Other Public Health Commons^™

Public Perception About Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy In South Central Nebraska, Rita Nnenne Oparaocha

Biology Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

The COVID-19 pandemic created a shift in the trajectory of vaccination hesitancy, altering risk perceptions and vaccination attitudes among individuals in rural communities. The 5C framework highlights confidence, complacency, constraints, calculation, and collective responsibility as influencing factors of vaccine hesitancy. This study assessed the proportion of adults who refused COVID-19 vaccination and identified the individual reasons for hesitancy among those who refused the COVID -19 vaccines in South Central Nebraska. Data was analyzed from a local cross-sectional public health survey administered to 2,034 adult participants over a six-month period (March-August 2024), including 91 respondents who were from outside the seven-county …

Neurosurgical Praxis Guidelines During The Covid-19 Outbreak. Consensus-Based On Currently Available Literature., José Antonio Soriano Sánchez, Bárbara Nettel Rueda, José Alberto Israel Romero Rangel, Armando Alpizar Aguirre, Miguel Ángel Andrade-Ramos, Ulises García Dr., Diego Mendez Rosito, Jorge A. Santos, Sara Patricia Pérez Reyes, Julian Eduardo Soto Abraham, Jose E. Valerio Pascua, Marco Antonio Barajas Romero, Eduardo Díaz Juárez, Alma Griselda Ramírez Reyes, Maria Elena Gonzalez, Claudia Katiutska González Valdez, Félix Domínguez Cortinas, Noé Santiago Ramírez, Tenoch Herrada Pineda, Manuel Eduardo Soto García, Edgar Nathal Vera, Gustavo Melo Guzmán

Archives of Neurosurgery

INTRODUCTION: The World Health Organization recommended several strategies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, including optimization of care for all patients, especially the seriously ill. Given the strain, the pandemic has posed on healthcare systems around the world, many neurosurgical associations have provided triage recommendations for patients to save resources for the pandemic. We aimed to provide practical recommendations based on specific illnesses requiring surgical procedures commonly performed by neurosurgeons on a life-threatening basis of patient illness. We consider this guideline will help neurosurgeons for the appropriate triage of patients on a daily-situation basis during this pandemic.

METHODS: The Mexican Society …

State Capacity And Covid-19 Responses: Comparing The Us States, Kiran Auerbach, Joshua Y. Lerner, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This article addresses the interstate differences in outcomes from the coronavirus disease COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on state capacity. State capacity refers to states’ ability to create and implement policy. We posit that states want to limit death and destruction within their borders. COVID-19 created an instance in which states had a shared, preferred outcome but had very different levels of success. Using a novel measure of state capacity that allows for subnational comparisons – and is independent of ideological political will – we show that states with greater capacity experienced fewer excess deaths during 2020 and more successfully distributed …

Using Public Funeral And Obituary Listings To Identify Spikes In Excess Mortality In One Appalachian County, Allen Archer, Melissa White, Megan Quinn, Randy Wykoff

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: Delays (10-22 months) in availability of official state and county-level mortality data could have significant public health consequences. The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the need for health officials to access timely death data to identify unexpected increases in mortality in their communities.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if funeral home listings and/or newspaper obituaries could help identify excess mortality on the local level, prior to the availability of official death records.

Methods: To calculate excess mortality, four years (2017–2020) of data were collected from three sources: the state health department, online funeral home listings, and newspaper …

Gender-Specific Mental Health Outcomes In Central America: A Natural Experiment, Thea Nagasuru

Computer Science Summer Fellows

While COVID lockdown measures have had varying effects on the mental health of different demographics, several bodies of research have noted their disparate effect on women. Why is women's mental health more negatively impacted by lockdown measures, and how much more are they impacted than men? How can we predict and mitigate these negative effects on women? This paper aims to contribute to answering those questions by comparing COVID stringency measures and their effect on the gap in depression rates between men and women in two neighboring countries: Nicaragua and Honduras.

Financial Strain, Health Behaviors, And Psychological Well-Being Of Family Caregivers Of Older Adults During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Yujun Liu, M. Courtney Hughes, Heng Wang

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

Objectives

Methods

Results

Prevalence Of Substance Use Among Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual High School Students In 2019 Vs. 2021, Jordyn Lee, Elisabeth Hayes, Adam Wyatt

Nursing & Health Sciences Research Journal

Background: Studies suggest that LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, plus) youth are at increased risk of engaging in alcohol and substance use. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many students to isolate in 2020 and 2021, and the impacts of this have been purported to be detrimental. This study examines the prevalence of alcohol and substance use among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) U.S. high school students before the pandemic in 2019 versus 2021. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study used results from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and the 2021 Adolescent Behavior and Experiences Survey (ABES). The 2019 YRBS …

Learners Engaging With Hispanic Communities To Address Covid19 Inequities By Developing A Cultural Competence Guide For Public Health Messaging, Madeline Elaine Huff, Molly Chapman, Chasity Collier, Giuiseppe Fonseca Badillo, Shuchita Jhaveri, Ayesha Khan, Sabrina R. Orta, Zuni Ortega, Lina Pedraza Sanchez, Maria Pesantez Borja, Rosalind Reyes, Daniela Santos Cantu, Chelsea H. Chang

Research Symposium

Introduction: The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) has the highest rates of obesity and diabetes nationwide which have compounded the impact of COVID-19. We propose addressing underlying mistrust and systemic racism through a resident-and-student-learner-led, community-engaged, educational public health campaign targeting the Hispanic community in the RGV.

Methods: Twelve students were provided interdisciplinary leadership skills in a community-engaged public messaging campaign covering issues of COVID-19 inequities. Learners used these skills to engage with clinic community partners in qualitative interviews regarding the patient population to guide the creation of a culturally competent public health messaging rubric for the Hispanic community.

Results: Pre-intervention survey …

Mixed Method Approach Towards The Life Of University Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Raihan Khan, Andrew White, Tony Jehi

Department of Health Sciences - Faculty Scholarship

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the higher education system. This mixed-methods study aimed to assess COVID-19 fear, anxiety, and stress among Shenandoah Valley college students.

Methods

An online survey was fielded and completed by n=680 students. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 students.

Results

The mean participant age was 22.14±5.48 years, and primarily White (81.9%), women (80.4%), and undergraduate (78.0%) students. Approximately 41% were enrolled in health-related majors (41.4%). Women students had significantly higher anxiety, depression, and fear of contracting COVID-19 than men. Undergraduate students had significantly higher depression than graduate students. Qualitative analysis revealed several major themes: …

The Impact Of Vaccinations And Chronic Disease On Covid Death Rates, James L. Doti

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

This study presents a theoretical and empirical regression model to measure the efficacy of vaccinations in reducing COVID death rates across states over the 3/10/21 to 12/28/22 period. During that period, it was estimated that the availability of vaccinations resulted in a reduction of 427,000 COVID deaths in the nation. To arrive at that estimate, other covariants were held constant. In particular, it was found that chronic disease should be included as an explanatory variable to arrive at unbiased measures of the efficacy of vaccinations in reducing deaths. In addition, the percentage of people over the age of 65 was …

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 …

Investigation Of Teratogenic Concerns In The Covid-19 Era, Emily Daykin

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

In the United States, Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has disproportionately impacted vulnerable populations, including pregnant people, who were shown to be at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection and pregnancy complications. Research on the teratogenicity of COVID-19 is still ongoing, but overall neither COVID-19 infection nor vaccination appear to increase the risk of birth defects. Numerous studies have investigated healthcare providers’ opinions on whether and when pregnant people should get vaccinated, as well as pregnant people’s perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines and psychosocial impacts of the pandemic. However, more research is needed to identify the most common concerns regarding …

Covid-19 And Employee Job Performance Trajectories: The Moderating Effect Of Different Sources Of Status, Xin Liu, Xiaoming Zheng, Byron Y Lee, Yu Yu, Mengyi Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employee job performance trajectories, and further examines the moderating effects of different sources of status. Drawing from event system theory (EST), we propose that employee job performance decreases upon COVID-19 onset, but gradually increases during the postonset period. Furthermore, we argue that status from society, occupation, and workplace functions to moderate such performance trajectories. We test our hypotheses with a unique dataset of 708 employees that combines survey responses and job performance archival data over 21 consecutive months (10,808 observations) spanning the preonset, onset, and postonset periods of the initial …

Virtual And In Vitro Screening Of Natural Products Identifies Indole And Benzene Derivatives As Inhibitors Of Sars-Cov-2 Main Protease (MPro), Dony Ang, Riley Kendall, Hagop S. Atamian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resulted in serious health, social, and economic consequences. While the development of effective vaccines substantially reduced the severity of symptoms and the associated deaths, we still urgently need effective drugs to further reduce the number of casualties associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections. Machine learning methods both improved and sped up all the different stages of the drug discovery processes by performing complex analyses with enormous datasets. Natural products (NPs) have been used for treating diseases and infections for thousands of years and represent a valuable resource for drug discovery when combined with …

Experiences Of Covid-19-Related Racism And Impact On Depression Trajectories Among Racially/Ethnically Minoritized Adolescents, Sabrina R. Liu, Elysia Poggi Davis, Anton M. Palma, Hal S. Stern, Curt A. Sandman, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

In 2020, racially/ethnically minoritized (REMD) youth faced the “dual pandemics” of COVID-19 and racism, both significant stressors with potential for adverse mental health effects. The current study tested whether short- and long-term trajectories of depressive symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic differed between REMD adolescents who did and did not endorse exposure to COVID-19-era-related racism (i.e., racism stemming from conditions created or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic).

Methods

A community sample of 100 REMD adolescents enrolled in an ongoing longitudinal study of mental health was assessed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 51% girls, mean …

Resource Needs And Disparities Among University Members During Covid-19, Raksha Kandlur Ma, Nathan Hager Ms, Catherine Glenn Phd

College of Sciences Posters

Prior studies suggest that campus closures due to COVID-19 adversely impacted the well-being of college and university members. However, no research has examined the resources needed to assist university members as they return to pre-pandemic activities. The current study examined: (1) the resources university members wanted to assist their transition back to in-person activities, (2) their access to these resources, and (3) differences in access among various demographic groups, including those from minoritized backgrounds.

Participants completed a novel Wants and Access Questionnaire to gauge their desires for and access to various campus and community resources. The study included 471 university …

Driving After Marijuana Use Among Us College Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Yuni Tang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Introduction: Adolescents and college-aged adults account for a large proportion of the United States population and are susceptible to drugs, including marijuana. Since the late 1960s in the United States, numerous states have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational purposes. These recent policy changes may alter people’s attitudes and behaviors about marijuana use, particularly young adults. The expansion of state-level marijuana legalization may also increase accessibility in younger populations and increase reckless driving behavior associated with marijuana use, including driving after marijuana use. During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents and young adults experienced heightened stress and anxiety, which have significantly contributed …

Lessons Learned: Covid-19 In Post-Corrections Secured Behavioral Rehabilitation, Jennifer G. Jones, Maria Devalpine, Erica J. Lewis

Virginia Journal of Public Health

Background: The COVID-19 case rate on June 5, 2020, for prisoners in the United States (US) was 5.5 times higher than the US population case rate (Saloner et al., 2020). Secure facilities were challenged to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. One secure behavioral rehabilitation facility made many changes to facility and program protocols to meet this challenge.

Methods: The purpose of this program evaluation was to assess newly implemented infection control measures at a secure behavioral rehabilitation facility and to inform policy and procedure recommendations for the mitigation of COVID-19 transmission in congregate living facilities in the future. Case rates, …

A Mixed Methods Investigation Of How Young Adults In Virginia Received, Evaluated, And Responded To Covid-19 Public Health Messaging, Natalie Cook, Sophie G. Wenzel, Rachel Silverman, Danielle Short, Kristina Jiles, Teace Markwalter, Mary Ann Friesen

Virginia Journal of Public Health

The purpose of this study was to investigate how young adults in Virginia received, evaluated, and responded to messages related to the coronavirus/COVID-19, a major disruptor of our time, and to understand how and when these messages influenced behavior. This was a sequential explanatory mixed methods study, including an online survey (quantitative) and virtual focus groups (qualitative). We surveyed a convenience sample of 3,694 Virginia residents by distributing a link to complete the survey online. Only data from18-24 year old adults (n=207) were included in the analysis for this study. Focus group participants were recruited from the survey participants as …

The Unequal Burden Of Long Covid, Marc A. Garcia, Catherine Garcia, Erin Bisesti

Population Health Research Brief Series

Racial/ethnic disparities in U.S. COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths have been well documented. However, less research has focused on racial/ethnic disparities in long COVID. This data slice summarizes data from the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey and reports that although there are no significant racial/ethnic differences in overall activity limitations from long COVID, a higher percentage of Black and Hispanic/Latino adults report experiencing “significant” activity limitations compared to Whites.

Health Communications Trial With A Resistant Population To Increase Public Health Compliance During A Pandemic, Alison Amoroso, Carlos A. O. Pavao, Russel E. Luke, Jennifer Mccoy, Sean Richey, Shenandoah Evans

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: Georgia has among the worst rates of COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates in the nation. Many identifying as politically conservative resist public health mitigation measures, similar to populations in other politically conservative geographical areas. There are limited peer-reviewed public health communications designed for this population. We aimed to determine if an intervention using a fear appeal approach with efficacy during a pandemic can positively affect knowledge, attitude, perception, and/or behavior (KAP) in Georgia with this population.

Methods: We delivered online video stimuli tailored to the geocultural characteristics of the target population. designed to stimulate fear, encourage efficacy, and counter …

The U.S. Travel Health Pharmacists’ Role In A Post-Covid-19 Pandemic Era, Keri Hurley-Kim, Karina Babish, Eva Chen, Alexis Diaz, Nathan Hahn, Derek Evans, Sheila M. Seed, Karl Hess

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Many countries have enforced strict regulations on travel since the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in December 2019. However, with the development of several vaccines and tests to help identify it, international travel has mostly resumed in the United States (US). Community pharmacists have long been highly accessible to the public and are capable of providing travel health services and are in an optimal position to provide COVID-19 patient care services to those who are now starting to travel again. Objectives: (1) To discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the practice of travel health and …

Cov-Inception: Covid-19 Detection Tool Using Chest X-Ray, Aswini Thota, Ololade Awodipe, Rashmi Patel

SMU Data Science Review

Since the pandemic started, researchers have been trying to find a way to detect COVID-19 which is a cost-effective, fast, and reliable way to keep the economy viable and running. This research details how chest X-ray radiography can be utilized to detect the infection. This can be for implementation in Airports, Schools, and places of business. Currently, Chest imaging is not a first-line test for COVID-19 due to low diagnostic accuracy and confounding with other viral pneumonia. Different pre-trained algorithms were fine-tuned and applied to the images to train the model and the best model obtained was fine-tuned InceptionV3 model …

Ethical Implications Of Covid-19 Surveillance In Karnataka Using Nancy Kass Framework, Apurva Jain, Lakshya Arora

Journal of Health Ethics

Numerous public health hurdles, including pandemics such as COVID-19, have led to concerns about community health practices in relation, necessitating the application of an ethical perspective. International research ethics guidelines are only used in a restricted range of contexts of public health. As a result, a variety of frameworks have been established to assist ethical analysis of public health concerns. In this study, we have used the Nancy Kass framework for analyzing COVID-19 surveillance in Karnataka state of India, which is a six-step approach that can assist public health practitioners in evaluating the ethical consequences of interventions, policy initiatives, services, …

Burnout And Wellness Strategies During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Cecilia Salinas Domene

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers not only had to manage how to treat a new disease but also had to increase their workload to keep up with the patients infected with the new virus. These physicians had to deal with an increase in patients and an increase in patient deaths. In addition, being a frontline worker meant that these physicians had more exposure to the virus than the general population. If they did contract the virus themselves, they had to go into quarantine, many times away from their families (Walton et al., 2020). A national survey done of physicians …

The Impact Of Covid-19 In The Latinx Community, Laura Pedraza, Ricardo Villela, Vikki Kamatgi, Kaitlyn Cocuzzo, Ricardo Correa, Miriam Zylberglait Lisigurski

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the existing health and social disparities that affect minority groups in the United States (US), including the Latinx community. This situation has been reflected in many aspects of health, including increased morbi-mortality and reduced adherence to medical and scientific recommendations. Limited access to health care, financial challenges, migrant status, and health literacy, or lack thereof, have all hampered the Latinx community's ability to seek aid quickly and to be tested or treated effectively for this disease. This pandemic has shown that the Latinx community's socioeconomic status correlates with greater mortality rates when compared to other …

Book Review: Urban Health | Emerging Public Health Perspectives, Demi Miriam

Journal of Research Initiatives

Book Review

Book Title: Urban Health | Emerging public health perspectives

Editors: Fernandes & Grewal, 2021

Publisher: Global South Strategies

Publication: 02 September 2021

City: Mangalore, India

Total No. of Pages: 341

Price (in INR): 950 (Paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-8195336418

Time-To-Event Modeling For Hospital Length Of Stay Prediction For Covid-19 Patients, Yuxin Wen, Md. Fashiar Rahman, Yan Zhuang, Michael Pokojovy, Honglun Xu, Peter Mccaffrey, Alexander Vo, Eric Walser, Scott Moen, Tzu-Liang Bill Tseng

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Providing timely patient care while maintaining optimal resource utilization is one of the central operational challenges hospitals have been facing throughout the pandemic. Hospital length of stay (LOS) is an important indicator of hospital efficiency, quality of patient care, and operational resilience. Numerous researchers have developed regression or classification models to predict LOS. However, conventional models suffer from the lack of capability to make use of typically censored clinical data. We propose to use time-to-event modeling techniques, also known as survival analysis, to predict the LOS for patients based on individualized information collected from multiple sources. The performance of six …

Anxiety Symptoms Among Extension Professionals' During The Covid-19 Pandemic With The Gad-2, Glenn D. Israel, Colleen E. Gariton, Harsha E. James

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are a common mental health disorder but often remain undetected and undertreated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Extension professionals have worked hard to address emerging issues that communities face, possibly impacting the amount of anxiety they experience. This study determined the prevalence of anxiety symptoms among Extension professionals in the United States. Participants from 24 states completed a survey containing the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2-item (GAD-2) screener. Almost one-quarter of Extension professionals had a GAD-2 score greater than three, an indicator of anxiety with a possibility of generalized anxiety disorder, which …

Meta-Analysis Of 175 Patients With Covid-19 And Seizures, Status Epilepticus, Or Cortical Myoclonus: An Individual Patient Data Analysis, Aditi Kappagantu Bs, Helena A. Brantz Ms, Amman Bhasin Ba, Cristina Jageka Bs, Rooqash Ali Md, Izzy Saef Md, Brittany M. Stopa Mph, Ayaz Khawaja Md

Medical Student Research Symposium

Objective

To characterize management and outcomes of seizures, status epilepticus, and cortical myoclonus in COVID-19, with individual patient data analysis of published literature.

Methods

Systematic literature review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Criteria included new-onset seizures, status epilepticus, and/or cortical myoclonus with concomitant COVID-19. COVID-19 severity was dichotomized into mild and severe cases. Good outcome was defined as discharge without severe deficits, and/or return to baseline.

Results

A total of 105 studies reporting 176 patients (male 56.3%;mean age 47.8,SD 25.6) were included. Status epilepticus occurred in 47 patients (26.7%) and myoclonus in 41 (23.3%). Severe COVID-19 occurred in …