Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Patient Educators.

Patient education (PE) is vital in reducing anxiety, increasing satisfaction with treatment, helping with self-management, and creating a sense of control for cancer patients. Patients access much of their material from health care providers through in-person visits, patient libraries, and in-person classes. Due to reductions in in-person visits throughout the pandemic, we sought to understand how PE programs responded under varying levels of COVID-19 restrictions to meet the information needs of patients and families. A cross-sectional survey was distributed to members of the Cancer Patient Education Network (CPEN) and the Health Care Education Association (HCEA) via the respective listservs. The survey consisted of five sections that included closed and opened questions. Participants were asked questions to describe their PE programs and how their duties were affected during the pandemic. Forty-two CPEN members completed the survey (N = 42, 66%) with a 35% response rate and a 55% completion rate, and 19 HCEA members completed the survey (N = 19, 30%) with a 5% response rate and 16% completion rate. The majority of staff surveyed were not furloughed (N = 57/64, 89%). Just under half reported a change in daily PE program activities (N = 23/52, 44%) and most reported a change in developing PE materials (e.g., pamphlets) (N = 10/26, 63%), finding information for patients/families (N = 11/19, 58%), and delivering classes (N = 12/21, 57%). COVID-19 has ushered in a new era in the delivery of PE with the rapid deployment of digital cancer patient education. Results can inform future directions for the delivery of PE post-pandemic.

"I think I might be a bit wobbly in my corona moral" - young people's moral functioning during the COVID-19 lockdown: A social representations approach.

In this paper, we use social representations theory to examine how young people made sense of COVID-19 and the emergent behavioral guidelines during the lockdown in Denmark in Spring 2020. Further, we discuss how this informed their moral functioning. This research is explored through triangulation, investigating how COVID-19 was represented in central speeches by Danish leaders (N = 4) and by young people in focus groups (n = 5, N = 25) and individual interviews (N = 10). Results suggest that young people's moral functioning during COVID-19 depended on multiple, often polemic, representations. Consequently, their moral functioning was found to be an ambivalent practice, resulting in coping strategies of adaptation to their surroundings and othering fellow citizens deviating from the guidelines. In this context, coherent communication by authorities and community values are identified as key to promoting behavior change. As the social impact of COVID-19 is unprecedented in many societies, including the Danish, this study contributes to the field of emerging infectious diseases providing insights that are essential for the continued management of this and future pandemics.

The evidence behind the use of LASER for genitourinary syndrome of menopause, vulvovaginal atrophy, urinary incontinence and lichen sclerosus: A state-of-the-art review.

In recent years, LASER has been introduced as a minimally invasive treatment for a broad range of vaginal and vulvar symptoms and diseases. However, the efficacy and safety of vaginal and vulvar LASER has continuously been questioned. The aim of this study is to create an overview of the current literature and discuss the controversies within the use of LASER for genitourinary syndrome of menopause, vulvovaginal atrophy, urinary incontinence and lichen sclerosus. A search string was built in PubMed. The search was commenced on August 25, 2021 and closed on October 27, 2021. Two authors screened the studies in Covidence for inclusion according to the eligibility criteria in the protocol. The data were extracted from the studies and are reported in both text and tables. This review included 114 papers, of which 15 were randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The effect of LASER as a vaginal treatment was investigated for genitourinary syndrome of menopause in 36 studies (six RCTs), vulvovaginal atrophy in 34 studies (four RCTs) and urinary incontinence in 30 studies (two RCTs). Ten studies (three RCTs) investigated the effect of vulvar treatment for lichen sclerosus. Half of the included RCTs, irrespective of indication, did not find a significant difference in improvement in women treated with vaginal CO2 or Er:YAG LASER compared with their respective controls. However, most non-comparative studies reported significant improvement after exposure to vaginal or vulvar LASER across all indications. Included studies generally had a short follow-up period and only a single RCT followed their participants for more than 6 months post treatment. Adverse events were reported as mild and transient and 99 studies including 51 094 patients provided information of no serious adverse events. In conclusion, this review found that the effect of vaginal and vulvar LASER decreases with higher study quality where potential biases have been eliminated. We therefore stress that all patients who are treated with vaginal or vulvar LASER should be carefully monitored and that LASER for those indications as a treatment should be kept on a research level until further high-quality evidence is available.

Political and personal reactions to COVID-19 during initial weeks of social distancing in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To examine perceptions, behaviors, and impacts surrounding COVID-19 early in the pandemic response. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 1,030 U.S. adults was administered on March 31st, 2020. This survey examined attitudes toward media, government, and community responses to COVID-19 by political ideology and sociodemographic factors. Knowledge, anxieties, and impacts of COVID-19 were also assessed. RESULTS: Conservatives were more likely to report that COVID-19 was receiving too much media coverage and people were generally overreacting; liberals were more likely to report the government had not done enough in response to the pandemic. Females and those with lower income experienced more COVID-19 related economic anxieties. Those working and with children at home reported higher social, home, and work disruption. Social distancing behaviors were more common among liberals and were associated with increases in depressive symptoms. General knowledge about COVID-19 was widely exhibited across the sample, however, Black and Hispanic respondents were less likely to correctly answer questions about the availability of a vaccine and modes of transmission. CONCLUSIONS: Public health experts should consider the political climate in crafting messaging that appeals to the values of those across the political spectrum. Research on the COVID-19 pandemic should continue to monitor the effects of social distancing on mental health and among vulnerable populations.