Depression and anxiety among children and adolescents pre and post COVID-19: A comparative meta-analysis

Background Published studies in comparing pre and post the COVID-19 pandemic depression and anxiety levels among children and adolescents yielded incongruent results. Therefore, there is a necessity to perform a timely meta-analysis to synthesize existing evidence. Methods A total of 10 digital databases (PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, ScienceDirect, CNKI, WanFang, CQVIP) were fully searched for eligible studies published before November 6, 2021. Based on quality assessment results, relevant data were extracted for eligible studies of higher quality. We combined standardized mean difference (SMD) or prevalence ratio (RR) for anxiety and depression pre and post the COVID-19 pandemic by using random-effects models. Sensitivity analysis was further performed to evaluate heterogeneity of included studies. Results 14,508 articles were preliminarily identified, and after stepwise screening process, 8 articles were included eventually. The results showed that the SMD for post COVID-19 anxiety score measured by GAD-7 was 0.12 (95% CI: 0.08, 0.17), an significant increase compared with pre COVID-19 period;the SMDs and 95% CIs for post COVID-18 depression scores measured by PHQ-9, PHQ-8, and MFQ were 0.17 (95% CI: 0.10, 0.24), 0.23 (95% CI: 0.08, 0.38), and 0.11 (95% CI: 0.06, 0.17), respectively, also significantly increased compared with pre COVID-19 period. The RR for depression was 2.54 (95% CI: 2.48, 2.60) in post COVID-19 period when compared with pre-pandemic. Conclusions Children and adolescents reported deteriorated anxiety and depression levels after the COVID-19 pandemic. More attention should be paid to this vulnerable group. Effective, expedient, and practical intervention measures which are compatible with COVID-19 prevention and control policies should be developed and implemented to maintain mental health wellbeing of the youths.

Risk assessment of novel coronavirus COVID-19 outbreaks in the border areas of southwest China.

This study aimed to assess the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 in the border areas of southwest China, so as to provide guidance to targeted prevention and control measures in the border areas of different risk levels. We assessed the dependence of the risk of an outbreak in the southwest China from imported cases on key parameters such as the cumulative number of infectious diseases in the border area of southwest China in the past 3 years; the connectivity of the neighboring countries with China's Southwest border, including baseline travel numbers, travel frequencies, the effect of travel restrictions, and the length of borders with neighboring countries; the cumulative number of close contacts of coronavirus disease 2019 patients; (iv) the population density in border areas; the efficacy of control measures in border areas; experts estimated risks in border areas based on experience and then given a score; Spearman correlation and Logistic regression models were used to analyze the associated factors of novel coronavirus. According to the correlation of various factors, we assigned values to each parameter, calculated the risk score of each county, and then divided each county into high, medium, and low risk according to the sick score and took different control measure according to different risk levels. Finally, the total risk level was evaluated according to the Harvard disease risk index model. The number of infectious diseases in the past 3 years, travel numbers, travel frequencies, experts estimated risk score, effect of travel restrictions, and the number of close contacts were associated with the incidence of new coronary pneumonia. It is concluded that bilateral transportation convenience is a risk factor for new coronary pneumonia, (odds ratio = 9.23, 95% confidence interval, 1.99-42.73); the number of observers is a risk factor for new coronary pneumonia (odds ratio = 1.04, 95% confidence interval, 1.00-1.08). We found that in countries with travel numbers, travel frequencies, and experts' estimated risk scores were the influencing factors of novel coronavirus. The effect of travel restrictions and the cumulative number of close contacts of the case are risk factors for novel coronavirus.

Social Network Structure as a Moderator of the Relationship between Psychological Capital and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from China

Although networking is reported to be a job search strategy in the literature, research on the interaction between social networking and other personal resources and its effect on job satisfaction is scarce. In the perspective of social networks, the present study explored whether the social network structure, which consists of network size and tie strength, moderates the relationship between psychological capital and job satisfaction. By using a two-wave longitudinal design, we collected the quantitative data (survey of 344 undergraduate students who were about to graduate soon) from 19 universities in Beijing city, Shandong Province, and Jiangsu Province in Eastern China. Factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were adopted to analyze the data of the survey. We found that psychological capital has a positive impact on job seekers’ job satisfaction. Furthermore, smaller networks and weaker ties in social networks both render the positive effect of psychological capital on job satisfaction even stronger.

The Effectiveness of a Serious Game Versus Online Lectures for Improving Medical Students' Coronavirus Disease 2019 Knowledge.

Objective: The sudden disruption of university teaching caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has forced universities to switch to online teaching. It is vital for graduating medical students to learn about COVID-19 because they are likely to treat COVID-19 patients after graduation. We developed a COVID-19 lesson for medical students that used either an online lecture or a serious game that we designed. The aim of this study is to explore the effectiveness of a serious game versus online lectures for improving medical students' COVID-19 knowledge. Materials and Methods: From our university's database of knowledge scores, we collected the prelesson, postlesson, and final test knowledge scores of the students who participated in the lesson and conducted a retrospective comparative analysis. Results: An analysis of scores concerning knowledge of COVID-19 from prelesson and postlesson tests shows that both teaching methods produce significant increases in short-term knowledge, with no statistical difference between the two methods (P > 0.05). The final test scores, however, show that the group of students who used the game-based computer application scored significantly higher in knowledge retention than did the online lecture group (P = 0.001). Conclusion: In the context of the disruption of traditional university teaching caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the serious game we designed is potentially an effective option for online medical education about COVID-19, particularly in terms of its capacity for improved knowledge retention.