ABSTRACT
How humans interact with nature affects the health of both people and ecosystems. Yet, long-term data on nature engagement are scarce because traditional survey methods are expensive, time consuming and require commitment over multiple years. Digital data sources (e.g. aggregated data from online searches) have major potential as a supplementary source of information and, in the absence of available data, as a proxy for more direct measurement of nature engagement. Using Google Trends, we created a list of refined and relevant search terms relating to diverse outdoor spaces and activities. We then compared trends in Google search volumes in England across both a 1-year and 10-year period to those from Google Community Mobility Reports, and from nationally representative survey data (Natural England's People and Nature Survey and the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment). Search, survey and mobility data all support a general increase in public engagement with nature since 2009, and a more substantial increase during, or following, the initial national 'lockdown' period of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Search volumes increased for many urban and rural outdoor green spaces (e.g. woodlands), blue spaces (e.g. reservoirs), exercise activities (e.g. walking, running and hiking) and explicitly nature-based activities (e.g. fishing, wild swimming and encouraging wildlife). Overall, volumes of Google searches were more closely related with longer-term (10-year) trends from survey data, than shorter-term changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were statistically significant relationships between search volumes, survey data (self-reported past behaviour) and mobility data (movement trends) for around half of comparisons. Of these, an average of 13-44% of variation in the data was explained. The findings show that Google Trends provides valuable information about public engagement with nature, which can help to supplement existing survey data by providing new insights about behavioural trends. The paper also provides a proof of concept for using Google Trends to understand changes in public engagement with nature, which could be applied to the many countries that lack long-term survey monitoring. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused colleges of pharmacy to abruptly change teaching strategies mid-semester in Spring 2020 due to campus closure and transition to remote learning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of pandemic-induced remote learning on student skill acquisition in a third year pharmacy student (P3) Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP) capstone course. Methods: Student performance on weekly quizzes and mid-term and final practical examinations were evaluated before and after implementation of remote learning in 2020 and were compared with a previous class in 2019. Paired and anonymous student perceptions of their skill development were also compared within the same semester and between years. Independent sample and paired Student's t tests were used to compare means, the Pearson correlation was used to identify associations between continuous variables, and nonparametric tests were used to compare ordinal data. Results: In 2020, student performance was significantly higher on quizzes at the end of the semester after implementation of remote learning compared with pre-remote learning (8.2 ± 1.6 vs 7.7 ± 1.8 points, P <.05). Students performed significantly worse on the final examination compared with the mid-term examination (21.2 ± 5.4 vs 23.4 ± 5.3 points, P <.05) in 2020. Students also performed significantly worse on the final examination in 2020 compared with 2019 (21.3 ± 5.4 vs 23.1 ± 5.4, P <.01). In both 2019 and 2020, students rated their ability to meet course objectives higher at the end of the semester compared with the beginning of the semester (P <.05). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in course delivery, participation, and assessment had a mixed effect on development of a systematic process for patient work-up skills using the PPCP. Students progressed throughout the semester on early PPCP patient work-up skills, but performance decreased when higher level skills or later PPCP steps were assessed and was lower compared with a previous offering of the course.