ABSTRACT
Introduction: The cascade of events that happened due to the outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has brought to light the dilemmas faced by university students who are physically constrained by the lockdown and resulted in virtual learning for the past two years. There is growing evidence that practicing mindfulness brings positive outcomes for both clinical and non-clinical populations which piques an interest in the effectiveness of an online, brief mindfulness intervention that can be easily accessible and feasible for university students during a global crisis. Objectives: Hence, the present study explored the potential impact of a two-week brief mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on state mindfulness and attention regulation among university students in Malaysia. Specifically, the hypotheses examined if the brief MBI can significantly increase state mindfulness, reduce attention deficit, and increase selective attention after the two-week intervention. Methods: Fifty-three students were allocated to either the experimental group (n = 28) to immediately start the brief MBI or into the waitlist control group (n = 25). Measures of state mindfulness (MAAS), attention deficit (ASRS), and selective attention (Computerised Stroop Task) were administered before and after the intervention/waiting period. Results: Based on a mixed factorial ANOVA analysis, participation in the brief MBI identified significant improvement in attention deficit (P = 0.01) and selective attention (P = 0.01) after the two weeks as compared to the waitlist control group. However, state mindfulness was significantly increased (P = 0.03) across all participants after the two weeks. Conclusion: This provides further insight on the effectiveness of digital, audio-guided mindfulness interventions that are brief and can be embedded in university courses or counselling programs to promote
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022) had triggered a global crisis which led to the suspension of colleges and universities. Management educators had digitally transformed their teaching to new modalities with digital technologies and adapted to technological solutions. The management students had experienced different online modes of learning and adjusted their methods to the new reality of content delivery. This study aims to discuss opportunities and challenges for management education and facilitate further investigation into the emerging trends on online learning by analyzing the characteristics of management education research and examining the most frequent research themes from 2020 to 2022. A bibliometric analysis is used to review 920 papers retrieved from the Scopus database for exploring key research themes of management education and online learning. The findings revealed that the publications are concentrated in developed countries while European countries had accounted for the largest proportion of the listed publications. Five sub themes are identified for receiving the most scholarly attention, such as pedagogy, technology, assessment methods, learning outcomes or skills, and challenges. After all, the bibliometric and thematic findings identified pivotal theoretical contributions, including fields of online or blended learning and management education converge, to extend the existing online learning theories. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd
ABSTRACT
BackgroundWe evaluated the impact of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) on the sex work industry, and assessed how it has impacted the health and social conditions of sex workers in Singapore.MethodsWe conducted a sequential exploratory mixed methods study amidst the COVID-19 pandemic from April to October 2020, including in-depth interviews with 24 stakeholders from the sex work industry and surveyor-administered structured surveys in the field with 171 sex workers. The in-depth interviews allowed the team to qualitatively explore and generate themes around how COVID-19 had impacted sex workers in Singapore, and informed the design of the quantitative surveyor-administered survey questionnaire. Qualitative data were analyzed through framework analysis while survey data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, and multivariable Poisson regression models.ResultsCOVID-19 had a substantial impact on sex workers’ income, while the illegality of sex work, stigma, and the lack of work documentation were cited as exclusionary factors for access to alternative jobs or government relief. Sex workers had experienced an increase in food insecurity (57.3%), housing insecurity (32.8%), and sexual violence and compromise (8.2%), as well as a decrease in access to medical services (16.4%). Being transgender female was positively associated with increased food insecurity (aPR=1.23, 95%CI [1.08, 1.41]), housing insecurity (aPR=1.28, 95%CI [1.03, 1.60]) and decreased access to medical services (aPR=1.74, 95%CI [1.23, 2.46]), being a venue-based sex worker was positively associated with increased food insecurity (aPR=1.46, 95%CI [1.00, 2.13]), and being a non-Singaporean citizen or permanent resident was positively associated with increased housing insecurity (aPR=2.59, 95%CI [1.73, 3.85]).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that COVID-19 has led to a loss of income for sex workers, leading to a worsening of social and health conditions for sex workers. A lack of access to government relief among sex workers exacerbated such conditions.