Adapting Community Educational Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparing the Feasibility and Efficacy of a Lung Cancer Screening Educational Intervention by Mode of Delivery.

Few eligible patients receive lung cancer screening. We developed the Lung AIR (awareness, information, and resources) intervention to increase community education regarding lung cancer screening. The intervention was designed as an in-person group intervention; however, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated adapting the mode of delivery. In this study we examined intervention feasibility and efficacy overall and by mode of delivery (in-person group vs. one-on-one phone) to understand the impact of adapting community outreach and engagement strategies. Feasibility was examined through participant demographics. Efficacy was measured through pre/post knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about lung cancer screening, and intention to complete screening. We reached N = 292 participants. Forty percent had a household income below $35,000, 58% had a high school degree or less, 40% were Hispanic, 57% were Black, and 84% reported current or past smoking. One-on-one phone sessions reached participants who were older, had lower incomes, more current smoking, smoked for more years, more cigarettes per day, lower pre-intervention lung cancer screening knowledge, and higher pre-intervention fear and worry. Overall pre/post test scores show significant increases in knowledge, salience, and coherence, and reduced fear and worry. Participants in the one-on-one phone sessions had significantly higher increases in salience and coherence and intention to complete screening compared to participants in the in-person group sessions. The Lung AIR intervention is a feasible and effective community-based educational intervention for lung cancer screening. Findings point to differences in reach and efficacy of the community-based intervention by mode of delivery.

37 - Disaster Nursing

Nursing has had a long history providing medical support in response to disasters, from some of the earliest mass casualty events to the most recent COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter outlines the role of nursing in the mitigation, preparedness response, and recovery phases of disasters. There is now a recognized need to create future disaster leaders in this specialty role through a variety of educational opportunities. Further, there are many agencies at the local, state, and national level that include nurses in key leadership roles to support missions resulting from a catastrophe. This chapter uses case studies to outline the various opportunities available for nurses considering a career in the ever-evolving and exciting field of disaster nursing.

School-related violence during the COVID-19 pandemic

During a global pandemic, there are unique and unprecedented challenges to all segments of society. For more than 3 years, schools and families alike have been faced with compromising life situations that have resulted in forms of anxiety and violence. Early studies are provided as are directions for further research in this area. Addressed are issues related to violence in the home, issues related to quarantined situations, some of the stresses of the global COVID-19 pandemic on children, parents, teachers, and community members, and the lessons learned during this very difficult time frame. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Reflection on the transdisciplinary approach involving students in educating communities about COVID-19

Introduction: The disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic to higher education teaching and learning, as well as to the community engagement opportunities, has also brought about some new learning opportunities. The purpose of the research was to explore the views and to describe their thoughts of the School of Healthcare Sciences (SoHCS) and the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT) undergraduate students' on the use of robotics and technology in educating the communities about COVID-19. Method(s): Participatory Action Research (PAR) was used for this study since the students from SoHCS and EBIT were invited to be active participants as future professionals. A total of 27 students volunteered and participated in in-depth interviews. The responses were analysed using ATLAS.ti from nine data sets for qualitative content. Data reduction, coding, and decoding analytic processes were used to analyse and interpret each of these qualitative data forms. Ethical approval was obtained from the research ethics committees in the Faculty of Health Sciences as well as the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. Result(s): Five themes that emerged from this study are namely: COVID-19 and community challenges and behaviour;COVID-19 communication;COVID-19 knowledge and understanding;COVID-19 myths and COVID-19 robotics and technology education. Conclusion(s): COVID-19 has proven to be a driver of technology innovation and can create new high-touch and high-quality services. Using information technology and robotics in health sciences or in community engagement projects would minimizes the exposure of health care workers and members of the communities to possible infections. These findings also reflect on the importance of engaging the students when interventions are planned because they play an important role as members of the community within the university and outside the university.Copyright © 2022

A Path Forward: COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Community Education and Outreach Initiative.

COVID-19 vaccines offer hope to end the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we document key lessons learned as we continue to confront COVID-19 variants and work to adapt our vaccine outreach strategies to best serve our community. In the fall of 2020, the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity at Johns Hopkins Medicine, in collaboration with the Office of Government and Community Affairs for Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, established the COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Community Education and Outreach Initiative in partnership with faith and community leaders, local and state government representatives, and community-based organizations. Working with community and government partnerships established before COVID-19 enabled our team to quickly build infrastructure focused on COVID-19 vaccine education and equity. These partnerships resulted in the development and implementation of web-based educational content, major culturally adapted media campaigns (reaching more than 200,000 individuals), community and faith education outreach, youth-focused initiatives, and equity-focused mobile vaccine clinics. The community mobile vaccine clinics vaccinated over 3,000 people in the first 3 months. Of these, 90% identified as persons of color who have been disproportionately impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Academic-government-community partnerships are vital to ensure health equity. Community partnerships, education events, and open dialogues were conducted between the community and medical faculty. Using nontraditional multicultural media venues enabled us to reach many community members and facilitated informed decisionmaking. Additionally, an equitable COVID-19 vaccine policy requires attention to vaccine access as well as access to sound educational information. Our initiative has been thoughtful about using various types of vaccination sites, mobile vaccine units, and flexible hours of operation.

Rough Set: Utilizing Machine Learning for the Covid-19 Vaccine

Rough Set is a machine learning algorithm that analyses and determines important attributes based on an uncertain data set. The purpose of this study is to classify public interest in the Covid-19 vaccine. Vaccination is one of the solutions from the government that is considered the most appropriate to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases. Data collection was taken through a questionnaire distributed to the village community in Air Manik Village, Padang-West Sumatra, randomly as many as 100 respondents. The assessment attributes in this study are Vaccine Understanding (1), Environment (2), Community Education (3), Vaccine Confidence (4), and Cost (5), while the target attribute is the result that contains the community's interest or not to participate in vaccination. The analysis process is assisted using the Rosetta application. This study resulted in 3 reductions with 58 rules based on 100 respondents. This study concludes that the Rough Set algorithm can be used to classify public interest in the Covid-19 vaccine. Based on this research, it is hoped that it can provide information and input for local governments to be more aggressive in urging and encouraging the public to be vaccinated. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Realities of Implementing Community-Based Learning during Lockdown: Lessons from a Troubled Journey

At King's College, Nepal, the "Integrated Course" is an experimental project-based learning program, which aims to integrate learning and action in the community with classroom-based education. Connecting classroom learning with the world beyond academia can increase motivation for students, provide familiar examples for study, open the classroom to a trove of resources, promote integration across subject areas, and facilitate transfer of learning. However, it is often challenging to make those connections, and the challenges became more acute during the COVID-19 lockdown. We discuss here the design and implementation of the course, including both positive outcomes and difficulties as well as the experiences of participants. In particular, we use both successes and failures of the course as a guide for understanding how this kind of educational reform can be accomplished.

Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in Rural Afghanistan: Findings from a Baseline Learning Assessment of Accelerated Learning Centres

In Afghanistan, 93% of children cannot read a simple text by the age of 10. Education is not available to everyone, especially for girls and children in remote areas. A form of community-based education, called Accelerated Learning Centers (ALCs), can help close the distance barrier and meet the needs of out-of-school children and girls. In May 2021, an assessment of foundational literacy and numeracy skills of ALC students and nearby government school students was conducted. Results show that children at ALCs are learning at similar levels or better compared with children who attend government schools. This report provides insight into practices to improve education in rural areas in Afghanistan.

Importance of Developing Financially Literate Families and Communities: Opportunities for FCS Educators

Financial literacy has been an issue for decades in the United States, however, the COVID-19 pandemic put financial illiteracy in the spotlight. Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) educators have the ability to influence the financial literacy rates among individuals, families, and communities. Despite Hogarth's 2002 call to action for FCS educators to promote fiscal education, this has not happened. FCS educators must now respond to this call. This manuscript addresses the financial illiteracy problem in the United States, the importance of financial literacy, financial literacy in the FCS National Standards, and the actions FCS educators can take to improve financial literacy.

ECOFEMINIST AND COMMUNITARIAN KEYS IN FRONT OF SCHOOL CLOSURE DUE TO COVID-19 IN MEXICO, 2020-2021: AN EMBODIED EXPERIENCE

The COVID-19 pandemic and particularly, mitigation measures taken by government institutions in Mexico, such as the closure of all schools at all levels of education, have brought strong regressive consequences in terms of both education and gender equality. In this paper, we start from a theoretical framework of gender and family to analyze, along with the negative repercussions of this measure (especially for women and children), an embodied experience of upbringing and community education in Mexico. This experience seeks to preserve educational and labor rights violated by school closures such as sociability, guardianship and custody of minors, the right to a life free of violence, work-life balance, among others. Our aim is to suggest some keys for an ecofeminist and community solution to the education crisis in this country. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR]

Developing a community-based, intergenerational intervention to alleviate transportation barriers: Healthy buddy program for latinx older adults

The research team developed a community-based, intergenerational intervention, the Spanish-language Healthy Buddy Program to alleviate transportation barriers experienced by Latinx older adults. College students were paired with Latinx older adults and helped them identify transportation- and health-related resources in their communities. During COVID-19, the program was implemented in Hillsborough County, Florida, and Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and San Antonio, Texas. This paper reports the study process and outcomes using quantitative and qualitative data collected in Texas (n = 25). Individual interviews indicated older adult participants were receptive to the program model and appreciated the roles student buddies played to help improve their mobility. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Training program for female community volunteers to combat COVID 19 in rural Nepal.

Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHV) in Nepal have identified lack of appropriate training as a barrier to involvement in the COVID 19 response. With more than 50,000 FCHVs serving rural areas of Nepal, they are instrumental in healthcare and are a major source of information delivery to those with the most limited health-care access in Nepal. This communication describes an innovative training programme to rapidly equip FCHVs with knowledge on COVID 19 response. The ongoing programme leverages partnerships between local municipalities and a local community-based organisation and has rapidly trained more than 300 FCHVs across four districts with a population of 1,000,000, and has plans to expand the training across the country. This training programme is a key example of how local partnerships can be utilised for digital training of FCHVs in remote parts of Nepal and leveraged to strengthen response capacity during the pandemic.

Changes in conditions, practices, and relationships between teachers and students in rural Mexican high schools during the covid-19 pandemic

This article analyzes some of the changes that occurred in Mexican Community Distance-Learning High Schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly regarding the conditions of actors within school systems, the new activities associated with distance-learning, and teacher student relationships. From the perspective of interpretive sociology and through semi-structured interviews, the aim is to take the perspective of head teachers and teachers into account, in order to show their role in the transformation of the schools. It was found that, even though the preexisting problems of head teachers and teachers were exacerbated, these actors played a leading role and carried out this teaching work with creativity and commitment.

Reflection on: "The Cultural Conceptions of Dengue Fever in the Cayo District of Belize"

Smith revisits her work entitled "The Cultural Conceptions of Dengue Fever in the Cayo District of Belize." This work was not only transformative for the Cayo community but also for her. The overarching purpose behind this study is as relevant today as ever as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to modern technology, we have all had the opportunity to witness how COVID-19 has affected us all from a global standpoint. With dengue fever in the Cayo District, community education was an integral aspect of changing the community conceptions to improve disease control and prevention. This also holds true with COVID-19 as we continue to bear witness to the influence of misinformation and lack of adequate community education on the perceptions and response to COVID-19 in our communities. Community education efforts are being battled by the "individual"--a new concept given birth largely by the rise and accessibility of social media. This shift in the culture of communication has vastly influenced how we as humans understand and respond to COVID-19.

Role of the Media in Health-Related Awareness Campaigns on Perception of COVID-19: A Pre-post Study in the General Population of Pakistan.

Medical preparedness and community education are the most valuable preventive tools for combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to assess the role of media public health awareness campaigns on the knowledge of the general population about COVID-19 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A quantitative study using a pre-post design among 384 respondents was conducted. A structured questionnaire was administered to the participants twice: The first response (t 1) from participants was filled in during the 1st week in February 2020 before any confirmed cases were reported in the country, and the second response (t 2) was completed 1 month after the first case detection in Pakistan (March 2020). Media health awareness campaigns were launched just after the detection of the first case in Pakistan. Exposure to the media and knowledge relating to COVID-19 increased over time. Whereas, only a quarter of respondents judged the isolation of suspected cases in quarantine to be important to prevent the spread of infection in society at t 1, more than half did so at t 2. Socio-demographic characteristics were not significantly associated with knowledge (gains). However, more frequent use of electronic media is associated with greater knowledge gains from t 1 to t 2. The findings of this study provide evidence that awareness and knowledge related to COVID-19 symptoms and preventive measures increased significantly over time. The increased frequency of following the media indicates that health awareness campaigns are important for enhancing the knowledge of the general public regarding COVID-19.

COVID-19 Conversations Within Black/Brown Minority Communities: A Stakeholder and Psychoeducation Approach Using Zoom/Facebook Live.

As communities of color are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, there is an urgent need for dissemination of timely and accurate information to community members. In this article, we describe a stakeholder approach for the implementation, evaluation, and lessons learned from COVID-19 Conversations, a program developed and delivered virtually by researchers and academics at Northwell Health. The goal of the program was to address the mental, physical, and psychosocial needs of community members. The program used Zoom/Facebook Live to deliver interactive discussions on topics ranging from health education on COVID-19 and mental health to resources for unmet social needs. This interprofessional, cross-sector collaboration highlights the importance of public health interventions aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19 through easy online access and culturally relevant community education and outreach.

Assessment of Hand Hygiene Practices of University Students in Vietnam Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Brief Report.

OBJECTIVE: Effective handwashing practices help prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study examined the knowledge, frequency, and characteristics of handwashing practices among Vietnamese university students. METHODS: An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted on all students enrolling at Phenikaa University in Vietnam. A self-developed questionnaire was used to collect information on the participants' knowledge regarding the effectiveness of handwashing as a COVID-19 preventive measure, the moments for hand hygiene, the most appropriate practices in different situations, and frequency. RESULTS: Among 728 study participants, 460 (63.2%) were from health-related faculties. Almost (97.9%; 713/728) all participants knew that handwashing could protect against the spread of infection, but less than half performed handwashing often in a normal day (47.4%; 345/728), after sneezing or coughing (48.9%; 356/728), and 7.4% (54/728) only washed hands when hands are visibly dirty. Health students used alcohol-based handrub in all situations, including those requiring handwashing with water and soap (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The levels of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of handwashing among study participants are high, but actual practices of handwashing are suboptimal. It is crucial to improve community education to help reinforce correct hand hygiene behaviors, including when to wash hands and which method should be used.

The Levels of COVID-19 Related Health Literacy among University Students in Vietnam.

BACKGROUND: Vietnam is among the few countries that were successful in the fight against the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, subsequent domestic outbreaks of COVID-19 continue to occur. To sharp the community education program to guarantee the final success in the fight against COVID-19 in Vietnam and comparable countries, we examined the levels of COVID-19 knowledge and associated predictors among university students in Vietnam. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on all students enrolling at Phenikaa University using a self-developed questionnaire consisted of 20 questions regarding COVID-19's risk factors, transmission routes, symptoms, and prevention. RESULTS: Among 728 participants, 40.9% were male, 63.2% studied health-related majors, and 18.1% lived alone. Correct response rates ranged from 25.3% to 98.9% across 20 questions. Only 51.9% (378/728) of participants had good knowledge levels. Studying health majors (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.547, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.398 - 0.751, P <0.001), and living with the seniors (AOR 0.612, 95% CI 0.389 - 0.963, P = 0.034) or with friends (AOR 0.405, 95% CI 0.252 - 0.650, P <0.001) were negatively associated with a poor level of COVID-19 knowledge. CONCLUSION: The proportion of university students having good knowledge levels is suboptimal. It is essential to improve the quality of COVID-19 education with a more focus on not only the preventive measures, but also the disease itself. More studies are needed to improve the level of COVID-19 knowledge among those living alone or do not study health-related majors.