Post-pandemic changes in the consumption habits of the Portuguese

The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on all dimensions of our individual lives and of our societal functioning. At first, changes were immediate and radical, and were expected to be temporary. However, in Portugal, as in many other European countries, the population faced two prolonged lockdown period, and restrictive measures of social distancing are still in place. Instead of wishing to "go back to normal," coping with the COVID-19 pandemic became the "new normal." The aim of this study is to identify consistent and permanent changes in consumer behaviour that were triggered or motivated by the pandemic, and that consumers maintained even now, as they are resuming their daily activity. On this research the authors looked beyond that atypical consumption period and mapped the consumption habits of the Portuguese at current times. This study presents findings from an online survey to a stratified sample of the Portuguese population, according to age and geographical distribution of the zone of residence. Our findings revealed two opposing trends in consumer behaviour: consumers report increases and decreases in their consumption associated to a more indoors and less mobile lifestyle, such as consuming more telecommunications and internet, and less fuel;while at the same time reporting changes that indicate a retake of pre-COVID-19 habits, such as going more to restaurants, and to sports and culture events, and spending less on products for the hygiene and maintenance of the home. Concerning their relationship with brands, our respondents have reinforced their connection to brands online, particularly on social media platforms. Customers currently appreciate more brands that afford hedonistic experiences, that are emphatic and close, that are transparent and genuine, and, above all, that communicate values that they identify with. © 2022 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

2030 Sustainable Development Goals and higher education: A digital experience in the context of the Interdisciplinary Service-Learning

The digital revolution has played a decisive role in economic and social development. With Covid-19, the need to maintain services and organizations working, adjusting to the social distancing rules, forced institutions to develop new strategies using technologies. In this context, CapacitAmente Project was developed at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, integrating teachers and students from Social Work and Psychology dedicated to promoting continuous training to employees of social solidarity institutions. Using the Service-Learning methodology to implement this interdisciplinary project, a set of actions were developed anchored in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in close collaboration with United Nations University. This project constitutes a potential contribution of good practices for Digital Governance, making theoretical and practical knowledge accessible to all without discrimination, supporting the formulation of policies and the provision of services for the SDGs. © 2022 ACM.

Exploring inclusive education in times of COVID-19: An international comparison of German, Austrian and Portuguese teachers

With the start of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the global education system has a faced immense challenges and disruptions resulting in and the necessity for an immediate redesign of teaching and learning in the school context. Face-to-face classroom instruction had to be replaced by 'emergency remote teaching', requiring teacher to adapt their daily routines to a new and unprecedented educational reality. Researchers and policymakers worldwide have agreed that, despite the fact that efforts were made to immediately adapt to emergency remote teaching, disadvantaged and vulnerable students may be especially at risk in emergency remote teaching. Given the differences in schooling organization across countries during the COVID-19 pandemic it can be expected that teachers performed inclusive instructional practices significantly different. Against the unpredictable situation, cross-country research has been urgently required to provide data that could inform education policy. Thus, this study explored teachers' perceptions of supporting at risk students during the first COVID-19 school closures, as well as examining teachers' inclusive teaching practices in three countries: Germany, Austria and Portugal. ANOVA results revealed important country differences. In general, it appears that teachers in Germany and Austria reported to have implemented less practices to address vulnerable and at-risk students compared to Portuguese teachers. Implications of the results, as well as further lines of research are outlined.

Brand Communication on Instagram During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Portuguese Context

Social media, based on user-generated content, connectivity, and participation, have become a new environment for brands to capture attention and build lasting relationships with customers and fans. Participating in these platforms demanded a paradigmatic shift in branding and brand communication, which became more focused on listening to consumers and fans, interacting and collaborating with them, and nurturing mutually beneficial relationships. Digital influencers act as mediators between brands and their followers and play a pivotal role in social media marketing strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic, confinement periods imposed in many countries, and a reconfiguration of daily routines in post-confinement or deconfinement periods, had a profound impact on businesses, on consumption, and on branding. Many brands, unable to produce and market their products or offering their services for a considerable period, focused on their communication, on remaining relevant or becoming more relevant for their fans and customers. Brand communication on Instagram has changed during this short period, and our exploratory study sets out to map the main changes and to understand how brands, influencers and users perceive them, in the specific context of Portugal. This article presents results from an online survey to a purposive sample of 160 instagrammers, addressing their perceptions about the impact of these changes on their relationship with brands and influencers. We complement the perspective of users with interviews to 25 other relevant agents, namely Instagram influencers, marketing agencies and brands with relevant presence on Instagram. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Developing and validating high-value patient digital follow-up services: a pilot study in cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: The existing digital healthcare solutions demand a service development approach that assesses needs, experience, and outcomes, to develop high-value digital healthcare services. The objective of this study was to develop a digital transformation of the patients' follow-up service after cardiac surgery, based on a remote patient monitoring service that would respond to the real context challenges. METHODS: The study followed the Design Science Research methodology framework and incorporated concepts from the Lean startup method to start designing a minimal viable product (MVP) from the available resources. The service was implemented in a pilot study with 29 patients in 4 iterative develop-test-learn cycles, with the engagement of developers, researchers, clinical teams, and patients. RESULTS: Patients reported outcomes daily for 30 days after surgery through Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and a mobile app. The service's evaluation considered experience, feasibility, and effectiveness. It generated high satisfaction and high adherence among users, fewer readmissions, with an average of 7 ± 4.5 clinical actions per patient, primarily due to abnormal systolic blood pressure or wound-related issues. CONCLUSIONS: We propose a 6-step methodology to design and validate a high-value digital health care service based on collaborative learning, real-time development, iterative testing, and value assessment.

SARS CoV-2 seroprevalence and diagnostic accuracy during a COVID-19 outbreak in a major penitentiary complex in Brazil, June to July 2020

Purpose: This study aims to estimate the overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and evaluate the accuracy of an antibody rapid test compared to a reference serological assay during a COVID-19 outbreak in a prison complex housing over 13,000 prisoners in Brasília. Design/methodology/approach: The authors obtained a randomized, stratified representative sample of each prison unit and conducted a repeated serosurvey among prisoners between June and July 2020, using a lateral-flow immunochromatographic assay (LFIA). Samples were also retested using a chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLIA) to compare SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and 21-days incidence, as well as to estimate the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) and determine the diagnostic accuracy of the LFIA test. Findings: This study identified 485 eligible individuals and enrolled 460 participants. Baseline and 21-days follow-up seroprevalence were estimated at 52.0% (95% CI 44.9–59.0) and 56.7% (95% CI 48.2–65.3) with LFIA;and 80.7% (95% CI 74.1–87.3) and 81.1% (95% CI 74.4–87.8) with CLIA, with an overall IFR of 0.02%. There were 78.2% (95% CI 66.7–89.7) symptomatic individuals among the positive cases. Sensitivity and specificity of LFIA were estimated at 43.4% and 83.3% for IgM;46.5% and 91.5% for IgG;and 59.1% and 77.3% for combined tests. Originality/value: The authors found high seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies within the prison complex. The occurrence of asymptomatic infection highlights the importance of periodic mass testing in addition to case-finding of symptomatic individuals;however, the field performance of LFIA tests should be validated. This study recommends that vaccination strategies consider the inclusion of prisoners and prison staff in priority groups. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

TikTok: uses and motivations among teenagers in Portugal

During the first months of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, TikTok was the most downloaded app worldwide, and conquered, just in Portugal, half a million new users, which requires an attentive look from Media Studies. Using the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) as framework, this study aims to map the practices of Portuguese teenagers (13-16) on this platform, exploring the differences between users and content producers. For that purpose, we conducted an online survey to a non-probabilistic sample of 263 TikTok users. Our findings show that 44,5% of the users create content, and they act more strategically, focusing on self-promotion and on the expansion and dynamization of their online community.

Mortality after surgery with SARS-CoV-2 infection in England: a population-wide epidemiological study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted elective and emergency surgery around the world. We aimed to confirm the incidence of perioperative severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and associated mortality after surgery. METHODS: Analysis of routine electronic health record data from NHS hospitals in England. We extracted data from Hospital Episode Statistics in England describing adult patients undergoing surgery between January 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. The exposure was SARS-CoV-2 infection defined by International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes. The primary outcome measure was 90 day in-hospital mortality. Data were analysed using multivariable logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index, Index of Multiple Deprivation, presence of cancer, surgical procedure type and admission acuity. Results are presented as n (%) and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: We identified 2 666 978 patients undergoing surgery of whom 28 777 (1.1%) had SARS-CoV-2 infection. In total, 26 364 (1.0%) patients died in hospital. SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a much greater risk of death (SARS-CoV-2: 6153/28 777 [21.4%] vs no SARS-CoV-2: 20 211/2 638 201 [0.8%]; OR=5.7 [95% CI, 5.5-5.9]; P<0.001). Amongst patients undergoing elective surgery, 2412/1 857 586 (0.1%) had SARS-CoV-2, of whom 172/2412 (7.1%) died, compared with 1414/1 857 586 (0.1%) patients without SARS-CoV-2 (OR=25.8 [95% CI, 21.7-30.9]; P<0.001). Amongst patients undergoing emergency surgery, 22 918/582 292 (3.9%) patients had SARS-CoV-2, of whom 5752/22 918 (25.1%) died, compared with 18 060/559 374 (3.4%) patients without SARS-CoV-2 (OR=5.5 [95% CI, 5.3-5.7]; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The low incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in NHS surgical pathways suggests current infection prevention and control policies are highly effective. However, the high mortality amongst patients with SARS-CoV-2 suggests these precautions cannot be safely relaxed.