Supporting practice nurses in diabetes, revalidation and appraisal programme: A practical course for new practice nurses (PN) undertaken diabetes care

Aims: To upskilling PN to undertake diabetes clinics and ensure high quality healthcare for our patients by maintain the nursing workforce in primary care. Method(s): The programme was delivered over two days, one month apart with follow up day's at six months and 1 year. During Covid-19 we had adapted the session to 4 half days over a 2 month period and are waiting to do our follow up day face to face. The programme included a broad range of topics and skills required to undertake diabetes clinics. Result(s): 13 PN attended from different geographical areas in our healthboard;having a various amount of experience as a PN from 16 yrs to 1 month but limited diabetes experience. Through anonymous questionnaire responses we showed an improvement in confidence across a broad range of core skills and management. Asked if they felt individually confident pre and post course -new diabetes diagnosis (38% to 92%), hypoglycaemia (53% to 92%), pens and meters (8% to 76%), sick day rules (30% to 84%), foot screening (61% to 92%) and advising on oral medication (30% no confidence improving to 84%). Increasing PN knowledge will ultimately improve patient's care thus reducing the risk of complications. preceptorship throught the course was offered by experience Diabetes Specialist Nurses. Conclusion(s): Even in these challenging times we have to maintain a skilled workforce by delivering education and preceptorship to PN. The Supporting prActice Nurses in Diabetes, Revalidation and Appraisal programme provides PN the tools to undertake diabetes clinics with confidence and ensure excellent patient care.

Implementing the Yorkshire Cancer Research funded Prehabilitation Radiotherapy Exercise smoking Habit cessation And Balanced diet Study (PREHABS): a therapeutic radiographer's perspective

Introduction: Lung cancer patients often have a number of comorbidities which impacts patient mortality and morbidity rates. Lifestyle changes for this group of patients have the potential to positively impact both quality of life and longevity. The Yorkshire Cancer Research funded Prehabilitation Radiotherapy Exercise smoking Habit cessation And Balanced diet Study (PREHABS) was designed to determine if it is feasible to embed interventions promoting a healthier lifestyle into the radical lung radiotherapy pathway. Method(s): The PREHABS study was led by therapeutic radiographers trained in smoking cessation provision, motivational interviewing, informed consent and good clinical practice and a dietitian. Radiographers screened and consented study participants, delivered the exercise intervention and up to 12-weeks of smoking cessation support, whilst dietary advice was provided by the dietitian. Patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), were referred to a community based pulmonary rehabilitation service rather than the PREHABS exercise intervention. Ethical and regulatory approvals were secured in September 2021. Result(s): 61 patients were recruited between September 2021 and October 2022. The majority were female (n=42), mean age 73.1 years (SD 9.36 years). Discussion(s): In addition to the training requirements detailed above and the challenges of COVID-19, the radiographers had to become adept in a number of study-specific aspects including writing the study standard operating procedures (SOPs), creating a study organisational workflow and patient recruitment. The PREHABS study has broadened the radiographer's perspective beyond the radiotherapy department, by further understanding the complex comorbidities that lung cancer patients present with, how to motivate patients to positively change their lifestyle, and how the side effects caused by cancer treatment can affect a patient's ability to change their lifestyle. Conclusion(s): Therapeutic radiographers, after appropriate training, are capable of delivering lifestyle intervention support within a radical lung cancer radiotherapy pathway. Disclosure: No significant relationships.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

A Randomized Trial of Ivermectin 600 Mcg/Kg Vs Placebo in Mild/ Moderate Covid-19

Background: Whether ivermectin, with a maximum targeted dose of 600 mug/ kg, shortens symptom duration or prevents hospitalization among outpatients with mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of ivermectin, maximum targeted dose of 600 mug/kg, daily for 6 days compared with placebo for the treatment of early mild to moderate COVID-19. Method(s): ACTIV-6, an ongoing, decentralized, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, platform trial, was designed to evaluate repurposed therapies in outpatients with mild to moderate COVID-19. A total of 1206 participants age >=30 years with confirmed COVID-19, experiencing >=2 symptoms of acute infection for <=7 days, were enrolled from February 16, 2022, through July 22, 2022, with follow-up data through November 10, 2022, at 93 sites in the US. Participants were randomized to receive ivermectin, with a maximum targeted dose of 600 mug/kg (n=602), daily vs placebo daily (n=604) for 6 days. The primary outcome was time to sustained recovery, defined as at least 3 consecutive days without symptoms. The 7 secondary outcomes included a composite of hospitalization, death, or urgent/emergent care utilization by day 28. Result(s): Among 1206 randomized participants who received study medication or placebo, median (interquartile range) age was 48 (38-58) years;713 (59%) were women;and 1008 (84%) reported >=2 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses. Median time to recovery was 11 (11-12) days in the ivermectin group and 11 (11-12) days in the placebo group. The hazard ratio (HR) (95% credible interval [CrI], posterior probability of benefit) for improvement in time to recovery was 1.02 (0.92-1.13;P[HR >1]=0.68). In those receiving ivermectin, 34 (5.7%) were hospitalized, died, or had urgent or emergency care visits compared with 36 (6.0%) receiving placebo (HR 1.0, 0.6-1.5;P[HR< 1]=0.53). In the ivermectin group, 1 participant died and 4 were hospitalized (0.8%);2 participants (0.3%) were hospitalized in the placebo group and there were no deaths. Adverse events were uncommon in both groups. Conclusion(s): Among outpatients with mild to moderate COVID-19, treatment with ivermectin, with a maximum targeted dose of 600 mug/kg daily for 6 days, compared with placebo did not improve time to recovery. These findings do not support the use of ivermectin in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. Primary and secondary outcomes.

A longitudinal analysis of involuntary job loss and communication resilience processes during the COVID-19 pandemic

This longitudinal study explored associations between communication resilience processes, job-search self-efficacy, and well-being for a sample of US adults who involuntarily lost their jobs during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the communication theory of resilience (CTR), we tested four possible models regarding how the enactment of resilience processes would be associated with job-search self-efficacy and well-being over time. Participants (N = 595) described their job loss story and completed measures of communication resilience processes, job-search self-efficacy, and well-being (perceived stress, mental health, and life satisfaction) in February 2021, then completed measures again 2 and 4 months later. Findings from random intercept cross-lagged panel analyses suggested that after accounting for between-person associations, resilience enactment shared significant within-person reciprocal relationships with job-search self-efficacy, perceived stress, and mental health over time. Theoretical implications for CTR, future directions for communication research, and practical implications for supporting diverse job seekers are discussed.

Narratives of Gendered and Racialized Carework: Feminist Faculty of Color Organizing During the Pandemic

Inspired by feminist narrative and the Latin American tradition of testimonio, this paper is grounded in the lived experiences of the four authors as academics, mothers, and organizers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on women of color feminisms and theorizing anti-racist feminist understandings of motherhood as a political identity, we examine how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated challenges faced by parenting and caregiving faculty, especially those positioned at the intersection of multiple structural vulnerabilities. The COVID-19 tipping point presented both unsustainable challenges for parenting and caregiving faculty and opportunities for collective support and organizing as parents and caregivers. We participated in collective organizing with other academic parents and caregivers, most of whom are mothers, as we shared our struggles and organized to respond to changing conditions. We examine the ways in which undervalued, gendered, and racialized labor in the workplace merged with unpaid gendered labor in the home, highlighting how the pandemic brought caregivers-those providing care through their undervalued paid labor and unpaid household labor-to a crisis point. We also highlight the ways in which the organizing that began around parenting and caregiving faculty, who have been disproportionately overburdened during the pandemic, was in addition to and in the context of ongoing activism around other forms of structural violence. Finally, we conclude with a call for structural change at the institutional level to address the exacerbated racialized and gendered equity gap caused by the pandemic.

Disconnected during disruption: Energy insecurity of Indigenous Australian prepay customers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Energy policy measures aimed at mitigating the impacts of energy insecurity during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as moratoriums on disconnection from electricity, were widespread. In Australia, early pandemic safeguards against electricity disconnection were successful in temporarily protecting most people. However, their application was uneven. For remote-living Indigenous community residents, who are required by policy or elect to use prepay metering and are known to experience frequent ‘self-disconnection', energy insecurity continued as the impacts of the pandemic accrued. The risks associated with the regular de-energization of prepay households have long been overlooked by government reporting and this contributed to a lack of visibility of energy insecurity and available protections for this group during the pandemic response. In contrast to the rest of Australia, energy insecurity in the form of disconnections remained unrelentingly high or worsened for prepay households during this time. COVID-19 magnifies pre-existing health and socio-economic inequities. There is a need to pay closer attention to the rationales and impacts of energy policy exceptionalism if we are to mitigate the potential for compounding impacts of energy insecurity among specific groups, such as Indigenous Australian prepay customers, including during times of crisis. © 2023 The Authors

Classifying Australian citizens' responses to COVID-19 preventative behaviour directives: A latent class approach

The primary defence against COVID-19 has been the implementation of public health measures that rely on voluntary compliance with behavioural directives. Compliance is often conceptualised as a single dimension, but there may be distinct patterns of compliance with COVID-19 preventative behaviours. This study examined behavioural profiles in response to preventative behaviour directives during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. A representative sample of Australian residents (n = 978) responded to a survey measuring self-reported compliance with a range of preventative measures, trust in various institutions and a range of psychological and demographic variables. The latent class analysis identified five distinct behavioural profiles characterised by different degrees of compliance with different health behaviours. In addition to those who complied with most measures and those who complied with none, there were profiles that complied with most measures except specific ones, including limiting interactions with others and visitations. These profiles were associated with a number of demographic and psychological characteristics, including trust. Implications for public health interventions are discussed. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Crowded house: accommodation precarity and self-reported academic performance of international students

This article draws on two surveys of international students in Sydney and Melbourne, undertaken in 2019 and during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns. Using the concept of bounded agency, we identify how the challenges of living in one of the world's most expensive rental housing markets impact students' perceptions of their academic attainment. We find housing insecurity, unaffordability and condition, amplified by financial stress, contribute significantly to student anxiety about their studies. These relationships differ by student background and education. We argue students' agency to meet their educational ambitions in Australia is constrained by the cost of housing and the housing choices they consequently make to mitigate financial stress. Our findings suggest the importance of ‘town' or non-institutional aspects of the international student experience on their satisfaction and academic outcomes. We call for further research to explore these relationships in other global contexts. © 2023 British Association for International and Comparative Education.

Rehabilitation Needs of Children Admitted with Covid-19 Pneumonia

INTRODUCTION: Adults with COVID-19 pneumonia have well-documented decline in physical function and mobility, yet little is known regarding pediatric patients' rehabilitation needs during and after inpatient treatment for COVID-19 pneumonia. We sought to characterize the rehabilitation needs noted in children who were admitted with COVID-19 pneumonia. METHOD(S): This small cohort study took place at a standalone academic children's hospital. Subjects were identified by reviewing the physical and occupational therapy consult list and the infectious disease surveillance list for patients with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia, acute respiratory failure due to COVID-19, or acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to COVID-19 during a 6-week period from September 1, 2021- October 13, 2021. Data were extracted from the electronic medical record. RESULT(S): The entire cohort included 29 patients, 20 of which had rehabilitation (rehab) consults and nine who did not. When comparing groups, the rehab cohort was older (median age 16 years, IQR: 13-17, vs. median age 0 years, IQR 0-1.5) and more likely to be obese (12 [60%] vs. none). Fifteen (75%) of the rehab cohort and four (44%) of the norehab cohort required the intensive care unit (ICU), with five (25%) requiring invasive mechanical ventilation compared to none in the no-rehab group. The rehab cohort had a longer ICU length of stay (median 5 days [IQR 3-17] vs. 2.5 days [IQR 2-3]) and hospital length of stay (median 7 days [IQR 4-8.75] vs. 4 days [IQR 3.5-4.5]. In the rehabilitation cohort, on initial evaluation 19/20 (95%) were recommended physical and occupational therapy while inpatient, and on discharge 17/20 (85%) were recommended outpatient rehabilitation. CONCLUSION(S): In this small cohort of children requiring hospitalization for COVID-19 pneumonia, rehabilitation needs during admission and post discharge were prevalent. It is unknown if the cohort of children not evaluated by the rehabilitation team may have had unrecognized needs and benefited from therapy. Further larger scale prospective studies are needed to ascertain the true burden of rehabilitation needs in this patient population and help guide screening and treatment recommendations.

The association between self-reported electronic device usage and objectively measured sleep in adults

Introduction: Use of light emitting electronic devices in bed before sleep has been associated with sleep disruption in children and adolescents. Both the wavelength and intensity of the emitted light, and cognitive and emotional engagement with the device, have been proposed as explanations for subsequent sleep disruption. Here, we examined the association between daily self-reported electronic devices usage and objective sleep parameters in an adult population of consumer sleep technology users. Method(s): Data from 231 users without sleep disorders (mean age: 48.8 +/- 16.6 years, 51% female, ages 16-82) across 25,282 nights were included in the analysis. Sleep data was captured between March 3, 2020 and March 3, 2022, using the PSG-validated Sleep Score mobile application, which uses a non-contact, sonar-based method to objectively capture sleep-related metrics. Self-reported data were collected from a cross-sectional survey whereby users were asked, "In a typical week, how often do you use electronic devices in bed before going to sleep?" as per their experience after the COVID pandemic started. A mixed effect model was used for the analysis controlling for age, chronotype, weekend, and gender. Dependent variables included total sleep time (TST), sleep onset latency (SOL), sleep efficiency, WASO percent, bedtime, waking up time and time in bed (TIB). Result(s): Higher electronic device usage was associated with a reduction in TST (min) (beta = -9.2, 95%CI [-15.9, -2.5], p = 0.007), delayed bedtimes (beta = 0.17, 95%CI [0.029, 0.324], p = 0.019), and a reduction in TIB (min) (beta = -8.8, 95%CI [-14.75, -2.87], p < 0.005).There was no significant relationship between electronic device usage screen usage and SOL, sleep efficiency, percentage wake after sleep onset (WASO), and waking up time. Conclusion(s): Self-reported use of electronic devices in bed before sleep was associated with shorter TIB, later bedtime, and shorter TST. Our results suggest that electronic device usage before bed reduces the sleep opportunity window and subsequently shortens the time in bed and total sleep time. Future research is warranted to determine whether consumer sleep technologies may allow users to uncover deleterious pre-sleep behaviours which may contribute to sleep-wake dysfunction through daily logging and personalized feedback.

Tinder-Ly Yours: An Exploratory Study of Malaysian Indian Youths Online Dating Through The Culture

The pandemic has shifted the way we meet new people and thus, changed the concept of going on a date. With the sporadic and growing rates of Covid-19 cases, it may be difficult to find a relationship and maintain one while exercising social-distance. As we adjusted to this temporary reality, the dating sphere continued reinvent ways to connect people. “Today”, more Indian Malaysian youths have increased their presence on dating apps in search of love and intimacy despite their “traditional” Indian courtship practices. The main thrust of this study is to examine why the smartphone application ‘Tinder’ is increasingly popular among Malaysian Indian youth and to investigate why and how the youth use Tinder during this pandemic. The Uses and Gratifications Theory (U&G) holds major assumptions that individuals are active, rational, and objective, to the extent of being almost goal-oriented in their choices. This study conducted 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews via convenience and snowball sampling found that online dating behaviour has the potential to help scholars have deeper understanding of how the Tinder mobile application integrated with existing religions and cultures gives insights into the nature of technological change as well as adaptation in society. This is by providing new insights into existing interpersonal communication theories focusing on relationship formation. © 2022, Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved.

Work-in-progress: Identifying unit operations laboratory curriculum needs

A knowledge gap exists between what is taught in the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum and what is needed in terms of knowledge, skills, and attributes for industry. ABET has worked towards characterizing curriculum needs by specifying seven student outcomes that were developed by their more than 2,200 experts from academia, government and industry. While useful in curriculum assessment, these outcomes are broad and do not provide details about what should be incorporated into specific courses. The National Science Foundation and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers surveyed 507 individuals from industry and academia to identify more specific skills needed for graduates going into industry. In addition to process safety and process dynamic knowledge, results suggested the need for skills in communication, critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, open-ended task analysis, problem solving, and time management. These skills are often taught through the unit operations laboratory. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty were forced to evaluate the learning outcomes of unit operations laboratory courses, allowing them to think more explicitly about how to address those gaps identified through the previous study. Moving forward, faculty have the opportunity to redesign the course to meet the needs of industry. Surveying unit operations laboratory stakeholders will offer a more targeted approach to making the necessary changes in course content. This includes surveying 1. Faculty on their perceptions of the key learning outcomes of the unit operations laboratory, 2. Industry on the knowledge, skills and attributes that should be taught in the laboratory, and 3. Students on what gaps exist in the chemical engineering curriculum that could be filled by the laboratory. The results of these surveys will provide information that will help balance the breadth and depth of content necessary while incorporating updates to address stakeholder needs. This work-in-progress paper will detail the development of these three surveys. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

‘Maybe I can go back to school in a few weeks’: Children’s experiences of everyday life during the COVID-19 lockdown in Norway

This study explores everyday life from the perspective of children during school lockdown in Norway. The outbreak of Covid-19 greatly impacts societies on all levels. Studies have revealed a drastic change in children’s routines through home-schooling and reduced access to physical activities, as well as increase in contact with parents with subsequent potential friction or positive interactions. Children’s own perspective of their experiences during Covid-19 restrictions, nevertheless, appear to be scarce. This study provides a unique insight into ten children’s experiences through examination of their diary entries during lockdown. Our theoretical approach is based Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of child development, and protective factors and risk factors in child development. Our findings indicate that children’s everyday life experiences during Covid-19 lockdown can be sorted into three different arenas: The home and family life, The school and learning activities, and The social and digital interaction with friends. These three arenas represent important micro-systems in the children’s lives. However, the shutting down of school and society has disrupted the overall ecological systems surrounding the children, increasing the potential weight of risk factors such as loneliness and stress. All arenas and system levels moved inside the children’s primary micro-arena;their homes and family life. Further, all forms of social interaction, both at school, among friends and in family life seem to depend on digital platforms, as the children respond to the new situation by using digital meeting places. Utilizing Bronfenbrenner’s systematic approach, the digital arena appears to manifest a new khrono-system in the children’s lives. The digital screens being what binds all eco-systems together. An important question for further studies is what consequences this has for the future development of childhood, and how do the children cope with this kind of disruption of their everyday lives. © This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Peripartum Outcomes Following COVID-19 Vaccination in Late Pregnancy: Findings from a Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study in Ontario, Canada

Objectives: Evaluate peripartum outcomes following COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. Methods: Ontario population-based retrospective cohort between December 14, 2020 and September 30, 2021 using linkage of provincial birth registry and COVID-19 immunization databases. Poisson regression was used to generate risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusted for temporal, socio-demographic, and clinical factors using propensity scores. Obstetric (postpartum hemorrhage, chorioamnionitis, cesarean birth) and newborn (NICU admission and 5-minute Apgar<7) outcomes were compared for those who received ≥1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy with 2 unexposed groups—Group 1: individuals vaccinated postpartum, Group 2: never vaccinated. Results: Among 97 590 individuals, 22 660 (23%) received ≥1 dose of vaccine during pregnancy (64% received dose 1 in 3rd trimester). Compared with those vaccinated postpartum, we found no increased risks of postpartum hemorrhage (aRR 0.91, 95% CI 0.82–1.02);chorioamnionitis (aRR 0.92, 95% CI 0.70–1.21);or cesarean (aRR 0.92, 95% CI 0.89–0.95) following COVID-19 vaccination, nor any increased risk of NICU admission or 5-minute Apgar <7. All findings were similar when compared with individuals who did not receive COVID-19 vaccination at any point. We did not observe any difference according to vaccine product, number of doses received during pregnancy, or trimester of dose 1. Conclusions: As of late 2021, there is limited evidence from comparative studies in large populations on outcomes following COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. Our study of births up to September 30, 2021 did not identify any increased adverse peripartum outcomes associated with later pregnancy COVID-19 vaccination. Once more individuals vaccinated earlier in pregnancy deliver, we will report on other important obstetric and perinatal outcomes. Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine;pregnancy;epidemiology