Locking down adolescent hunger: COVID-19 and food security in Bangladesh

Policy responses to slow the spread of COVID-19 have increased economic insecurity globally. We use panel data collected immediately before and during the COVID-19 pandemic with adolescents in Bangladesh to assess the association between COVID-19-related restrictions and adolescent hunger. One year into the pandemic, adolescents were three-fold more likely to report hunger, and households were twice as likely to report cutting back food to adolescents compared to before COVID-19 restrictions. Vulnerable households experienced larger increases in hunger and reductions in food consumption, with girls more adversely affected than boys. Cash and food aid were unable to mitigate these negative trends. © 2023 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association.

IMPLEMENTING A HYBRID TELEHEALTH HOME-BASED TRANSITIONAL CARE PROGRAM: PRE-IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES

The reach of home-based clinical programs for medically complex, older adults can be limited by geographic scope. Implementing telehealth versions can expand reach but create constraints for comprehensive assessments and technological barriers for users. We describe challenges and lessons learned during the pre-implementation period for the randomized trial of a hybrid video -modality of the Geriatrics Resources for Assessment and Care for Elders (GRACE) Program at the Indianapolis Veterans Health Care System. In TeleGRACE, a health technician makes home visits to facilitate clinical activities (e.g., medication reconciliation) using telehealth technology for a clinical team (social worker, nurse practitioner) who conduct the visits remotely. Data used in this one-year pre-implementation evaluation included: periodic reflections with the clinical and evaluation staff, planning and interdisciplinary team meeting fieldnotes, and interviews with clinical team members. Data were summarized by selected constructs from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research;implementation challenges and problem solving were identified. Pre-implementation challenges occurred in: assuring assessment devices worked correctly for and were trusted by staff (e.g., connectivity, virtual stethoscope), technician fit with existing GRACE team, ensuring technician welfare (e.g., COVID-19 exposure, guns in the home), caseload balance amid staffing shortages, travel logistics, and sampling to adequately power the trial. Building on an existing strong team dynamic and a culture of feedback for quality improvement, challenges were addressed through pilot-testing, monitoring for barriers and impacts, and group reflecting conversations. Adaptations to the initial plan resulted in a more focused and targeted implementation effort to test the model and its effectiveness.

Equipping Small Businesses to Navigate Health Orders and Occupational Safety During the COVID-19 Pandemic

From July 2020 to June 2021, the UC San Diego COVID-19 Small Business Outreach Project conducted COVID-19-related educational outreach to small businesses in high-risk communities of San Diego County and distributed over 1,200 toolkits containing COVID-19-related safety tips, best practices, and a summary of pertinent guidelines and COVID-19 vaccine information.

Gender, Growth Mindset, and Covid-19: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Bangladesh

School closures during the covid-19 pandemic disrupted learning among students globally, with concerns for long-term impacts on adolescent well-being and likely differential effects for boys versus girls. This study explores the gendered impacts of covid-19-related school closures on continued learning and motivation among secondary-school students in Bangladesh and presents short-term impacts of a cluster randomized intervention that offered students an innovative, virtually-delivered Growth Mindset curriculum. During the covid-19 pandemic, our analysis highlights that boys were significantly more likely to engage with media for continued learning, whereas girls were more likely to use books and paper assignments. Motivation for learning and aspirations for higher education fell during the covid-19 pandemic, particularly for girls. The randomized Growth Mindset intervention, which promoted the idea that individual characteristics, such as intelligence can be developed through practice, results in significant increases in adolescent motivation and aspirations across both genders. For boys, the effect sizes are large enough to compensate for negative covid-19 pandemic impacts;however, due to the larger negative impacts of the pandemic for girls, a covid-19 pandemic-related gender gap persists. Our findings suggest that a virtually-delivered Growth Mindset intervention mitigates the negative impacts of extended school closures, but that additional policies are needed to address gender differences in adolescent outcomes. © 2022 Jennifer Seager, T.M. Asaduzzaman, Sarah Baird, Shwetlena Sabarwal and Salauddin Tauseef.

Social Isolation and Disrupted Privacy Impacts of COVID-19 on Adolescent Girls in Humanitarian Contexts

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has shattered the everyday lives of young people, limiting peer interactions and disrupting privacy, with potential for long-term detrimental impacts. This study uses rapid virtual quantitative and qualitative surveys undertaken from April to July 2020 with over 4,800 adolescents affected by displacement in Bangladesh and Jordan to explore adolescent girls' experiences of social isolation and lack of privacy. Our mixed-methods findings suggest that the pandemic and policy response has caused sharp restrictions on privacy and substantially limited interactions with peers, with larger impacts on girls, particularly those with disabilities. For girls, digital exclusion exacerbates these gender differences. Given that privacy and peer interactions are paramount during adolescence, age-, gender-, and disability-responsive programming is essential to ensure future wellbeing.

Developing a national notification strategy for COVID-19 infections using the Scottish MS register

Introduction: COVID-19 may be particularly detrimental for people with MS (pwMS). Disease modifying therapies (DMT) alters immune function with an unknown effect on response to COVID-19. More disabled pwMS may be at increased risk of death from COVID-19. We have attempted to link data from the Scottish Multiple Sclerosis Register (SMSR) with COVID-19 test result data to develop a mechanism to inform neurologists across Scotland of pwMS who catch COVID-19. Methods: The SMSR is an incidence register which aims to record all new diagnoses of multiple sclerosis in Scotland since 2010. This anonymised dataset is held within Public Health Scotland. COVID-19 test results are recorded by Health Protection Scotland. These datasets will be linked and a weekly report will be generated. Positive cases will be investigated by regional neurologists. Additional cases in pwMS diagnosed pre-2010 will be collected if reported by specialist teams. Results: The SMSR holds data on more than 4256 pwMS. As of 22/3/20 1616 people in Scotland are known to have died with a COVID-19 infection with 9038 positive cases from a total of 43,309 tests. As of today we know of 6 pwMS with positive tests in Scotland. More data will be presented. Conclusion: Data linkage using existing national datasets may give a better picture of the spread of COVID-19 amongst people with MS in Scotland. This may help inform future 'shielding' strategies to protect those most at risk of death from the COVID-19 and also may help us understand the interaction of DMT with COVID-19.