals of care discussions (GOCDs) in a community hospital setting with patients identified as having a high risk of mortality by a machine learning mortality prediction algorithm.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study took place at community hospitals within 1 health care system. Participants included adult patients with a high risk of 30-day mortality who were admitted to 1 …

The Lived Experiences Of Icu, Med-Surg, And Er Nurses In The United States Attempting To Breastfeed During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Amy Seay

Dissertations

Breastfeeding is important to promote the health of both mothers and babies (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021). Many mothers experience workplace barriers and stress which negatively impact breastfeeding duration (McCardel & Padilla, 2020; Nagel et al., 2022). However, a gap in the literature exists surrounding specific barriers and the impact of stress on U.S. nurses who breastfeed. Specifically, workplace challenges and stress among nurses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic lack exploration.

This interpretive phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of ICU, Med-Surg, and ER nurses who attempted to breastfeed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Roy’s adaptation model was …

Gender Analysis Of Journal Of Perinatology Authorship During Covid-19, Lauren Gadek, Christiane Dammann, Renate Savich, Christiana Mmuo-Oji, Leonardo Barrera, Patrick G. Gallagher, Kerri Machut

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

OBJECTIVE: To examine authorship gender distributions before and during COVID-19 in the Journal of Perinatology.

STUDY DESIGN: We collected data from the Journal of Perinatology website. The author gender was determined using Genderize.io or a systematic internet search. Our primary outcome was the difference between the number of published articles authored by women during the pandemic period (March 2020-May 2021, period two), compared with the preceding 15-month period (period one). We analyzed the data using chi-square tests.

RESULTS: Publications increased from period one to two by 8.9%. There were slightly more female than male first (62%) and overall (53%) authors, …

Psychology University Students’ Mental Health Status During Covid-19 Pandemic In Karachi, Pakistan, Aisha Noorullah, Mubarak Mansoor, Ayesha Zahid

Department of Psychiatry

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges in various domains of life but for low and middle-income country university students very demanding situations have emerged. University students’ psychological well-being has always been an area of concern worldwide and higher rates of anxiety and depression have been extensively reported among this cohort.
Objective: To determine the frequency of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and quality of sleep and the association of sleep quality and personality traits with anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students in Karachi, Pakistan in the context of the pandemic COVID-19.
Method: This web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among …

Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy And Vaccination Rate Among The Latino Population In South Carolina, Brynn E. Lynagh

Senior Theses

It is common knowledge that COVID-19 disproportionately impacts racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Furthermore, these sects of the population exhibit increased vaccine hesitancy and lower vaccination rates as compared to the aggregated population of the United States, furthering the risk posed by COVID-19 to these communities. In particular, this study focuses on the Latino population in South Carolina, the vaccination rate among this community, and the perspectives which contributed to their vaccination decision. Two hundred Spanish and Portuguese speaking residents of South Carolina were interviewed using a paper survey conducted by pre-trained interviewers. The survey gathered data …

A Mixed-Methods Investigation Of How Student Goal-Setting For Improved Learner Behaviors Affects Intermediate Elementary Academic Achievement, Meghan Mcnulty

Dissertations

Education in the United States has changed significantly since its onset. Due to these changes, there is an increased need for social-emotional skills for success in school and in life. The study centered on how focusing intermediate elementary school students on improving their behavior could influence their academic achievement. Though there is much literature on social-emotional skills, self-efficacy, student agency, goal-setting, and academic achievement, few researchers have conducted studies to connect these concepts. In this study, students assessed their current behavioral skills using the mySAEBRS (Illuminate Education, n.d.). Using the results, students set improvement goals in one of three behavioral …

How Well The Constructs Of Health Belief Model Predict Vaccination Intention: A Systematic Review On Covid-19 Primary Series And Booster Vaccines, Yam B. Limbu, Rajesh K. Gautam

Department of Marketing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This systematic review synthesizes the findings of quantitative studies examining the relationships between Health Belief Model (HBM) constructs and COVID-19 vaccination intention. We searched PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and identified 109 eligible studies. The overall vaccination intention rate was 68.19%. Perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues to action were the three most frequently demonstrated predictors of vaccination intention for both primary series and booster vaccines. For booster doses, the influence of susceptibility slightly increased, but the impact of severity, self-efficacy, and cues to action …

The Effects Of Covid-19 On Cybersecurity And Securing A Post-Covid World, Ryan Pizzo

Senior Honors Theses

The world became hardly recognizable throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as the normal state of the world was disrupted. In addition to affecting everyday life, the pandemic touched every industry, especially that of cybersecurity. To properly remediate for the future of cybersecurity, the trends in cybercrime seen throughout the pandemic warrant further investigation. An overall increase in cybercrime was clearly observed with no signs of plateauing. This trend was paired with developing sophistication of cybercrime means and methods. In response to this, a defense-in-depth strategy focusing on a layered defense approach strengthens an organization’s security posture. Focusing on every policy and …

The Impact Of Covid-19, Mental Health Distress, And School-Based Sociocultural Protective Factors Among Elementary-Aged Children And Their Caregivers, Aijah K.B. Goodwin, Anthony J. Roberson, Ar’Reon Watson, Grace L. Chen, Anna C.J. Long

Faculty Publications

Given the individual and systemic stress endured by children and families during the COVID-19 pandemic, research examining culturally responsive school experiences and supports to enhance resilience is critical. This study examined the relationship between caregivers’ perceptions of COVID-19 impact, mental health distress among children and caregivers, and school-based sociocultural protective factors, including culturally responsive practices in schools and the relationships between teachers and caregivers, concurrently and longitudinally. Data were collected from caregivers of elementary-aged children at two-time points from March to April 2020 (N = 174) and one year later in 2021 (N = 114). Regression analyses revealed that COVID-19 …

The Information Literacy And The Infodemic In Covid-19 Pandemic At Kampala International University, Justina E. Ogbonna Cln, Jackline Kiwelu

Libraries

Access to reliable information in times of emergency is important. However the quantum of information during emergency may cause infodemic. The study investigated the role of information literacy in mitigating infodemic in COVID 19 pandemic. A survey was conducted among educators and students in School of Mathematics and Computing (SOMAC), Kampala International University (KIU), Uganda. The findings reveal that: majority of the respondents (50%) either agreed or strongly agreed that they evaluated information before use; on the state of their emotions, respondents were confused, overwhelmed, alarmed and anxious; 50% were able to access the information with ease, while 50% could …

The Economic, Mental Health, And Social Stressors During The Covid-19 Pandemic Among Native Americans In South Dakota, Savannah E. Lukkes

Honors Thesis

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities test positive for COVID-19 and experience higher mortality than other racial and ethnic groups. These high rates of vulnerability could be connected to the systemic inequalities that have been experienced for centuries. This study aimed to compare socioeconomic stressors, concerns, and mental health experiences during the early COVID-19 pandemic between AI/AN and non-AIAN populations in South Dakota. The study sample (n=1,586) was grouped by AI/AN and non-AI/AN status based on self-identification of being AI/AN alone or in combination with another race/ethnicity. Participant responses to socioeconomic stressors and concerns (e.g., top concerns, level of concern, self-isolation, …

Virtual Patient/Family Communication In The Acute Care Setting, Kathleen Defigueiredo

Translational Projects (Open Access)

Patient and family-centered care strategies see patients and families as valuable healthcare team members. Such strategies thus treat these groups as essential clinical partners in providing safe, high-quality care. Participation, collaboration, and shared decision-making are central to this framework. Historically, hospitals have relied on physical presence at the bedside as a prerequisite to engaging families in the shared decision-making process. Visitor restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic removed the primary strategy for family participation: physical presence. Healthcare organizations rapidly deployed mobile devices to help minimize the exposure of healthcare providers and provide video visits for family members. This deployment was often …

Women In Higher Education: A Brief Report On Stress During Covid-19, Dimple S. Johnson, Aaron D. Johnson, Kristen B. Crossney, Emily Devereaux

Public Policy & Administration Faculty Publications

Higher education institutions have evolved into a more stressful environment. Women have been experiencing higher levels of stress than their male counterparts. With higher education adopting to the onset of the pandemic, this brief report studied women’s perceived stress in relation to perceived organizational and supervisory support, and age during times of crisis. In an era of social distancing, quarantines, and lockdowns, the findings suggest that women’s perceived stress is negatively related to age, perceived organizational support, and perceived supervisory support. Society as we once knew it pre-pandemic will never be the same. Higher education is inevitably going to have …

Post-Pandemic Finra Arbitration: To Zoom Or Not To Zoom?, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article contributes to the literature exploring the impact of the pandemic on arbitration and explores whether parties arbitrating their disputes during the pandemic have had access to justice equivalent to the justice that was available pre-pandemic. Though it is difficult to draw any conclusions about FINRA arbitration due to the confidential and non-reasoned nature of awards, the Article focuses on arbitration of securities industry disputes at one forum, FINRA DRS. In particular, the Article analyzes data about FINRA customer arbitrations over the course of the pandemic, from onset in March 2020 through mid-2022, when most municipalities had lifted COVID-19 …

The Virtual Classroom: What Can Be Learned From The Covid-19 Lockdown, James L. Nations

Senior Theses

This paper seeks to examine the teaching practices utilized during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in higher education. This forced switch to the virtual classroom forced many professors to make innovative changes to adapt to this change in teaching modality. These changes can now be examined and evaluated for potential future application. By reviewing the current literature, performing an analysis of grades from Fall 2017 through Summer 2022, and interviewing select professors at the University of South Carolina, this paper seeks to illuminate some of the potential issues that arise when adapting in-person curriculums to the virtual classroom as well as …

Covid-19 Lockdown: Impact On College Students’ Lives, Wendy C. Birmingham, Lori L. Wadsworth, Jane H. Lassetter

Faculty Publications

Objective: In light of COVID-19, leaders issued stay-at-home orders, including closure of higher-education schools. Most students left campus, likely impacting their employment and social network. Leaders are making decisions about opening universities and modality of instruction. Understanding students' psychological, physiological, academic, and financial responses to the shut-down and reopening of campuses can help leaders make informed decisions. Participants: 654 students from a large western university enrolled during the pandemic shutdown. Methods: Students were invited via email to complete an online survey. Results: Students reported stress, depression, loneliness, lack of motivation, difficulty focusing on schoolwork, restless sleep, appetite changes, job loss …

The Future Of People Becoming The Church: Multiplying Disciples, Leaders, And Campuses In A Post-Christian, De-Churched, And Unchurched Region Of The United States, Wesley D. Davis

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

The church is losing influence in America. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the decline in the American church. Polarized on issues of race, politics, masks, and vaccines, church leaders struggled to unite the people of God. Post-pandemic, how do churches and church leaders make more disciples, develop more leaders, and plant more churches in a post-Christian, de-churched, and unchurched culture? The focus of this doctoral dissertation is to present the philosophy of people becoming the church as a solution to the decline of the American church. I discovered the philosophy of people becoming the church over twenty years ago when …

Providing Effective Pastoral Leadership Through Difficult Seasons: Overcoming Barriers To Becoming A Revitalized Church, Joseph Lee

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Leading churches in revitalization is challenging. Church plateau, decline, and revitalization have been issues for major denominations for years. Revitalization efforts have produced positive results for some churches, but the overall trend of decline in church attendance and participation in North America persists. One complicating factor in engaging church revitalization is the contextual nature of barriers contributing to plateau and decline. Some barriers may be specific to the churches' time, location, and culture. A second complicating factor impacting church revitalization is the COVID-19 pandemic that began early in 2020. This project explores church leadership dynamics during challenges seasons by focusing …

Effect Of Thromboprophylaxis On Clinical Outcomes After Covid-19 Hospitalization, Tracy Y Wang, Abdus S Wahed, Alison Morris, Lisa Baumann Kreuziger, John G Quigley, Gervasio A Lamas, Alexandra J Weissman, Jose Lopez-Sendon, M Margaret Knudson, Deborah M Siegal, Raj S Kasthuri, Andrew J Alexander, Lana Wahid, Bassel Atassi, Peter J Miller, Janice W Lawson, Bela Patel, Jerry A Krishnan, Nancy L Shapiro, Deborah E Martin, Andrei L Kindzelski, Eric S Leifer, Jungnam Joo, Lingyun Lyu, Annie Pennella, Brendan M Everett, Mark W Geraci, Kevin J Anstrom, Thomas L Ortel, Activ-4c Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have an increased incidence of thromboembolism. The role of extended thromboprophylaxis after hospital discharge is unclear.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether anticoagulation is superior to placebo in reducing death and thromboembolic complications among patients discharged after COVID-19 hospitalization.

DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04650087).

SETTING: Done during 2021 to 2022 among 127 U.S. hospitals.

PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 18 years or older hospitalized with COVID-19 for 48 hours or more and ready for discharge, excluding those with a requirement for, or contraindication to, anticoagulation.

INTERVENTION: 2.5 mg of apixaban versus placebo twice daily for …

Psychiatric Consequences Of Hospitalized Covid-19 Patients In Iraq: A Preliminary Report, Hussein Meften, Rafid Al Zaidy, Marwa Ahmed, Lubna Naji, Mushtaq Hashim, Nesif Al Hemiary, Jawad Al-Diwan

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

ABSTRACT:BACKGROUND:World Health Organization (WHO) termed coronavirus disease 2019 COVID-2019, then declared it as a pandemic. It was documented that survivors of COVID-19 were at risk of developing anxiety, depression, and insomnia. This study was carried out to report on prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and identifying some determinants.PATIENTS AND METHODS:A total of 120 patients with COVID-19 were included in this study. Their age was 22 to 91 years giving male to female ratio of 1.6:1. They were selected conveniently (they were hospitalized in  Al-Shafa center). The hospital anxiety and depression scale was used.RESULTS:Out of the total, 66% and 52.9% were showing …

Covid-19 Is Not All Bad News: Negative And Surprisingly Positive Reports From College Stem Students And Implications For Stem Instruction, Yuchen Jiang, Boyan Ma, Zimo Ma, Pamela M. Propsom, Zaheen Rashed '24, Rudrayani Upadhyay, Zichen Zhao

Student Research

The negative educational consequences of COVID-19 are well documented. Much less investigated have been any potential positive outcomes of the pandemic. We surveyed 392 students at one college querying why they continue studying STEM or leave the STEM disciplines and about the effects of COVID-19 on their education. STEM students may have been especially impacted by pandemic-imposed remote instruction given STEM’s reliance on hands-on laboratory experiences. Because the literature indicates that people of color and those from lower socioeconomic groups were more negatively affected by COVID-19, we hypothesized that students from these groups would report greater adverse educational consequences of …

Are The Teachers Alright?: High School Teachers’ Use Of Emotional Labor Strategies In The Covid-19 Context And Its Effect On The Profession’S Sustainability, Nina C. Benegas

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Teacher burnout during the pandemic has resulted in a mass exodus of teachers that, compounded with consistently low enrollment in teacher preparation programs, has caused a severe and catastrophic teacher shortage. This qualitative study investigated teacher perceptions of pandemic-related workload and emotional stress and their effects on job satisfaction and burnout. The dissertation study consisted of semi-structured interviews of sixteen current or former high school educators who taught before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings suggest a wide range of disruptions to teachers’ preexisting professional responsibilities and additions to what has been considered to constitute a teacher’s typical workload, particularly: …

Lessons Learned From Covid-19, Donald Tucker Dds

The New York State Dental Journal

Dentistry and society, in general, must seek out accurate information regarding the virus and follow scientifically established guidelines to mitigate serious outcomes.

Happy Campers Or Unhappy Prisoners: How Materialism Punishes Us In Lockdown Times, Banwari Mittal

Atlantic Marketing Journal

COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns created an unprecedented upheaval in consumers’ daily lives and lifestyles. The purpose of this research was to understand the psychological experience of life under lockdowns and the role of individual difference variables in that experience. Using survey data from U.S. consumers, the research identified two opposite feelings, coexisting: happy camper feeling or unhappy prisoner feeling. Younger, lower income, and less educated consumers felt more like prisoners than campers. Ability to maintain life as usual, and positive pre-pandemic life conditions (health, social network, and job satisfaction) led to happy camper feelings. In contrast, pre-pandemic materialism led …

Assessing The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Project Management Methodologies, Adrian Leung

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This research paper explores the impact of COVID-19 and the shift to remote work on project management practices across multiple industries. Through interviews with project managers, the study finds that companies with pre-existing remote work policies were better equipped to handle the transition to remote work. In contrast, companies without pre-existing policies faced increased challenges in communication, team morale, and workload management. The study also highlights the struggle to maintain work-life balance, the importance of communication, and the need to address technical difficulties. Project managers emphasized the importance of accountability and maintaining productivity during remote work. Overall, the study finds …

“It Looks Like The Future But Feels Like The Past”: Oral (Hi)Stories Of Appalachia As Covid-19 News Stories, Ashley Reid Mcgraw

Theses and Dissertations

Oral historians have often felt obligated to collect stories during disasters and crises, to preserve recollections of experiences and trauma of those affected. During the onset of COVID-19 in the United States, this surge was certainly present. Appalachia, although its boundaries are contested, has a strong association with oral histories, and thus was the focus of one project in particular: a collaboration with the Blue Ridge Public Radio and the Foxfire Appalachian Heritage Museum to collect, curate, publish, and broadcast oral histories of "local" individuals. But what does it mean to be local, in a region as broad as Appalachia? …