Understanding Clinician's Experiences with Implementation of a Younger Onset Dementia Telehealth Service.

The successful implementation of telehealth services depends largely on clinician acceptance of telehealth as a viable healthcare option and their adoption of telehealth methods into their clinical practice. While growing research supports the feasibility of telehealth services, no research has evaluated clinicians' experiences during the implementation of a younger onset dementia telehealth service. Semi-structured group interviews were conducted with 7 metropolitan (hub) clinicians and 16 rural (spoke) clinicians during the pre-and post-implementation phases of a novel Younger onset dementia (YOD) telehealth service. Reflexive thematic analysis identified five themes at pre-implementation: clinical need, previous experiences and views, potential telehealth barriers, solutions to potential telehealth barriers, and potential clinical outcomes. At post-implementation, nine themes were identified: clinical need, clinical relationships, concerns about the future of rural healthcare, clinical practice and resourcing factors, patient suitability, difficulties with technology, service quality, the way forward, and the impact of COVID-19. Most clinicians held positive views regarding the service, particularly the ability to provide more options to rural-dwelling patients. However, some concerns about threats to rural healthcare and the validity of telehealth assessments remained. Overall, this study has identified service implementation barriers and facilitators and contributes to the long-term sustainability of current and future telehealth YOD services.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of preschoolers: A parental guide.

Unexpected changes brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have affected humans worldwide. This review attempts to address major parental concerns about the development of preschool-aged children during the pandemic from the perspectives of neuropsychology, consultation, and motor development for preschoolers aged 2-5 years. Methods: A total of 273 articles including original data, review articles, national and regional perspectives, government websites, and commentaries were considered in this review, of which 117 manuscripts were excluded because they were unrelated to children, adolescents, or COVID -19 pandemic/upper respiratory infections. A total of 156 manuscripts were included after reading the abstract and entire article. Results: Telehealth could be an effective tool for addressing cognitive and emotional challenges that arise during the pandemic. Online consultations are highlighted for nutritional guidelines and to overcome problems that parents face when caring for children in difficult times. Outdoor activities using sanitisers, proper cleanliness, and following standard operating procedures are recommended. Parental preoccupation with media should be avoided. Interpretation: Many preschoolers show delays in reaching their developmental milestones, and the pandemic has increased parents' concerns, as access to practitioners is limited. Therefore, parents should be encouraged to undergo neuropsychological consultations whenever necessary. This study emphasises important strategies to ensure that children's development is minimally affected while staying in the confined environment of their homes. This study serves as a new guide for parents, as they raise young children in the new normal. Parents should undergo basic yearly physical, neuropsychological, nutritional, and speech checkups.

Trends Analysis of Virtual Reality Research between 1987 and 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the way how we communicate with others. From ZOOM to Meta-verse, an increasing number of people are shifting to the virtual world for work and personal life. However, as a technology, virtual reality is still considered merely a device for immersive gaming for the young generation. Thus, despite itspotential, virtual reality is hardly discussed as acore technology enabling Metaverse, which provides a virtual world for everyone. Therefore, it is necessary to examine prior studies for an understanding full spectrum of virtual reality research. There are three primary aims of this study: 1. To trace the history of virtual reality research for providing a holisticview oftheresearch trajectory. 2. Todiscover prevalent topics during the last 34 years as well as highly cited papers and authors. 3. To find hub topics for identifying the direction of interdisciplinary research. © 2022, Tamkang University. All rights reserved.

Episodic simulation of helping behavior in younger and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Imagining helping a person in need increases one's willingness to help beyond levels evoked by passively reading the same stories. We examined whether episodic simulation can increase younger and older adults' willingness to help in novel scenarios posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Across three studies, we demonstrate that episodic simulation of helping behavior increases younger and older adults' willingness to help during both everyday and COVID-related scenarios. Moreover, we show that imagining helping increases emotional concern, scene imagery, and theory of mind, which in turn relate to increased willingness to help. Studies 2 and 3 also showed that people produce more internal, episodic-like details when imagining everyday compared to COVID-related scenarios, suggesting that people are less able to draw on prior experiences when simulating such novel events. These findings suggest that encouraging engagement with stories of people in need by imagining helping can increase willingness to help during the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Since late 2019, news outlets and social media platforms have shown examples of people in need amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Across a series of studies, we examine whether people are more willing to help others in need after imagining a scenario in which they help the other person, compared to when they passively read the same story. Specifically, we examined whether imagining helping scenarios increase younger and older adults' willingness to help in novel scenarios posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Across three studies, we found that imagining helping others in need increases one's willingness to help during both everyday and COVID-related scenarios of people in need. Further, we show that imagining helping increases emotional concern, scene imagery (i.e., vividness of a scene), and theory of mind (i.e., perspective-taking), all of which are related to participants' willingness to help those in need. In Studies 2 and 3, we found that people produce richer, more event-related details when imagining everyday scenarios, but more basic, factual details for COVID-related scenarios. This suggests that people may use memories of similar past events to help imagine familiar scenarios and rely more on factual knowledge when imagining more novel or unfamiliar scenarios. These findings suggest that encouraging audiences to engage with stories of people in need by imagining helping can increase willingness to help during the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Antecedents of obesity among Indian youth: from consumer psychological and lifestyle perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine the antecedents of obesity among the younger generation of Indians (Generation Y) from a psychological and lifestyle consumer perspective. The study also investigates the moderating role of demography on the body mass index (BMI) of Indian youths.Design/methodology/approachThe study initially develops a conceptual model, stemming from an extensive theoretical research, and subsequently validates this using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique with a sample size of 1,242 Indian youths.FindingsThe study concludes that consumers' food habits (FH) and physical activity (PA) positively impact consumers' physical health (PH), which influences their BMI levels (BLs). Anxiety (AX), depression (DE), stress (ST), peer pressure (PP) and work pressure (WP) impact individuals' mental health (MH), which also influences their BLs. Finally, there is a significant moderating impact of demographic factors, such as age (AG), gender (GE) and income levels (ILs) on the relationship between individuals' physical and MH and individuals' BLs.Research limitations/implicationsThis study proposes a new model which highlights the issue of youth consumer obesity from the psychological and lifestyle perspectives. The model is effective as it has a high explanative power of 73%. The study investigates consumer obesity from emerging market like India perspective, but the study does not examine consumer food consumption behavior and obesity from developed market perspective.Practical implicationsYouth obesity could be considered a global pandemic, and obesity rates among the Indian youth are also increasing. This study provides valuable inputs and understanding of consumer markets to policy makers, consumer protection institutions, organizations related to the food and beverage industry, healthcare workers and consumers themselves regarding the antecedents of youth obesity (BL) in developing and emerging markets.Originality/valueThe study adds value to the body of literature related to consumer obesity, FH, consumer psychology and lifestyle through findings that are new in terms of findings' specificity, contextual focus and explication. Moreover, the study extends the cognitive theory of DE and the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The research effectively offers significant theoretical and practicable market knowledge to both scholars and marketing practitioners, as well as policy makers and institutions dealing with youth obesity, particularly in emerging markets.

Social emotional health, life satisfaction and school climate of junior school students in the context of Covid-19 pandemic crisis: Longitudinal research in Lithuania

(Slovene) Razsikovanje socialno-custvenega zdravja ucencev je pomembna za kakovostno ucenje in njihovo blagostanje v soli, se posebno v casu izzivov, ki jih prinasa pandemija COVID-19. Namen: raziskati socialno-custveno zdravje mlajsih ucencev, njihovo zadovoljstvo z zivljenjem in zaznano solsko klimo v casu pandemske krize in prevladujocega ucenja na daljavo z uporabo vzdolznega pristopa. Metoda: Vprasalnik Socialnega in custvenega zdravja-osnovna (Social and Emotional Health Survey-Primary;SEHS-P;Furlong idr., 2013) in Vecdimenzionalna lestvica zadovoljstva z zivljenjem za ucence (Multidimensional Students Life Satisfaction Scale;MSLSS;Huebner, 2001). Vzorec je obsegal 84 ucencev Litvanskih osnovnih sol (starih med 10 in 12 let). Rezultati in sklepi: Prvi meseci pandemske krize so vodili k poslabsanju socialno-custvenega zdravja in zadovoljstva ucencev. Vendar pa je bilo po osmih mesecih (retest) moc opaziti nekaj izboljsanja v custvenem zdravju, zadovoljstvu ucencev z zivljenjem ter razredni mikroklimi. Med ucenci ni bilo moc opaziti razlik po spolu. Rezultati so prav tako pokazali pozitivne in znacilne povezanosti med socialno-custvenim zdravjem ucencev, njihovim zadovoljstvom z zivljenjem ter zaznano solsko klimo;regresijske analize so pokazale, da ima druzina pomembno vlogo pri oblikovanju socialno-custvenega zdravja ucencev. Podpora uciteljev pri ucenju na daljavo je lahko izboljsala razredno mikroklimo, poznavanje zdravstvenega stanja ucencev pa jim je lahko pomagalo pri prilagajanju ucenje na daljavo, da je bilo to v casu pandemske krize bolj ucinkovito. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Age-Related Differences in Experiences With Social Distancing at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Computational and Content Analytic Investigation of Natural Language From a Social Media Survey.

BACKGROUND: As COVID-19 poses different levels of threat to people of different ages, health communication regarding prevention measures such as social distancing and isolation may be strengthened by understanding the unique experiences of various age groups. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine how people of different ages (1) experienced the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) their respective rates and reasons for compliance or noncompliance with social distancing and isolation health guidance. METHODS: We fielded a survey on social media early in the pandemic to examine the emotional impact of COVID-19 and individuals' rates and reasons for noncompliance with public health guidance, using computational and content analytic methods of linguistic analysis. RESULTS: A total of 17,287 participants were surveyed. The majority (n=13,183, 76.3%) were from the United States. Younger (18-31 years), middle-aged (32-44 years and 45-64 years), and older (≥65 years) individuals significantly varied in how they described the impact of COVID-19 on their lives, including their emotional experience, self-focused attention, and topical concerns. Younger individuals were more emotionally negative and self-focused, while middle-aged people were other-focused and concerned with family. The oldest and most at-risk group was most concerned with health-related terms but were lower in anxiety (use of fewer anxiety-related terms) and higher in the use of emotionally positive terms than the other less at-risk age groups. While all groups discussed topics such as acquiring essential supplies, they differentially experienced the impact of school closures and limited social interactions. We also found relatively high rates of noncompliance with COVID-19 prevention measures, such as social distancing and self-isolation, with younger people being more likely to be noncompliant than older people (P<.001). Among the 43.1% (n=7456) of respondents who did not fully comply with health orders, people differed substantially in the reasons they gave for noncompliance. The most common reason for noncompliance was not being able to afford to miss work (n=4273, 57.3%). While work obligations proved challenging for participants across ages, younger people struggled more to find adequate space to self-isolate and manage their mental and physical health; middle-aged people had more concerns regarding childcare; and older people perceived themselves as being able to take sufficient precautions. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of natural language can provide insight into rapidly developing public health challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, uncovering individual differences in emotional experiences and health-related behaviors. In this case, our analyses revealed significant differences between different age groups in feelings about and responses to public health orders aimed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. To improve public compliance with health orders as the pandemic continues, health communication strategies could be made more effective by being tailored to these age-related differences.

The Contribution of Pancasila Education and Civic Education on Value Education for The Students During COVID 19 Pandemic in Digital Era

When all nations including Indonesia are hit by COVID-19 pandemic in era digital, we are compelled to conduct research with the main purpose, namely how much the contribution or influence of Pancasila Education and Civic Education on Value Education for students during the Covid-19 pandemic. The method used in this research is a quantitative method. The data was obtained by asking the students who were respondents to fill out a questionnaire. 150 students who have attended Pancasila and Citizenship courses were chosen by random sampling. Then the data obtained from the responses of the respondents were processed by the SPSS 22 program, and analyzed by path analysis. From the data processing and path analysis, the results of the research are obtained which prove that Pancasila Education has a significant contribution or influence on Value Education. Civic Education has no significant contribution or influence on Value Education. Based on these findings from this research, it is necessary to increase more intensive and serious efforts in delivering Pancasila Education, especially Civic Education in order to increase the contribution of both education to value education for the students, so that the students as the younger generation do not only have an understanding about Pancasila Education and Civic, but also be able to live the values, especially SPIRIT (Striving for the excellence, Perseverance, Integrity, Respect, Innovation, and Team Work) which are the core values at Bina Nusantara University. © 2022 IEEE.

Directions for Improving Russia’s Youth Policy in the Realities of the VUCA World.

The article examines a number of topical areas to improve the implementation of Russia’s youth policy in the current conditions of changing reality. The coronavirus period had a negative impact on the dynamics of state activity in the sphere of meeting the needs of youth, and the international situation has exacerbated long overdue questions about the intensification of patriotic upbringing of the younger generation and the effectiveness of the very system of state communication with this category of citizens. At the highest level, the demand for new forms of work with youth is outlined, and the need to increase the effectiveness of the tools used is noted. Summarizing the various approaches to the choice of directions for the further development of the youth policy system in Russia, the author formulates a number of proposals, the implementation of which will adapt the work with the younger generation to the conditions of the new socio-political agenda. These include: developing infrastructure, expanding the responsibilities of bodies in charge of youth work, increasing the wages of specialists from these organizations, new formats for supporting non-profit associations, updating educators’ knowledge, and increasing the amount of funding for the sphere. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] В статье рассматривается ряд актуальных направлений совершенствования реализации молодежной политики России в современных условиях изменяющейся реальности. Коронавирусный период негативно сказался на динамике государственной деятельности в сфере удовлетворения потребностей молодежи, а международная обстановка обострила давно назревшие вопросы активизации патриотического воспитания подрастающего поколения, эффективности самой системы коммуникации государства с этой категорией граждан. На самом высоком уровне обозначен запрос на новые формы работы с молодежью, отмечена необходимость повышения эффективности применяемых инструментов. Обобщив различные подходы к выбору направлений дальнейшего развития системы молодежной политики в России, автор формулирует ряд предложений, реализация которых позволит адаптировать работу с подрастающим поколением к условиям новой социально-политической повестки. Среди них: развитие инфраструктуры, расширение сферы ответственности органов по работе с молодежью, повышение уровня оплаты труда специалистов этих организаций, новые форматы поддержки некоммерческих объединений, актуализация знаний педагогов и увеличение объемов финансирования сферы. (Russian) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Society: Politics, Economics, Law is the property of LLC Publishing House 'HORS' 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.)

Critical Factors that Influence the Satisfaction of E-learning of Laboratory Subjects among University Students

During the pandemic of covid-19, the government of Malaysia come up with a new alternative to ensure the young generations still can learn from home and no one is left behind by using E-learning. This study attempts to determine the critical factors that influence the satisfaction of E-learning in laboratory subjects, to identify the satisfaction of university students with the E-learning process of laboratory subjects, and to examine the relationship between the critical factors and the satisfaction of university students with E-learning. In this study, third-year undergraduate students from the Faculty of Technology Management and Business (FPTP), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) were selected as the participants. The questionnaire was employed to collect data for this study. The data collected were analyzed quantitatively using SPSS software. The results showed that the system quality was the most critical factor that influence the satisfaction of E-learning of the students during the laboratory activities. Furthermore, the UTHM students were satisfied with learning laboratory subjects via E-learning. There was a positive relationship between the critical factors and the satisfaction of UTHM students. This study has been conducted to help the lecturer, university, and the developer of the E-learning application analyzes the critical factors that the student faced during E-learning and give some suggestions to improve students' satisfaction with E-learning. © 2022 ACM.

Hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and thrombophilia as the most common risk factors for retinal vein occlusion in patients under 50 years.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Cardiovascular (CV) diseases are the most common risk factors (RFs) for retinal vein occlusion (RVO) development in general. The aim of this study was to identify the most frequent causes of RVO in patients under 50. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated a group of patients with RVO under 50 years. The parameters of interest included age and sex, RVO type, presence of arterial hypertension (HT), hyperlipidaemia (HLD), diabetes mellitus (DM), congenital thrombophilic disorder (TD), obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), thyroid eye disease (TED), use of hormone contraception (HC) or hormone replacement therapy (HRT), glaucoma and other potential RFs. Patients with central RVO (CRVO), hemi-central RVO (HRVO), branch RVO (BRVO), impending CRVO and combined arterial-venous (AV) occlusion were included. RESULTS: The group consisted of 110 eyes of 103 patients. CV disease was the most common systemic abnormality. 55.3% patients had HT, 17.5% had HLD. TD was the third most frequent RF (12.6%). The cohort also included patients with DM (6.8%), glaucoma (6.8%) and women using HC/HRT (26.2% of female patients). There were isolated cases of RVO due to retinal vasculitis, intense exercise, antiphospholipid syndrome and COVID-19 pneumonia. None of the patients had OSAS, TED or a haemato-oncological disease. The etiology remained unexplained in 20.4% patients. No difference was observed in RF occurrence between patients with CRVO and HRVO and those with BRVO. CONCLUSION: The most common systemic abnormality in our cohort was CV disease, especially HT and HLD. The risk factors for central, hemi-central and branch RVOs were similar.

Can older workers be retrained? Canadian evidence from worker-firm linked data

Our empirical analysis is based on Statistics Canada’s worker-firm matched data set, the 2003 Workplace and Employee Survey (WES). The sample size is substantial: about 4,000 workers over the age of 50 and 12,000 between the ages of 25 and 49. Training was a focus of the survey, which offers a wealth of worker-related and firm-related training variables. We found that the mean probability of receiving training was 9.3 percentage points higher for younger workers than for older ones. Almost half of the gap is explained by older workers having fewer training-associated characteristics (personal, employment, workplace, human resource practices and occupation/industry/region), and slightly more than half by them having a lower propensity to receive training, this being the gap that remained after we controlled for differences in training-associated characteristics. Their lower propensity to receive training likely reflects the higher opportunity cost of lost wages during the time spent in training, possible higher psychological costs and lower expected benefits due to their shorter remaining work-life and lower productivity gains from training, as discussed in the literature. The lower propensity of older workers to receive training tended to prevail across 54 different training measures, with notable exceptions discussed in detail. We found that older workers can be trained, but their training should be redesigned in several ways: by making instruction slower and self-paced;by assigning hands-on practical exercises;by providing modular training components to be taken in stages;by familiarizing the trainees with new equipment;and by minimizing required reading and amount of material covered. The concept of “one-size-fits- all” does not apply to the design and implementation of training programs for older workers.Alternate :Notre analyse empirique est fondée sur l’ensemble des données appariées entre les travailleurs et les entreprises de Statistique Canada, le Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) de 2003. La taille de l’échantillon est importante, environ 4 000 travailleurs de plus de 50 ans et 12 000 qui ont entre 25 et 49 ans. Cette enquête est centrée sur la formation, de sorte qu’elle comporte une multitude de variables sur ce sujet tant pour les travailleurs que pour les entreprises. Notre analyse économétrique a révélé que la probabilité moyenne de recevoir une formation était de 9,3 points de pourcentage plus élevée chez les jeunes que chez les travailleurs plus âgés. Près de la moitié de cet écart peut être attribué au fait que les travailleurs âgés ont moins de caractéristiques associées à la réception de la formation (c’est-à-dire caractéristiques personnelles, d’emploi, du milieu de travail, des pratiques en matière de ressources humaines et de la profession/industrie/région). D’autre part, un peu plus de la moitié de l’écart est attribué au fait qu’ils ont moins tendance à recevoir des formations après avoir pris en compte leurs caractéristiques. Cela reflète probablement un coût d’opportunité plus élevé des salaires perdus pendant la formation et des coûts psychiques possiblement plus élevés pour les travailleurs plus âgés. Comme le révèle la littérature, cela reflète aussi le fait qu’il y a moins d’avantages à former les personnes plus âgées en raison de leur horizon de vie professionnelle plus court et des gains de productivité plus faibles associés à la formation. La faible tendance des travailleurs âgés à recevoir une formation s’exprime dans 54 mesures de la formation, avec quelques exceptions notables. Nous constatons que les travailleurs âgés peuvent être formés, mais cela nécessite une formation conçue pour répondre aux besoins des travailleurs âgés. Ces caractéristiques comprennent une instruction plus lente et auto-rythmée, des exercices pratiques, des composants de formation modulaires qui se construisent par étapes, les familiariser avec de nouveaux équipements et minimiser la lecture requise et la quantité de matériel couvert. Le concept d’uniformité ne s’applique pas à la conception et à la mise en oeuvre de formations pour les travailleurs âgés.

Narrative elaboration makes misinformation and corrective information regarding COVID-19 more believable.

OBJECTIVE: People gather information about health topics from online channels oftentimes awash with misinformation. Investigating this problem during the COVID-19 pandemic is important, as the misinformation effect occurs when misleading details are embedded in narratives and questions. This pilot study investigated whether narrative elaboration increases believability in misinformation statements about COVID-19, and willingness to share these statements online. RESULTS: Results from our online survey (n = 80) demonstrated that narrative elaboration increased believability in both misinformation and accurate statements, with a more pronounced effect on younger adults. Future research may investigate cognitive vulnerabilities imposed by elaborate narratives embedded in online health misinformation with increased attention on developing misinformation resilience among younger adults.

The Efficacy of a Brief, Altruism-Eliciting Video Intervention in Enhancing COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions Among a Population-Based Sample of Younger Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: High COVID-19 vaccine uptake is crucial to containing the pandemic and reducing hospitalizations and deaths. Younger adults (aged 20-39 years) have demonstrated lower levels of vaccine uptake compared to older adults, while being more likely to transmit the virus due to a higher number of social contacts. Consequently, this age group has been identified by public health authorities as a key target for vaccine uptake. Previous research has demonstrated that altruistic messaging and motivation is associated with vaccine acceptance. OBJECTIVE: This study had 2 objectives: (1) to evaluate the within-group efficacy of an altruism-eliciting short, animated video intervention in increasing COVID-19 vaccination intentions amongst unvaccinated Canadian younger adults and (2) to examine the video's efficacy compared to a text-based intervention focused exclusively on non-vaccine-related COVID-19 preventive health measures. METHODS: Using a web-based survey in a pre-post randomized control trial (RCT) design, we recruited Canadians aged 20-39 years who were not yet vaccinated against COVID-19 and randomized them in a 1:1 ratio to receive either the video intervention or an active text control. The video intervention was developed by our team in collaboration with a digital media company. The measurement of COVID-19 vaccination intentions before and after completing their assigned intervention was informed by the multistage Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM). The McNemar chi-square test was performed to evaluate within-group changes of vaccine intentions. Exact tests of symmetry using pairwise McNemar tests were applied to evaluate changes in multistaged intentions. Between-group vaccine intentions were assessed using the Pearson chi-square test postintervention. RESULTS: Analyses were performed on 1373 participants (n=686, 50%, in the video arm, n=687, 50%, in the text arm). Within-group results for the video intervention arm showed that there was a significant change in the intention to receive the vaccine (χ21=20.55, P<.001). The between-group difference in postintervention intentions (χ23=1.70, P=.64) was not significant. When administered the video intervention, we found that participants who had not thought about or were undecided about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine were more amenable to change than participants who had already decided not to vaccinate. CONCLUSIONS: Although the video intervention was limited in its effect on those who had firmly decided not to vaccinate, our study demonstrates that prosocial and altruistic messages could increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake, especially when targeted to younger adults who are undecided or unengaged regarding vaccination. This might indicate that altruistic messaging provides a "push" for those who are tentative toward, or removed from, the decision to receive the vaccine. The results of our study could also be applied to more current COVID-19 vaccination recommendations (eg, booster shots) and for other vaccine-preventable diseases. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04960228; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04960228.

COVID-19 and Adolescents of Chengalpattu District: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: COVID-19 is a potential public health concern which was identified and declared as public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation. Objective: To assess the knowledge and standard COVID-19 preventive practicing methods followed during pandemic among adolescents in the urban areas of Chengalpattu district. Methods: A Community based cross-sectional study was conducted among the adolescents (10 years to 19 years) in urban field practising areas of a tertiary care private hospital during the second COVID wave. Data were collected through simple random sampling technique from 170 adolescents in the sampled households through face-to-face interview of respondents. Statistical analysis done using institutional licensed IBM-SPSS version 21.0 software. Results: Majority of the study participants 53.5% were between the ages of 15 and 19. Of the participants, 52.4% were perusing their higher/ higher secondary education. Female respondents were 51.8% in the present study. 67% had good knowledge regarding the corona virus and 82% had good COVID-19 preventive practice during the pandemic. Conclusion: Lack of equivalent knowledge emphasises the need of educating the younger community about the novel virus. Appropriate measures to improve COVID-19 knowledge should be taken by relevant stakeholders in view of yielding equilibrium between preventive practice and knowledge so that the disease will be eradicated in near future. Copyright (c) 2022: Author(s).

WisdomOfAge: Designing a Platform for Active and Healthy Ageing of Senior Experts in Engineering

The European population is undoubtedly ageing at an accelerating pace and by 2050;the number the elderly people will increase with almost 50% compared with 2019 numbers. Under the current legislation, the retirement age within most EU countries is 65, when many people are still able to perform within their profession at a decent level due to their knowledge and vast experience. The paper focuses on the design of a digital platform through which the retired seniors are able share their expertise with the younger generations, thus providing a useful, safe, and friendly environment that also addresses current challenges generated by the COVID-19 pandemics. The paper presents the analysis of the most important user needs and challenges that come with the age, sets the main pillars to be considered in the development of the application, both related to the overall architecture and main functions, and the user interface characteristics. A modular user focused design of the digital platform is proposed, by emphasizing its main functions, namely, to provide the means of a seamless interaction and an improved user experience. Artificial intelligence agents will be integrated to improve the matchmaking process by relying on the overall experience during training sessions. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Using Best-Worst Scaling to investigate younger adult Canadians' preferences for COVID-19 vaccination and public health measures: An observational study.

Containing the COVID-19 pandemic is dependent on compliance with public health recommendations and mandates which is lower in younger compared to older adults. Furthermore, younger adults have demonstrated lower uptake of COVID-19 vaccines. The aim of this study was to assess preferences for COVID-19 related preventive health measures and vaccination and to explore their association with COVID-19 vaccine acceptability. Canadians aged 18-39 years were invited to participate in a web-based survey in August 2021. We used the Best-Worst-Scaling (BWS) methodology to collect and analyze preference data and multivariable binary logistic regression to estimate associations with vaccine acceptability. Based on 266 complete responses, we found strong preferences for physical distancing and wearing face masks, as compared to general hygiene and respiratory etiquette. High vaccine accessibility independent of the location, receiving successive doses of the same vaccine brand and higher vaccine uptake of people in younger adults' social circle were highly preferred. Higher preferences for mandates requiring proof of vaccination and altruistic motives focused on protecting others by getting vaccinated were associated with vaccine acceptability. As the COVID-19 pandemic waxes and wanes, studies using larger, nationally representative samples are needed to replicate and validate these results to assess preferences for health behaviors corresponding to the latest recommendations. The use of this methodology could provide public health authorities with a unique opportunity to develop targeted, preference-based messaging that aligns with the latest guidelines to effectively encourage compliance and COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

Student Experiences on Using Process-Centric Thesis Management Tool

We are in the middle of rapid change in the fields of digitalization and automation. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the industry 4.0 work revolution by shifting people to a remote mode at work wherever it is possible. At the same time, the younger generations entering higher degree studies demand more personalized solutions in their learning paths. Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences has been developing a digitalized edtech tool Wihi to support students’ personalized thesis process and help supervisors to monitor multiple thesis projects. Wihi represents new kind of process-centric philosophy where a student’s learning process and a supervisor’s process are combined. While used two academic years so far, it was time to review what has been achieved, and especially, how students perceive the support of the system and the approach it represents. To find that out, we conducted a survey with structured and open-ended questions. The target group was the students who were in the thesis writing process or had recently completed it. The results reveal that Wihi supports students’ thesis project and enables personalized learning approach. However, Wihi’s features are used in different efficacy and there are also some challenges to be taken into account in further development and research. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Depressive Symptoms and Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Large, Longitudinal, Cross-sectional Survey.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the mental health of millions across the globe. Understanding factors associated with depressive symptoms and anxiety across 12 months of the pandemic can help identify groups at higher risk and psychological processes that can be targeted to mitigate the long-term mental health impact of the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine sociodemographic features, COVID-19-specific factors, and general psychological variables associated with depressive symptoms and anxiety over 12 months of the pandemic. METHODS: Nationwide, cross-sectional electronic surveys were implemented in May (n=14,636), July (n=14,936), October (n=14,946), and December (n=15,265) 2020 and March/April 2021 (n=14,557) in the United States. Survey results were weighted to be representative of the US population. The samples were drawn from a market research platform, with a 69% cooperation rate. Surveys assessed depressive symptoms in the past 2 weeks and anxiety in the past week, as well as sociodemographic features; COVID-19 restriction stress, worry, perceived risk, coping strategies, and exposure; intolerance of uncertainty; and loneliness. RESULTS: Across 12 months, an average of 24% of respondents reported moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms and 32% reported moderate-to-severe anxiety. Of the sociodemographic variables, age was most consistently associated with depressive symptoms and anxiety, with younger adults more likely to report higher levels of those outcomes. Intolerance of uncertainty and loneliness were consistently and strongly associated with the outcomes. Of the COVID-19-specific variables, stress from COVID-19 restrictions, worry about COVID-19, coping behaviors, and having COVID-19 were associated with a higher likelihood of depressive symptoms and anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms and anxiety were high in younger adults, adults who reported restriction stress or worry about COVID-19 or who had had COVID-19, and those with intolerance of uncertainty and loneliness. Symptom monitoring as well as early and accessible intervention are recommended.

Changes in sleep behavior, sleep problems, and psychological distress/health-related quality of life of young Japanese individuals before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social restrictions during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have impacted sleep behavior and sleep problems, and their related daytime functioning in young adults. However, no studies have examined such changes in young individuals from countries with mild infection intensity and social restrictions. Therefore, we focused on sleep behaviors and sleep issues in young people in Japan. This study was conducted before and after the pandemic (October 2019 and May 2020, respectively). In total, 2,222 (1,371 students and 851 workers) individuals participated and completed anonymous Web-based questionnaires concerning demographic characteristics, sleep behaviors, sleep problems using the Japanese version of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (JESS) and the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS-J), psychological distress using the Japanese version of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) evaluated with the Short Form-8 (SF-8). A significantly delayed sleep phase was observed in the second survey compared to the first (p < .001) and was more pronounced in students than in workers (p < .001). The total sleep time, social jetlag degree, and JESS, AIS-J, and SF-8 scores were significantly improved after the pandemic (p < .001, p < .001, p < .001, p < .001, p < .05, and p < .001, respectively). Careful monitoring of whether these modest changes can lead to adjustment concerns is needed.