Teachers' Digital Competence in Basque Country during the COVID-19 pandemic

The objective of this research is to measure the perception that teachers had about their own performance when they were forced to carry out an Emergency Remote Teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire was provided to teachers of every educational stage in the Basque Country (Child, Primary and Secondary Education, Professional Training and Higher Education) obtaining a total of 4,586 responses. The statistical analysis of the data shows that the greatest difficulties reported by educators are shortcomings in the training of teachers in digital skills, as well as a lack of resilience of the system and / or lack of a 'plan B' in extraordinary situations. The existing digital divide between teachers based on their gender, age and type of school should be highlighted. Another worrying result is the lower technological competence in lower educational levels, which are the most vulnerable in remote teaching. These results invite us to reflect on the measures to be taken to improve equity, social justice and resilience of the educational system.

Parental involvement in school pedagogy: a threat or a promise?

This paper brings together two rich bodies of knowledge that have barely intersected in research: parental involvement in the school and processes of pedagogical change. Until now, parental involvement has been studied in many contexts, but references to parental involvement in a school's pedagogy are rare. Management of pedagogical change has also been studied extensively, but mainly by relating to the school as an organisation that functions separately from the community context. This study, conducted in 2019–2021 (including the COVID-19 pandemic period), is based on 22 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with parents, principals, and senior education officials of two elementary schools in Israel that are undergoing pedagogical changes. The schools share some similar demographic characteristics but differ in pedagogy: One is an older school characterised by a traditional pedagogy (including, for example, frontal teaching and standardised evaluation);the other is new and was founded with innovative pedagogy in the spirit of the 21st century (for example, personalised teaching and alternative evaluation). The findings reveal that the parents in both schools are interested in influencing the school's pedagogy, but that they do so in opposite directions: The parents at the more traditional school are interested in promoting innovative learning, while the parents in the innovative school are interested in reintroducing traditional practices. The findings also contribute to the discussion of parental involvement from a gender perspective and the roles of key players. Finally, the article offers initial insights regarding parent–school relations, including the pedagogical aspects, following the COVID-19 pandemic. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Educational Review is the property of Routledge 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.)

Early living donor liver transplantation for alcohol-associated hepatitis.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Lately, there has been a steady increase in early liver transplantation for alcohol-associated hepatitis (AAH). Although several studies have reported favorable outcomes with cadaveric early liver transplantation, the experiences with early living donor liver transplantation (eLDLT) are limited. The primary objective was to assess one-year survival in patients with AAH who underwent eLDLT. The secondary objectives were to describe the donor characteristics, assess the complications following eLDLT, and the rate of alcohol relapse. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This single-center retrospective study was conducted at AIG Hospitals, Hyderabad, India, between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients underwent eLDLT. The mean time from abstinence to eLDLT was 92.4 ± 42.94 days. The mean model for end-stage liver disease and discriminant function score at eLDLT were 28.16 ± 2.89 and 104 ± 34.56, respectively. The mean graft-to-recipient weight ratio was 0.85 ± 0.12. Survival was 72% (95%CI, 50.61-88) after a median follow-up of 551 (23-932) days post-LT. Of the 18 women donors,11 were the wives of the recipient. Six of the nine infected recipients died: three of fungal sepsis, two of bacterial sepsis, and one of COVID-19. One patient developed hepatic artery thrombosis and died of early graft dysfunction. Twenty percent had alcohol relapse. CONCLUSIONS: eLDLT is a reasonable treatment option for patients with AAH, with a survival of 72% in our experience. Infections early on post-LT accounted for mortality, and thus a high index of suspicion of infections and vigorous surveillance, in a condition prone to infections, are needed to improve outcomes.

COVID-19: A gender-biased pandemic.

The world today is in the midst of its second wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), which started as an outbreak first reported in December 2019, Wuhan City, the capital of Hubei Province in China. Then soon enough, it was declared as a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020 by WHO and a pandemic on March 11, 2020. While initially greater emphasis was laid on the elderly and people with co-morbidities such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity, and immune-compromised states as being at high risk of contracting the Covid-19 disease and/or dying of it, but by now, it is clear that being male is also a factor. Data and studies from different countries across the globe involving China, the United States of America, and European nations such as Italy have showed that although there is no difference based on sex in the number of cases testing positive for the virus, more men died from the virus, and the case-fatality ratio is greater among men than women. Women are infected by the virus as frequently as men but men are more likely to contract severe forms of disease and succumb to it. The reason behind this sex-biased mortality seen in Covid-19 cannot be explained by a single genetic or social factor. The present short communication aims at enumerating the possible reasons behind this gender-biased pandemic.

Why documenting every gender bias counts: A short commentary

At the time of writing this article, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, its toll on women is becoming increasingly evident. Women face severe limitations in their access to reproductive healthcare and rights (in Poland, through the recent Supreme Court decision), and domestic violence has increased, as has inequality in household duties. These outcomes do not develop out of the blue. Recently, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2020) released a report stating that 90% of the global population shows at least some bias against gender equality. Therefore, the pandemic situation seems only to amplify and uncover tendencies that have already been present. With this global perspective in mind, I would like to zoom in on the scientific community and even more narrowly on the community of social scientists. Why? The aforementioned ubiquity of gender bias shows that it is deep-rooted in society, and every social stratum has its own way of mirroring global trends and enacting these tendencies. In this short commentary accompanying a publication regarding yet another subtle gender bias in academia, I would like to emphasize why documenting every bias counts and that the change in global trends in gender equality will not happen without transforming our own (or every) field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

A cross-industry comparison of how women leaders experience gender bias

PurposeThis paper compares how women leaders in four US industries–higher education, faith-based non-profits, healthcare and law–experience 15 aspects of gender bias.Design/methodology/approachThis study used convergent mixed methods to collect data from 1,606 participants. It included quantitative assessment of a validated gender bias scale and qualitative content analysis of open-ended responses.FindingsResults suggest that, while gender bias is prevalent in all four industries, differences exist. Participants in higher education experienced fewer aspects of gender bias than the other three industries related to male culture, exclusion, self-limited aspirations, lack of sponsorship and lack of acknowledgement. The faith-based sample reported the highest level of two-person career structure but the lowest levels of queen bee syndrome, workplace harassment and salary inequality. Healthcare tended towards the middle, reporting higher scores than one industry and lower than another while participants working in law experienced more gender bias than the other three industries pertaining to exclusion and workplace harassment. Healthcare and law were the two industries with the most similar experiences of bias.Originality/valueThis research contributes to human resource management (HRM) literature by advancing understanding of how 15 different gender bias variables manifest differently for women leaders in various industry contexts and by providing HRM leaders with practical steps to create equitable organizational cultures.

From COVID-19 vaccine candidates to compulsory vaccination: The attitudes of Italian citizens in the key 7-month of vaccination campaign.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study is to understand the evolution of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance over the key 7-month vaccine campaign in Italy, a period in which the country moved from candidate vaccines to products administered to the public. The research focus points to evaluate COVID-19 vaccine attitudes in adults and their children, propension towards compulsory vaccination, past and present adherence to anti-flu and anti-pneumococcal vaccines, and the reasons for trust/mistrust of vaccines. METHODS: Italian residents aged 16->65 years were invited to complete an online survey from September 2020 to April 2021. The survey contained 13 questions: 3 on demographic data; 8 on vaccine attitudes; and 2 open-ended questions about the reasons of vaccine confidence/refusal. A preliminary word frequency analysis has been conducted, as well as a statistical bivariate analysis. RESULTS: Of 21.537 participants, the confidence of those in favor of the COVID-19 vaccine increases of 50 % and the number of people who wanted more information decreases by two-third. Willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 also increased from 51 % to 66.5 %. Only one-third of the strong vaccine-hesitant participants, i.e. 10 %, remained hostile. Compulsory vaccination showed a large and increasing favor by participants up to 78 %, in a way similar to their propensity for children's mandatory vaccination (70.6 %). Respondents' past and present adherence to anti-flu and anti-pneumococcal vaccines does not predict their intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19. Finally, a semantic analysis of the reasons of acceptance/refusal of COVID-19 vaccination suggests a complex decision-making process revealed by the participants' use of common words in pro-and-cons arguments. CONCLUSION: The heterogeneity in the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, determinants and opinions detected at different ages, genders and pandemic phases suggests that health authorities should avoid one-size-fits-all vaccination campaigns. The results emphasize the long-term importance of reinforcing vaccine information, communication and education needs.

Seeking Gender Equity in Pharmacy Academia.

Gender inequity is a critical Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) issue that has continued to lead to workplace disparities. While gender-based differences in pay are well documented, there are multiple other facets of academic work-life (eg, teaching, research, service, resources, etc.) wherein gender inequities exist but have never been systematically identified or reported. COVID-19 has further exacerbated these inequities. One reason for continued existence of gender disparities in the workplace is lack of focused attention and emphasis on this issue. A recently formed Gender Equity Task Force has taken the first steps to systematically explore gender inequity in all areas of academic pharmacy work life. The purpose of this commentary is to highlight the scope of the problem of gender inequity in pharmacy academia and offer solutions that the Academy can implement to mitigate the impact of gender inequity in the future.

The Florez Lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Improving the care of vulnerable populations and supporting trainees from underrepresented groups in medicine

Background: Racial and ethnic minorities have well-established disparities in cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and survival. A diverse oncology workforce improves the gap in cancer care for vulnerable populations. However, physicians, researchers, and others who are Underrepresented in Medicine (UIM) face unique challenges in obtaining mentorship and sponsorship, and there is a lack of safe spaces for them to thrive, forcing many to leave medicine entirely. To further efforts in improving the care of vulnerable populations and to create a welcoming environment for UIM medical trainees, the Florez Lab (formerly known as the Duma Lab) was founded by Dr. Narjust Florez in 2019 at the University of Wisconsin. Subsequently, Dr. Florez moved to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and expanded the lab's reach. Here, we describe the history and legacy of our innovative group. Method(s): The Florez Lab is composed of 39 members, mostly UIM from different backgrounds and locations;members range from college students to faculty. It began as an allfemale team but now includes #HeforShe member allies. Several members joined as trainees, but are now junior faculty at NCI designated cancer centers and pay it forward by mentoring the next generation of the Florez Lab. We focus on social justice issues in medicine, including discrimination and gender bias in academic and clinical medicine, global oncology, and cancer health disparities, with a focus on thoracic oncology. Result(s): To date, the Florez Lab has secured research funding from several institutions and organizations, and has published 15 original articles, 11 editorials, 4 review articles, and 2 book chapters in addition to over 20 poster presentations at national and international conferences. Members have presented research findings at a wide array of national and international conferences, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting and the World Conference on Lung Cancer, and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. The lab collaborates with multiple organizations, including the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19), ASCO Health Equity Committee, and the Lancet Commission: Women & Cancer. The lab is far-reaching;the #DumaLab and #FlorezLab hashtag is used on Twitter to amplify published work and advocacy efforts in improving the diversity of the oncology workforce and clinical trial enrollment. In 2021 the Florez Lab began a collaboration with Medscape and is the first lab to have a dedicated column, where we discuss issues related to social justice in medicine and cancer health disparities;the column has reached over 60,000 readers in less than one year. Conclusion(s): The success of the Florez Lab illustrates the importance of providing opportunities for, supporting, and amplifying the success of UIM trainees. Results indicate that the collaboration of UIM trainees is productive, meaningful, and necessary. Efforts should be made to continue supporting UIM trainees from all backgrounds and levels.

"Let Nature Be Your Teacher": An Ecocritical Analysis of Outdoor Play in Award-Winning Picturebooks in the United States

Access to green space has always been a social inequity, but the recent global pandemic has exacerbated this injustice for lower-income families even more. Environmental access strengthens mental health, encourages exercise and healthy social habits, and reduces pollution. Many have argued that children not only need play, but they need play in outdoor environments for physical, sociological, and social development. And yet, researchers have reported a dramatic decline in children's outdoor play over the past three decades. As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the world, the author worries about children's access to outdoor spaces. Researchers have argued that people in urban and minoritized communities lack access to quality outdoor spaces near their homes. When gyms, schools, and parks are closed, who gets the privilege of exploring natural spaces? The author set out to determine if recently published children's books depicted outdoor play more frequently than she had found in books as a teacher. Thus, the research question for this study was this: How many award-winning and honor picturebooks published from 1995 to 2020 include depictions of outdoor play, and what does a critical multicultural analysis reveal about these portrayals? The author begins with an overview of critical multiculturalism and ecocriticism, as they undergirded her analysis of 189 award-winning and honor books, and describe some of the literature that supported this critical content analysis. Then, the author describes her process and findings, followed up with a discussion of future considerations for children's literature readers as they examine depictions of outdoor play

Barriers to Refugee Adolescents' Educational Access during COVID-19: Exploring the Roles of Gender, Displacement, and Social Inequalities

As of 2021, more than 80 million people worldwide have been displaced by war, violence, and poverty. An estimated 30 to 34 million of these are under age 18, and many are at risk of interrupting their education permanently--a situation aggravated in recent years by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we adopt an intersectional conceptual framework to explore the roles gender and other social inequalities have played in shaping adolescents' access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine two refugee populations: the Rohingya, who have been excluded from formal education opportunities in Bangladesh, and Syrian refugees in Jordan, who have access to formal education in their host country. We provide novel empirical data, as well as insights into the adolescent refugee experience and the short-term consequences for education resulting from the pandemic. In the article, we draw from quantitative survey data on 3,030 adolescents, and from in-depth qualitative interviews we conducted in the spring of 2020 with a subset of 91 adolescents who are part of an ongoing longitudinal study. We also conducted 40 key informant interviews with community leaders and service providers.

Data Disaggregation for Inclusive Quality Education in Emergencies: The COVID-19 Experience in Ghana

The process of data analysis provides, undoubtedly, some of the major challenges facing organizations during the implementation of interventions in emergencies. The challenges are primarily due to the lack of direct access to beneficiaries and the rapidly evolving nature of emergencies. This paper outlines how Plan International's Making Ghanaian Girls Great! (MGCubed) project used phone-based surveys to assess the uptake of a Ghana Learning TV (GLTV) programme implemented in partnership with the government. Due to the emergency context and the need for real-time information to guide the implementation of this intervention, there was little time to undertake a major statistical analysis of survey data. This paper discusses how the MGCubed project adopted a simple data disaggregation method using a logic tree technique to gain valuable insights from the survey data. The method allowed for exploring the insights of the data set in real-time without requiring more complex and time-consuming analysis. All views expressed in this article are the author's and not of FCDO.

Gendered Effects of COVID-19 School Closures: Kenya Case Study. GIRL Center Research Brief No. 11

This brief summarizes a case study that assessed the gendered impact of COVID-19 school closures in Kenya. COVID-19 school closures escalated education inequalities especially for girls and young people in rural areas. These closures exacerbated adolescent mental health issues, food and economic insecurity, and experiences of violence. COVID-19 response programs implemented by both the Government of Kenya and non-state actors were not able to fully mitigate the impacts of school closures for adolescents, teachers, or schools. Continued efforts to understand the implications of school closures and to support vulnerable students are needed. [This brief was prepared with the support of Faith Mbushi, Natalie Wyss, Emily EunYoung Cho, Karen Austrian, Eva Muluve, Laura Muthoni, and Beth Kangwana.]

Gendered Effects of COVID-19 School Closures: India Case Study. GIRL Center Research Brief No. 10

This brief summarizes a case study that assessed the gendered impact of COVID-19 school closures on education, health, well-being, and protection of adolescents in India. Based on surveys and interviews in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, findings point to the digital divide for girls as well as shared barriers to effective remote learning. Informed by the evidence, the study presents recommendations to scale up efforts to improve remote learning, reduce digital divide and strengthen teacher support, with a particular attention to addressing gendered differences. [This brief was prepared with the support of Neelanjana Pandey, Emily EunYoung Cho, Shilpi Rampal, and Karen Austrian.]

Pandemic Resurrection: Making Gendered Citizenship Visible in a "Postfeminist" Era

The pandemic resurrected gender as a central categorization of citizenship. COVID-19 reminds us that gender oppression continues in its traditional, materialist formulations to structure our economic, civic, and political lives. Postfeminism has diversified feminist discourses, and at times been used as a temporal claim -- the "post" signifying the diminishing need for feminist theory or activism in light of advancements in gender equality. We use postfeminism in a genealogical and critical sense which encompasses the changes in feminisms and enunciates various contradictions that apply to generations of people. The conditions of COVID-19 prompt us to analyze what Stéphanie Genz aptly names boom and bust postfeminism. This analysis generates two implications for philosophers of education working in areas of gender and political identity.

Where are nurse-scientists? Academic nursing research at critical crossroads.

BACKGROUND: Academic nursing research is at a critical impasse after the great retirement and resignation during COVID-19. Sustaining and replenishing senior nurse-scientist faculty that are clinical experts with real-world clinical practice is critical. Leveraging the mission of nursing scholarship within the business of building and sustaining externally funded research enterprises in schools of nursing presents conundrums, especially with persistent nursing faculty vacancies. PURPOSE AND METHODS: Through a lens of intersectionality within the context of academic bias and nursing education regulation, we address challenges in NIH funding for nurse-scientist faculty. Publicly available data reveal equity, inclusion, and advancement issues that make it an unequal playing field for nurse-scientist faculty if expected to achieve similar NIH funding as faculty in schools of public health and medicine. DISCUSSION: Understanding research enterprises requires appreciation of the complex interplay between academic nursing units, university infrastructures, and academic budgetary models. Creative support for both nursing deans and their faculty is needed.

Instrument validation of dental students' mental outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims: The goal of this project is to validate an instrument for measuring dental students' mental health outcomes due to COVID-19. Method(s): The instrument consists of 13 items measuring various aspects ofmental health issues arising from COVID-19. It was administered to 145 dental students. Summary statistics, item and person reliabilities, dimensionality, item targeting and gender bias were assessed. Result(s): Of the items evaluated, they showed excellent reliability (Item = 0.97;person = 0.86). The instrument targeted the dental students very well, and was fairly unidimensional.All of the items were free of gender bias. Interitem correlations were 0.89 on average (95% CI 0.86-0.91), demonstrating good internal consistency. Conclusion(s): The present study applied rigorous, advanced psychometric analysis to assess and validate a novel mental health instrument that specifically measures COVID-19 mental health outcomes in dental students. The instrument showed excellent measurement properties. It can serve as a valuable tool for evaluating the effectiveness of intervention programs that aim to improve students' mental health outcomes related to COVID-19.

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown in a biomedical research campus: A gender perspective analysis.

From March to September 2020, researchers working at a biomedical scientific campus in Spain faced two lockdowns and various mobility restrictions that affected their social and professional lifestyles. The working group "Women in Science," which acts as an independent observatory of scientific gender inequalities on campus launched an online survey to assess the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on scientific activity, domestic and caregiving tasks, and psychological status. The survey revealed differences in scientific performance by gender: while male researchers participated in a larger number of scientific activities for career development, female researchers performed more invisible scientific tasks, including peer review or outreach activities. Mental impact was greater in researchers caring for children or dependents, and this was aggravated for women. Results spot a disproportionate impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on female scientific career development, and urges for equity measures to mitigate the consequences of an increase in the gender gap in biomedical sciences for current and future pandemics.

Gender-related and geographic trends in interactions between radiotherapy professionals on Twitter.

Background and purpose: Twitter presence in academia has been linked to greater research impact which influences career progression. The purpose of this study was to analyse Twitter activity of the radiotherapy community around ESTRO congresses with a focus on gender-related and geographic trends. Materials and methods: Tweets, re-tweets and replies, here designated as interactions, around the ESTRO congresses held in 2012-2021 were collected. Twitter activity was analysed temporally and, for the period 2016-2021, the geographical span of the ESTRO Twitter network was studied. Tweets and Twitter users collated during the 10 years analysed were ranked based on number of 'likes', 're-tweets' and followers, considered as indicators of leadership/influence. Gender representation was assessed for the top-end percentiles. Results: Twitter activity around ESTRO congresses was multiplied by 60 in 6 years growing from 150 interactions in 2012 to a peak of 9097 in 2018. In 2020, during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, activity dropped by 60 % to reach 2945 interactions and recovered to half the pre-pandemic level in 2021. Europe, North America and Oceania were strongly connected and remained the main contributors. While overall, 58 % of accounts were owned by men, this proportion increased towards top liked/re-tweeted tweets and most-followed profiles to reach up to 84 % in the top-percentiles. Conclusion: During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Twitter activity around ESTRO congresses substantially decreased. Men were over-represented on the platform and in most popular tweets and influential accounts. Given the increasing importance of social media presence in academia the gender-based biases observed may help in understanding the gender gap in career progression.