ABSTRACT
@#Higher education institutions face major challenges in managing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The risk of exposure from the community poses a threat to campus staff and students. This study describes epidemiological characteristics of suspected COVID-19 cases among a public university’s students and staff. This is a retrospective review on data collected from the institute’s COVID-19 Preparedness and Respond Centre, located at the main campus in Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah from mid-January to April 2020. Incidence rate was calculated, and epidemiological information retrieved from interviews and relevant documents. The majority of suspected COVID-19 cases were staff (57.1%) with incidence rates higher among males (IR=40.2/1,000 population) and those working in the frontline (IR=39.6/1,000 population). Suspected COVID-19 cases were mostly related to occupation (37.3%) and social contacts (27.3%). Student cases were largely related to household (38.1%) and during travel (33.3%). One positive COVID-19 case was reported of out of the 161 suspected cases (0.6%) in the institution. An operational team must be set up to conduct situational analysis and integrate management with other departments. Suspected COVID-19 cases must be quarantined and monitored on a daily basis. A high index of suspicion and effective containment of suspected cases will prevent spread of the virus among students and staff.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the occupational stress status and its influence factors among counselors in institutes of higher education in Guangdong Province. METHODS: By clustering random sampling method,260 counselors from 9universities in Guangdong Province were chosen as study subjects. The sub-questionnaires of Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition,included the Occupational Role Questionnaire( ORQ),Personal Strain Questionnaire( PSQ) and the Personal Resources Questionnaire( PRQ) were used to investigate their occupational tasks,stress reaction and coping resources,respectively. The related influence factors were also analyzed. RESULTS: The total scores of ORQ and PSQ of counselors in universities of Guangdong Province were higher than the national norm( P < 0. 01),while the PRQ total score was lower than the national norm( P < 0. 01); the counselors who had over professional task accounted for 13. 85%( 36 /260); the counselors who had occupational stress reaction accounted for 15. 77%( 41 /260); the counselors who lacked the personal coping resource accounted for 16. 54%( 43 /260). The logistic regression analysis indicated that the counselors in non-medical colleges had higher risk of more occupational tasks than those in medical college( P < 0. 05);the counselors aged 30 years or above were more prone to lack of personal coping resource than those aged under 30 years( P < 0. 01). CONCLUSION: Compared with the general population,the university counselors in Guangdong Province have more professional task,higher degree of occupational stress and more shortage of personal coping resources. Therefore,some intervention measures aiming at the main influence factors should be carried out to relieve the occupational stress.