The construction of the social thinking of teachers and pedagogical coordinators about the COVID-19 pandemic: a study in social representations

In this article, it was aimed to understand the social thinking in the face of the pandemic, formed by groups of female Education professionals – teachers and pedagogical coordinators – to understand their social representations about the COVID-19 pandemic process. Initially, it is reflected on the perspective of social representations and architecture of social thinking to address this topic. Subsequently, in a qualitative approach research, a Free Word Association Test on the word "pandemic” was applied, and it was asked to describe "how their experience with the pandemic was in their professional life. The data produced in 2020/2021 with 58 women, after being processed by the IRaMuTeQ software, allowed the Prototypical, Similitude and Descending Hierarchical Classification analyses, which triangulated to a traditional qualitative microanalysis complemented by thematic analysis, with theoretical support from the Theory of Social Representations and of Education Policies at that time, in Brazil, made it possible to apprehend their representations in the pandemic spatial-temporal context experienced. © 2023 Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.

The construction of the social thinking of teachers and pedagogical coordinators about the COVID-19 pandemic: a study in social representations

In this article, it was aimed to understand the social thinking in the face of the pandemic, formed by groups of female Education professionals – teachers and pedagogical coordinators – to understand their social representations about the COVID-19 pandemic process. Initially, it is reflected on the perspective of social representations and architecture of social thinking to address this topic. Subsequently, in a qualitative approach research, a Free Word Association Test on the word “pandemic” was applied, and it was asked to describe “how their experience with the pandemic was in their professional life. The data produced in 2020/2021 with 58 women, after being processed by the IRaMuTeQ software, allowed the Prototypical, Similitude and Descending Hierarchical Classification analyses, which triangulated to a traditional qualitative microanalysis complemented by thematic analysis, with theoretical support from the Theory of Social Representations and of Education Policies at that time, in Brazil, made it possible to apprehend their representations in the pandemic spatial-temporal context experienced. © 2022 Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, Editora. All rights reserved.

[Immunotherapy with anti-SARS-COV-2 neutralizing F(ab')2 antibodies from equine serum in the treatment of outpatients with bilateral COVID-19 pneumonia]

INTRODUCTION: Passive immunotherapy is a therapeutic alternative for patients with COVID-19. METHODS: The decision was made to create a prospective database of patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, nonhypoxemic, treated on an outpatient basis at the Hospital de Bolívar, Dr. Miguel Capredoni, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the aim of evaluating the efficacy in reducing severe cases and hospitalizations of treatment with hyperimmune equine serum in this subgroup of patients. We performed a retrospective analysis of the period from 05/26/2021 to 08/28/2021, where a total of 151 patients were included. The options were meprednisone plus colchicine associated with two equine serum infusions (n = 92) or oral meprednisone and colchicine for 10 days (59). RESULTS: No differences were observed between the population characteristics and comorbidities between both groups. A 46% (69) of the patients had received at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19. During follow-up, 23% (35) required hospitalization, with no differences between the equine serum group and the control group (p = 0.89). A non-significant trend of 15.7% was observed for the risk of prolonged hospitalization. (Equine serum group 38.1% vs. control group 53.8%, Fisher Exact test p = 0.41). Mortality between the equine serum group was 3.97% (4), with no differences between the two groups. Differences were observed between vaccinated and unvaccinated patients in hard points such as the need for MRA (0% vs. 8% p = 0.001) and death (0% vs. 8% p = 0.001). DISCUSSION: Although the rate of hospitalization and death were lower than expected, the use of hyperimmune equine serum in the outpatient setting impresses as not providing clinical benefit.

Vipassana meditation on anxiety state, depression and quality of life of professionals in social isolation in the lockdown period -2020/COVID-19

The objective of this study to evaluate the effects of Vipassana meditation (VM) program on the state of anxiety, depression and quality of life (QoL) of professionals in social isolation during the Lockdown period in pandemic COVID19/2020. This is an experimental study with intervention based in VM exercises with pre -and post-test measures of experimental and control groups, with simple randomization. VM is a training in attention and awareness, aiming to keep mental processes under voluntary control, developing skills such as calm, concentration and focus. Fifteen sessions of VM were held, lasting from 5 -10 minutes/session. The results showed improvement in the scores of depression ( increment % =-47.6%), anxiety ( increment %=-47.7%) and QoL indicators ( increment %= 9.53), during the lockdown COVID-19/2020. It was concluded that MV was effective for all variables studied in comparison with the control group. Improvements were observed in state of anxiety and depression, in the physical domains, psychological and social relationships, as well in the perception of general QoL of participants who performed the VM in period with 15 days of Lockdown in pandemic COVID19/2020.

"What do you think people feel?" Emotional climate during a pandemic: Adaptation and validation of a scale

Our study examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of an instrument to assess emotional climate during the COVID-19 pandemic using a sample of 601 Portuguese individuals. Two sub-samples were created, one to perform an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), composed of 300 participants, and the other to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), composed of 301 individuals. Two factors were found: positive and negative emotional climate. In the EFA, both factors established a negative and significant correlation. However, the CFA presented a better fit with two independent factors. Reliability analysis indicated acceptable values for both dimensions. There was also evidence of discriminant, convergent, and criterion validity. More negative emotions were perceived regarding the social climate. Results were discussed in the frame of different positive and negative psychosocial variables related to positive and negative emotional climates, as well as positive emotional climate as a resource for collective resilience. © 2021 Associacao Portuguesa de Psicologia. All rights reserved.