Digital Commons Network^™

Archival Research In The Time Of Coronavirus, Kelly K. Hudson, Heather Gilbert

South Carolina Libraries

Two Special Collections directors explore the challenges and strategies of delivering archival services during a global pandemic at their respective academic repositories: Special Collections at the College of Charleston and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.

Promotion Strategies In Academic Libraries: Improving The Ability Of Students To Access Information Resources And Services During The Covid-19 Era, Tinyiko Vivian Dube

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This article identified the library promotion strategies that distance education academic library services can employ to improve the ability of remote clients to access information resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Academic libraries operating in a distance education environment in Gauteng Province, South Africa, are currently changing how library and information services are provided to remote clients. The traditional means of promoting library services through posters, banners, flyers, and pamphlets are now in the past. The emergence of COVID-19 facilitated information technologies. The study was anchored by the positivism research paradigm and used a quantitative approach. Microsoft Form was used to …

The Plastic Pandemic: Examining Surgical Face Mask Degradation In The Marine Environment In Times Of Covid-19, Christopher J. Mayer

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The development and use of single-use plastics skyrocketed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. With the support of world governments, manufacturing companies exponentially increased their output of personal protective equipment (PPE), and wearing surgical grade face masks became a ubiquitous aspect of reopening public society as they proved to significantly reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Over the course of the pandemic, however, environmental researchers began taking note of the improper disposal and increased waste of face masks and other pandemic-associated PPE throughout a wide range of environments.

This study assessed metrics of degradation of black …

Understanding Healthcare Worker Experiences And Personal Protective Equipment (Ppe)-Related Skin Reactions/Injuries During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Approach, Susan Solmos

Theses & Dissertations

Personal protective equipment (PPE)-related facial skin reactions/injuries occurred in 75.13% of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Critical appraisal of cross-sectional studies identified methodological gaps as the majority of survey questions were not content-validated and those that were lacked descriptions of methods and psychometrics for the survey questions/tool. The aims of this dissertation study were to describe the nature, severity, and distribution of selfie captured PPE-related facial injuries using a validated tool (quantitative) and describe the contextual factors associated with PPE-related facial injuries and what factors influence nurses and Health Care Workers (HCWs) to share their experiences (qualitative). The setting …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Youth Experiencing Homelessness: A Qualitative Study, Bryan A. Pecoraro

Dissertations, 2020-current

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted youth experiencing homelessness (YEH). During the coronavirus outbreak, millions of people’s health worldwide was negatively affected. In addition to poor physical health, society’s mental health was affected by political discourse, viral mitigation factors, social distancing, and distrust of both the media and government. Decades of research with those experiencing homelessness suggest that the housing insecure suffer from a litany of poor outcomes. Their physical and mental health are negatively affected by traumas and illnesses suffered prior to, and during, their transience. This study takes a phenomenological …

Preparing For Pandemics: Lesson Plan Design For Children In Elementary School, Daniella Rivera, Enkhtsogt (Steve) Sainbayar, Saleem Choudry, Brittany Vaughn Pierce, Roxana Nouri-Nikbakht, Joy H. Lewis D.O., Phd

Intellectus

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated distance learning to attenuate the spread of the virus, and school-aged children were particularly affected by this change. Because of their age and education level, children generally lacked understanding about the pandemic and the preventive measures necessary to prevent the spread of this and other infectious diseases. It is unknown how many schools nationwide incorporated disease-prevention education in their curriculums during the pandemic. Therefore, developing distance learning interventions that convey these topics at their level of understanding is important to improve health literacy and raise their awareness of factors that positively influence health.

Objective: To …

Covid-19 Infection With Severe Hypothermia In A Fully Vaccinated Patient, Kathleen E.H. Douangchak

Intellectus

Hypothermia is an uncommon presentation of COVID-19 infection, typically observed in patients with severe disease prior to the availability of vaccines. However, the occurrence of hypothermia in vaccinated patients with COVID-19 disease has not yet been documented. This case reports a rare presentation of severe hypothermia in a 41-year-old female with COVID-19 disease, who suffered from several comorbidities, including heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, chronic pericardial effusion, nephrotic syndrome, CKD 4, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, thyroid cancer status post-thyroidectomy with resultant postsurgical hypothyroidism, glaucoma, and anemia of chronic disease. Upon presentation, the patient was encephalopathic with hypothermia of 27.2 …

Students Of Color And Covid-19: Experiences, Coping Strategies, And Supports, Amie S. Kang, Barbora Hoskova, Chung Yu Liu, Arisa Viddayakorn, Molly Binder, Belle Liang, Betty S. Lai

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The coronavirus disease of 2019, known as the COVID-19 pandemic, is a disaster event that posed significant physical, social, financial, and mental health risks to college students. Disproportionate experiences of stressors position students of color as a population particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of COVID-19, thus, the current study assessed the impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate students of color in the United States. Students participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews about their experiences with stressors during the pandemic. Data were analyzed using conventional content analysis and revealed themes including (a) the pandemic’s impact on students; (b) basic needs as college …

Museums, Covid-19 And The Pivot To Social Media, Jamie Larkin, Andrea Ballatore, Ekaterina Mityrova

CCI Articles and Research

This paper examines social media activity by UK museums during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a general perception that as museums closed their doors for extended periods, their digital presence increased to maintain connections with their audiences. However, much of the research conducted in this area is based on small-scale studies and examples of best practice from large, well-resourced museums. By contrast, this study utilizes a comprehensive database of over 3300 active UK museums to understand the use of Facebook and Twitter across the sector. Specifically, the paper examines the frequency with which museums posted to these digital platforms as …

The Association Between Covid-19 Preventive Behaviors And Mental Health Conditions, Elizabeth Wachira, Bhakti Chavan, Carolyn Nganga-Good, Caroline Kingori

Faculty Publications

Our findings highlight that individuals with mental health conditions reported more psychological distress. Specifically, feeling depressed, anxious, lonely, and hopeless were triggered and exacerbated as a result of the pandemic and may have long-term effects on general well-being and productivity. Therefore, our findings have important implications on the need to include mental health promotion as part of pandemic response efforts. This includes developing policies and allocating funding so as to ensure sustainable mental health interventions and support, public and provider education on the importance of screening for mental health issues.

Training Certified Detectives To Track Down The Intrinsic Shortcuts In Covid-19 Chest X-Ray Data Sets, Ran Zhang, Dalton Griner, John W. Garrett, Zhihua Qi, Guang-Hong Chen

Diagnostic Radiology Articles

Deep learning faces a significant challenge wherein the trained models often underperform when used with external test data sets. This issue has been attributed to spurious correlations between irrelevant features in the input data and corresponding labels. This study uses the classification of COVID-19 from chest x-ray radiographs as an example to demonstrate that the image contrast and sharpness, which are characteristics of a chest radiograph dependent on data acquisition systems and imaging parameters, can be intrinsic shortcuts that impair the model's generalizability. The study proposes training certified shortcut detective models that meet a set of qualification criteria which can …

Leveraging Telehealth Supportive Oncology Services To Combat Covid-19 Isolation In Breast Cancer Patients: A Cancer Center’S Perspective, Jake R. Erickson, Maranda K. Pahlkotter, Paul D. Thielking, Jane M. Porretta, Regina Rosenthal, Cindy B. Matsen, Kirstyn E. Brownson

Patient Experience Journal

During the COVID-19 pandemic, breast cancer patient in-person visits were converted to telehealth visits. Given our concerns about increased isolation amongst breast cancer patients during the pandemic, and the deleterious effects of such isolation on patient outcomes, we investigated utilization rates of psycho-social services amongst newly diagnosed breast cancer patients at our institution. We explored visit platforms (telehealth versus in-person) and time points prior to and encompassing the early pandemic. Despite decreased new breast cancer visits, there was a greater than 2-fold increase in supportive oncology service encounters in breast cancer patients during COVID-19 suggesting increased need for psycho-oncology resources. …

Older Women’S Stories Of Covid-19 Loss: Communicated Narrative Sense-Making Through Photography, Anne Walker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diverse array of challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic make it difficult to assess the full impact of this global health crisis. More than 300,000 older Americans died, leaving a nation of grieving survivors in their absence. This profound loss of life will undoubtedly inform the field’s understanding of grief and grieving for many years to come. Pre-pandemic, older women in the United States understood grief to be part of their life stage; COVID-19 amplified the grief experience through both cumulative losses and the isolation particular to the novel coronavirus response. However, few qualitative studies explore older women’s grief, …

An Examination Of The Associations Between Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy, Trust In Media, And Trust In Science And Scientists, Jegason Phosphorus Diviant

Psychology ETDs

Recent evidence suggests corroded trust in scientific institutions, but particularly among political conservatives. The current investigation examined the potential role of trust in conservative media sources by capturing associations between trust in politically-biased media sources, trust in science and scientists, and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. A total of 1,117 participants completed an online cross-sectional self-report study. Results revealed that: (1) the less trust respondents had in science and scientists, the greater their overall COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (and perceived risks and fears of COVID-19 vaccines); and (2) the more respondents trusted conservative-leaning news media sources, the greater their overall COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy …

The Relationship Between Nurse Professional Development Practitioners’ Perceptions Of Empowerment In The Workplace And Intent To Stay Post Covid-19 Pandemic, Tashiana Roberts-Jackson

Nursing Dissertations - Archive

Nurse Professional Development (NPD) practitioners in the acute care hospital setting are often undervalued despite their crucial role. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they demonstrated adaptability by rapidly transitioning to virtual formats for onboarding nursing staff, while also shouldering the responsibility of ensuring staff competency in caring for COVID-19 patients. Additionally, NPD practitioners faced heavy workloads, having to retrain nursing staff who worked in indirect patient care roles, while also filling in during critical staffing shortages. To date, no studies have been found that explored key factors that predict intent to stay in the NPD practitioner population pre- or post-pandemic. Thereby, …

Addressing Challenges & Reactions To Covid-19 In Academic Libraries, Teisha Robertson, Edna Foxhall, Monica Hodge

Alabama Libraries

The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has impacted many universities and academic libraries resulting in normal operations ceasing temporarily. Overall, academic libraries at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic immediately adjusted to the so-called new normal and accommodated disrupted work operations to operate successfully. This article discusses the procedures implemented, positive and negative reactions to these changes, and the challenges experienced at Alabama State University, Levi Watkins Learning Center, and other libraries. This article will also highlight implemented procedures carried out by other university libraries, including difficulties and successes that libraries experienced during peak periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. To conclude, academic …

A Pandemic’S Potential To Haunt: A Longitudinal Look At The Professional Wellbeing Of Tn’S Infant And Early Childhood Mental Health (Iecmh) Workforce, Robyn A. Dolson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) providers engage in uniquely relational work with high-risk families that expose them to the full advantages (i.e., compassion satisfaction [CS]) and disadvantages (e.g., burn-out [BO]) of a helper role. Though the pandemic seemed poised to escalate disadvantage, most early pandemic studies found high CS alongside elevated BO. Unfortunately, as COVID-19 has continued, CS has declined while BO has increased. Given the delayed COVID-19 impact on children, these changes may be particularly acute for IECMH providers. Using a longitudinal cohort of 27 IECMH providers, this study aimed to describe and quantify changes in professional …

Healthcare Built Environment And The Covid-19 Pandemic, A Mixed-Method Study, Mohammad Saleh Nikooopayan Tak

All Theses

The outbreak of COVID-19 presented an unparalleled risk to public health, leading to urgent scientific efforts in understanding transmission mechanisms and mitigating risks, especially in healthcare settings. This mixed-methods study examines knowledge advancement regarding indoor air quality in healthcare facilities during the pandemic. A systematic literature review of 163 post-COVID studies identifies key research thrusts and 31 recommendations related to building ventilation, air filtration, surface disinfection, and monitoring. Comparison with over 200 pre-pandemic publications reveals both reliance on established infection control principles and unique contributions, such as detecting viral RNA in air and surface samples indicating potential airborne and fomite …

Covid-19 And The “Most Magical Place On Earth”: Applying The Idea Model To Theme Park Crisis Messaging, Lakelyn E. Taylor, Gaurav Panse, Carissa Baker, Deanna Sellnow, Timothy Sellnow, Michael Strawser

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

The global tourism reaches of Orlando, Florida, and the world’s most visited theme park complex, Walt Disney World, provide a unique context for studying global communication in a tourism setting through the crisis messaging efforts. This study explores the reopening of Walt Disney World and subsequent messaging, specifically from a risk and crisis perspective, using the IDEA model to categorize Disney COVID-19 messages. Using a qualitative, etic approach via a codebook based on the IDEA model, the study results determined whether pandemic messages and mentions (the study’s unit of analysis) addressed internalization, explanation, or action.

Evaluation Of Covid-19 Crisis Management Practices In The Context Of City Hotels: The Case Of Aksaray, Mehmet Umur, Busra Sener

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

This study examines the extent to which city hotels operating in Aksaray are affected by the COVID-19 crisis, what strategy the managers follow in the face of this situation, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of operating as a city hotel and being located in Aksaray. Since no similar study was found in the region as a result of the literature review, it is thought that the study will contribute to the literature. The research data were obtained by semi-structured interview technique from 14 managers who worked as general manager, department manager and department chief in city hotels operating …

Capturing The Personal And Pedagogical Experiences Of Faculty During Emergency Response Teaching At A Research University In Abu Dhabi, David Dalton, Asli Hassan, Sami Mejri, Amani Omer

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 Experiences Of International Students In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Ajay K. Garg, Raymundo C. Rosada

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Impact Of Covid-19 On Construction Cost And Schedule Overruns, Nikhitha Adepu

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The construction industry, renowned for its dynamic nature, encountered unprecedented uncertainties throughout its history. However, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic served as a powerful catalyst, underscoring the urgent need for a deeper comprehension of the challenges it introduced and their potential implications for the industry's future. While numerous studies have explored this topic, a comprehensive understanding of the specific factors that disrupted the construction sector during the pandemic remains elusive. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study identifies, categorizes, and ranks these challenges, while also proposing effective management strategies to mitigate their detrimental impact on construction projects. To lay …

Vaccination Intention And Uptake Within The Black Community In Appalachia, Jamey T. Brumbaugh, Kalo C. Sokoto, Casey D. Wright, Sarah E. Francis, Jaliyah Hubbard, Linda Alexander, Daniel W. Mcneil

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Objective:

Black communities have disproportionately experienced adverse health effects from the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously having less vaccination access and decreased vaccine utilization. As such, predictors of vaccination uptake within Black communities are a public health imperative. Black Americans from socio-geographic regions associated with health inequities (e.g., Appalachia), including vaccination disparities, represent an intersection of racial, economic, and ethnic social identities. To better understand the preventive health needs of Black communities in Appalachia and elsewhere, this study examined psychosocial predictors of vaccination intention or behavior.

Method:

Adults (n = 336) identifying as Black or African American from West …

The Relationship Between Covid-19, Student-Parent Gpa, And Childcare Needs, Karina Ventura

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Being a college student comes with its responsibilities and challenges. Additionally, being a parent also comes with responsibilities and challenges. For those who classify as both student and parents, there is double the work. The student-parent population in colleges has increased over the past few years and it is important to ensure that their support needs, such as childcare, are taken into consideration. When the COVID-19 pandemic shifted learning to online and childcare centers shut down, student-parents felt the consequences. The purpose of this study was to examine how a student-parent support program (CCAMPIS) impacted academic progress and persistence from …

“Early Covid” Changes In Parenting, Education, And Work On Parental Stress: A Gendered Comparison Of Canadian Parents, Holly Harris

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In May 2020, data were collected through survey as the COVID-19 pandemic was unfolding and still in its “early” months. The sample N=1,208 is of Canadian parents in a residential romantic relationship, who live with a residential child under the age of eighteen years old, who have access to the internet, and speak English or French. I examine how disruptions to child’s education/daycare, work, and parental childcare activities predicted parental stress through regression models. Findings indicate that fathers and mothers stress since the onset of COVID-19 were the same and that gender was not a moderator to parental stress. A …

Understanding Gendered Risks For Severe Covid-19 Through Surveying The Gender Diverse Community, Arden Tyree

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Early on in the pandemic, the medical community began noticing that men were more likely to be hospitalized, require admission to the ICU, and die of COVID-19 than women but few studies of COVID-19 make mention of gender diverse people, an often-overlooked population who may have vastly different experiences than non-gender diverse men or women. Their variations in gender and sex characteristics may also help provide further insight into which traits are protective or risk factors for this disease. This project used Poisson regression in order to analyze self-reported survey data. The major associations of interest will be between disease …

The Influence Of Minority Stress, Coping, And A Pandemic On The Relationship Between Sexual Orientation And Mental Health: A Mixed Methods Study, James Michael Macchia

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

For decades, scientific literature has shown that sexual minority individuals across populations are disproportionately affected by negative mental health outcomes when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. These disparities are largely attributable to minority stress. Coping is a significant factor that can impact the content and severity of mental health outcomes and coping behaviors have been shown to vary based on sexual orientation. Mental health outcomes may also differ between sexual minority subgroups due to additional factors such as double discrimination and bisexual invisibility/erasure. Moreover, factors such as internalized homophobia and community connectedness have demonstrated strong associations with sexual minority mental …

Demise Of The Usmle Step-2 Cs Exam: Rationalizing A Way Forward, Robert M Milman, Sharon Obadia, Amy L Waer, Patricia K Watson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled rethinking and changes in medical education, the most controversial perhaps being the cancelation of USMLE Step-2 Clinical Skills exam (Step-2 CS). What started in March of 2020 as suspension of this professional licensure exam, because of concerns about infection risk for examinees, standardized patients (SPs), and administrators, soon became permanent cancelation in January 2021. Expectedly, it triggered debate in medical education circles. Positively, however, the USMLE regulatory agencies (NBME and FSMB) saw an opportunity to innovate an exam tainted with perceptions of validity deficits, cost, examinee inconvenience, and worries about future pandemics; they therefore called …

Contingency Management With Stepped Care For Unhealthy Alcohol Use Among Individuals With Hiv: Protocol For A Randomized Controlled Trial, Dominick Dephilippis, Lisa M Fucito, Tekeda Ferguson, Roger Bedimo, Sheldon Brown, Vincent C Marconi, Matthew Bidwell Goetz, Maria C Rodriguez-Barradas, Michael S Simberkoff, Patricia E Molina, Amy C Weintrob, Stephen A Maisto, Manuel Paris, Amy C Justice, Kendall J Bryant, David A Fiellin

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Although unhealthy alcohol use is associated with increased morbidity and mortality among people with HIV (PWH), many are ambivalent about engaging in treatment and experience variable responses to treatment. We describe the rationale, aims, and study design for the Financial Incentives, Randomization, with Stepped Treatment (FIRST) Trial, a multi-site randomized controlled efficacy trial.

METHODS: PWH in care recruited from clinics across the United States who reported unhealthy alcohol use, had a phosphatidylethanol (PEth) >20 ng/mL, and were not engaged in formal alcohol treatment were randomized to integrated contingency management with stepped care versus treatment as usual. The intervention involved …