Egyptian physicians' information-seeking behavior while serving in public isolation hospitals for coronavirus patients

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the information-seeking behavior of Egyptian physicians serving in COVID-19 isolation hospitals. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 91 physicians serving in Egyptian isolation hospitals answered the study questionnaire. Findings: Demographically, more than half of respondents were males. Over one-third of them are holding Doctor of Medicine (M.D), followed by one-third holding Master of Medicine (MMed). Respondents' age ranged from 30 to 60 years. Internal medicine is the most common specialty, accounting for nearly half of all physicians, followed by chest medicine and intensive care medicine. The information-seeking behavior of these three groups in their regular work is believed to be different, but since all of the participants are working in COVID-19 isolation hospitals, they should have the same information resources, Internet access and the same needs relevant to COVID-19 in order to make accurate clinical decisions. The physicians used traditional and electronic information sources to fulfill their information needs, the most important of which were to make a specific research, find an answer to a specific case, and deliver a medical lecture. Colleagues, coworkers, nurses and pharmacists were the most important channels pursued by Egyptian physicians to obtain information. Originality/value: This study is the first study that focuses on investigating the information-seeking behavior of Egyptian physicians serving in isolation hospitals. Any findings resulted from this study may serve as a noteworthy reference that may be useful to the Egyptian health sector, experts, researchers, as well as policymakers in establishing strategic decisions for making the understating much better. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-08-2020-0350 [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Online Information Review is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

A Real-Time Crowdsensing Framework for Potential COVID-19 Carrier Detection Using Wearable Sensors

Artificial intelligence has been utilized extensively in the healthcare sector for the last few decades to simplify medical procedures, such as diagnosis, prognosis, drug discovery, and many more. With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, more methods for detecting and treating COVID-19 infections have been developed. Several projects involving considerable artificial intelligence use have been researched and put into practice. Crowdsensing is an example of an application in which artificial intelligence is employed to detect the presence of a virus in an individual based on their physiological parameters. A solution is proposed to detect the potential COVID-19 carrier in crowded premises of a closed campus area, for example, hospitals, corridors, company premises, and so on. Sensor-based wearable devices are utilized to obtain measurements of various physiological indicators (or parameters) of an individual. A machine-learning-based model is proposed for COVID-19 prediction with these parameters as input. The wearable device dataset was used to train four different machine learning algorithms. The support vector machine, which performed the best, received an F1-score of 96.64% and an accuracy score of 96.57%. Moreover, the wearable device is used to retrieve the coordinates of a potential COVID-19 carrier, and the YOLOv5 object detection method is used to do real-time visual tracking on a closed-circuit television video feed.

Arab women feelings while seeking information during COVID-19 pandemic: applying PMT constructs

Purpose>This study investigates the effect of protection motivation theory (PMT) constructs on Arab women's feelings while seeking information during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approach>The study has adopted a mixed-method approach using semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to explore PMT constructs' impact on women's feelings while seeking information on COVID-19. Several tests, such as standard deviation, mean, skewness, kurtosis and persons, were used to check the reliability of data and inter-relationships between constructs.Findings>The study results show a significant positive correlation between PMT constructs (perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, response efficacy, self-efficacy and response cost) with the feelings of Arab women during information seeking on COVID-19. However, the relationship between threat appraisal and feelings during information seeking was more substantial than coping appraisal and feelings during information seeking. The researchers hope that this study creates a baseline of cross-cultural studies on PMT constructs' effect on women's feelings while seeking health information.Research limitations/implications>The current study was conducted on female participants only. While the study intended to examine Arab women's feelings during information seeking with PMT's application, the results may be affected by other factors that were not considered in the current study. Furthermore, the questionnaire was distributed in three Arab countries, which means that the results cannot be generalized in other geographical contexts. Therefore, similar studies need to be conducted in larger geographical areas as cultural factors may produce different results.Originality/value>This study explores women's feelings while seeking COVID-19 information using the PMT constructs. As far as we know, this study is the first study to investigate Arab women's feelings while seeking health information during pandemics. PMT utilization is considered a new approach to discover and measure informational needs and feelings associated with it during pandemics.

Violence against healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study from Egypt.

Workplace violence (WPV) is a serious endemic phenomenon in healthcare settings, and it has been escalating during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this cross-sectional study, healthcare workers (HCWs) (105 physicians and 104 nurses) working at two public hospitals accepting patients with COVID-19 in Egypt were included. Using a self-administered questionnaire distributed in January 2021, data about HCWs' sociodemographic and occupational characteristics and their exposure to psychological and physical WPV during the past six months were collected. The results showed that the prevalence of psychological and physical WPV was 42.6% and 9.6%, respectively. Relatives of patients were the perpetrators in most WPV incidents. HCWs did not report 57.3% of psychological and 10.0% of physical WPV incidents. Female sex, having physical contact with patients, and working rotational shifts were associated with the increased exposure to psychological and physical WPV. In conclusion, this study showed a high prevalence of WPV against HCWs in Egyptian public hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Exploration of Egyptian Facebook Users’ Perceptions and Behavior of COVID-19 Misinformation

Social media platforms have become an essential source of information for many users. The purpose of the current study is to explore Egyptian social media users’ perceptions and behavior in the context of COVID-19 misinformation. The study was conducted in two stages;the first included identifying and categorizing misinformation shared in the Arabic language on Egyptian social media pages, and the second stage involved distributing a questionnaire to capture the users’ perceptions and behavior. The study utilized a mixed-methods approach to achieve the research objectives. In all, 1304 questionnaires were retrieved.The findings of the study showed that there are four main types of misinformation shared on social media. The first type is false claims about the virus or treatment of the virus;the second is false information about the government;the third is false content in general or manipulated content, and the last type is conspiracy theories. The findings also revealed that gender and education affect how people deal with and accept misinformation. Additionally, it was found that the spread of COVID-19 misinformation has caused negative feelings among the participants.The study was conducted on a sample of Egyptian participants and Egyptian social media pages on Facebook, hence, the types of misinformation and the results may differ in other countries, depending on the social media platform and other factors that may play a role in the spread of misinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Science & Technology Libraries is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Health Information behaviour during COVID-19 outbreak among Egyptian library and information science undergraduate students

Health information shared on the Internet has the potential to improve people?s quality of life. However, the level of health information literacy and informational skills determines the individuals? ability to obtain credible health information useful for them. This study investigates the Egyptian LIS undergraduates? health information behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study has adopted a quantitative approach using a questionnaire to explore library and information science undergraduates? health information behaviour. A sample of 161 students answered a questionnaire. The data were analysed using SPSS software. The study results show that official health websites, social media, and family and friends are the primary sources for health information for the participants. The findings also revealed that the sample has adequate health information skills, though many of the participants still need to raise their information literacy skills. Information credibility and personal beliefs were found to affect the participants? decision to share health information on the Internet. One of the limitations of the study is that the sample selected in this study was LIS students who are trained to find reliable information as part of their education. Findings may be different for the ?average? student. Furthermore, the questionnaire was distributed in one university, which means that the results cannot be generalised in other LIS departments using different courses. Therefore, more studies need to be conducted in other LIS departments with different course plans as they may produce different results. This study explores the health information behaviour of LIS undergraduates during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study results may help develop the course plan in many LIS departments in Egypt and the Middle East, which would help improve the students? health information literacy.