ABSTRACT
Using data from a national online sample, the current study examined factors impacting changes in alcohol use immediately following the WHO pandemic declaration (March 2020), including pre-COVID risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Participants with pre-COVID AUD risk, who experienced at least one COVID-related problem (e.g. housing, finances), demonstrated the greatest increase in weekly drinking. However, college students at-risk for AUD pre-COVID, with academic disruptions, showed the greatest consumption increases. The findings provide insight into the complex relationships between COVID-19 related disruptions, preexisting AUD risk, and their impact on risky drinking during a critical period in the pandemic. Implications for future public health prevention and intervention responses are discussed.Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: In Brazilian universities, with the start of the pandemic caused by the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19), traditional methods of face-to-face classes were suspended indefinitely. As an alternative to maintain the interaction of students with our university during the Covid-19 pandemic, we proposed a free online course. Objective: To describe a Human Physiology web course offered to undergraduate students and evaluate the students' perceptions about it. Methods: The course proposal included activities carried out during May 2020 and was approved by the Institutional Education Committee (IRB No. 10.069.20). We offer 50 vacancies. Students should be regularly registered in an undergraduate program of Federal University of Pampa/Brazil, and have prior approval in the Human Physiology course or equivalent. We proposed to students synchronous and asynchronous activities, using active teachig methods (flipped class) to address topics considered important for understanding and review different Human Physiology systems. For asynchronous activities, developed according to the preferred time of each student, we used different online tools and platforms, such as Lt® Plataform (ADInstruments), Socrative®, social medias, etc. To promote a real time interaction between students and teachers, synchronous activities on Zoom® and interactive questions using the Mentimeter® were proposed. Results: Considering the 50 students that started the course, 58% (n = 29) completed at least 70% of the total course, and 16% (n = 8) completed at least 60%. 40 students answered to the evaluation questionnaire. In general, the students' expectations about the course included the Human Physiology contents' review and the opportunity for new learning (about the content and the remote teaching) - in this sense, the course fully to the expectations of 85% of students (n = 34). For most students (90%;n = 36) this was the first web course with this type of method. About the different online tools and activities used during the course, the students inducated that they liked more the exercised in Lt® Platform (100%;n = 40), followed by Zoom®'s interactions (77.5%;n = 31), Mentimeter® webquizzes (60%;n = 24) and Youtube® videos (57.5%;n = 23). The dynamic used in the activities was well accepted by students and most of them considered that it contributed to their understanding of the content (85%;n = 34). Moreover, most students (80%;n = 32) considered the dynamic of the activities as important to increase their frequency of studies during the quarantine period. Considering a scale from 0 (bad) to 10 (excellent), the average grade attributed by the students to the course was 9.15 ± 1.23. Conclusions and Support: Here we report that a web course designed to review the main topics in Human Physiology during the Covid-19 quarantine was well accepted and approved by students. The methods proposed can be considered as a successful alternative to the webteach of Physiology, especially in the current moment that requires social distancing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in global disruption to in young adults' daily lives. However, relatively little is known about how the pandemic has impacted young adult alcohol use and what factors relate to the greatest changes in consumption early in the pandemic. We hypothesized that government-mandated shelter-in-place (SIP) and/or quarantine would increase alcohol use, and that increases would be greater for those with a pre-existing risk for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Method: We recruited a national sample of young adults (N = 849;Mage=22;57.4% female;63.3% White) in March 2020 using Amazon MTurk. Measures assessed: (a) alcohol consumption pre- and during the pandemic [Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ;Collins et al., 1985)];(b) AUD risk [AUDIT-C (Bradley et al., 1998)], dichotomized using cut scores for college populations (DeMartini & Carey, 2012);and (c) quarantine status (government-mandated vs. self-imposed vs. none). Changes in alcohol use were used as outcome (# drinks/typical week pre-COVID - # drinks during week of 3/24-3/32/20). Conditional process analysis, using Hayes' Process Macro for SPSS (Model 3), tested direct effects of quarantine status on changes in drinking, and whether AUD risk moderated the association, with demographic risk factors (age, gender, student status) entered as covariates. Results: The main effect for quarantine status on alcohol consumption was not significant (b = 2.07, p = 0.19). However, the relationship was moderated by AUD risk such that young adults at increased risk for AUD pre-COVID consumed more during quarantine than peers who were not at risk, increasing their weekly consumption by 10 drinks compared to pre-COVID (b = 10.18, p < 0.05). This effect remained significant after controlling for age, gender, student status, and COVID-related issues (b = 10.52, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Findings suggest that quarantine/SIP is a significant environmental risk factor for exacerbating alcohol use for young adults with pre-existing AUD risk, even when controlling for other risk factors. Overall, results highlight one way that the pandemic detrimentally impacted young adults and highlights the significance of assessing AUD risk pre-pandemic with clients who are experiencing drinking increases and/or psychological distress.