A 'novel' approach to inculcating life skills

Reading is an important life skill and competency. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the reading culture got threatened as the purchase of books declined significantly, and encouraging reading skills emerged as a bigger challenge. However, setting up a reading club online in the postpandemic world and discussing books while using kindles, e-books, and open-source materials might hold the key. This chapter deals with the set-up of a 'Novel Room' at Jai Hind College, India (Autonomous higher education institute), which is a book discussion club, and the success had with it. Seventy-two individuals are mapped in the data, which is by and large positive. Through the feedback data collected, this chapter analyzes a semi-quantitative study that highlights the role of such student-centric clubs, especially book discussion clubs can foster healthy reading habits and developing other soft skills such as empathy, self-confidence, creativity, and ability to deal with social problems. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

A phronetic iterative analysis of decisions to disclose negative feelings about others' (non)compliance with recommended covid precaution behaviors

The current study analyzed 212 college students' decisions to express or suppress negative feelings about the extent to which others enact recommended COVID-19 precaution behaviors. Using a phronetic iterative analysis, participant experiences were examined in terms of (a) choices to express or suppress their negative feelings and (b) the reasons underlying their disclosure decisions. Significant themes emerged with both response categories. The themes and study findings are discussed in relation to privacy management, subjective norms, and bystander intervention work. Further implications of these findings are also discussed in their extension of and relevance to existing work on compliance-centered interventions and disclosure decisions in health-related contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Exploring Employee Well-Being during the COVID-19 Remote Work: Evidence from South Africa

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated a shift to remote working for previously office-based employees in South Africa, impacting employee outcomes such as well-being. The remote work trend is expected to continue even post the pandemic, necessitating for organizational understanding of the factors impacting employee well-being. Using the Job Demands-Resources model as the theoretical framework, this study aims to understand the role of job demands and resources as predictors of employee well-being in the pandemic context. Design/methodology/approach: A self-administered online survey questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data about remote workers' (n = 204) perceptions of specifically identified demands, resources and employee well-being. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation and moderated hierarchical regression were used to analyse the data. Findings: This study found that job demands in the form of work-home conflict were associated with reduced employee well-being. Resources, namely, job autonomy, effective communication and social support were associated with increased employee well-being. Job autonomy was positively correlated to remote work frequency, and gender had a significant positive association to work-home conflict. Social support was found to moderate the relationship between work-home conflict and employee well-being. Findings suggest that organizations looking to enhance the well-being of their remote workforce should implement policies and practices that reduce the demands and increase the resources of their employees. The significant association of gender to work-home conflict suggests that greater interventions are required particularly for women. This study advances knowledge on the role of demands and resources as predictors of employee well-being of remote workforces during COVID-19 and beyond. Originality/value: This paper provides insight on employee well-being during COVID-19 remote work. Further, the findings suggest that organizations looking to enhance the well-being of their remote workforce should implement policies and practices that reduce the demands and increase the resources of their employees. The significant association of gender to work-home conflict suggests that greater interventions are required particularly for women. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study carried out to explore the employee well-being during COVID-19 pandemic and will be beneficial to stakeholders for understanding the factors impacting employee well-being.

Collaborative responses within a school community: Reflections from the COVID-19 experience

This chapter begins by presenting Xavier Educational Academy (XEA) and its mission, vision, and practices before the lockdown. It continues by sharing the challenges that the author and his community faced once in lockdown and the steps they took to create a community of care and belonging as they thought and worked together regarding finances;teaching;relationships with parents, teachers, and students;evaluations;and the preparation for the new school year. A very important component of the values at Xavier is the understanding of a relational approach to learning based on many of the underlying tenets of collaborative-dialogic practices. Graduation would be one of these challenging moments that provided the Xavier community an opportunity to think and create together. Teaching online via Zoom was one way in which one successfully responded to the needs of the students. A very important component of our values at Xavier is the understanding of a relational approach to learning based on many of the underlying tenets of collaborative-dialogic practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The Study of 'Preparation Guidelines' Towards Phetchabun Government Officers and Health Massage Establishments

The purpose of research was to study practices, barriers, and solutions of Phetchabun health massage establishments under COVID-19 situation. Non-participant observation, informal interview, in-depth interview, and participation observation were carried out respectively. Purposive sampling was used with 15 health consumer protection officers in charge;11 district level, 2 provincial level, 2 regional level as well as each representative of 11 districts. Results after implementation of "Preparation Guidelines for Health Spa, Health Massage, and Beauty Massage to Promote Health Tourism During COVID-19 Pandemic" were categorized into two sections. Firstly, the practices, barriers, and solutions of government officer performances included preparation for reopening, monitoring of the provider practices, and performance report. Secondly, the provider operations consisted of doing "Self-Assessment of Health Establishment", logging-in webpage before reopening, and practices for clients included screening and report of patients under investigation, establishment monitor, service, and establishment cleaning. In summary, the preparation guidelines were purposed to reopen their business with numerous contents and messages written by official language, it caused establishment providers and practitioners difficultly understood when applying. LINE Application and making calls were easy and accessible methods for their communication to reach current data and to ensure exact information. Various encouragements and having compliments were also considerable to form trust and confidence among them, they also raised their proud.Copyright © 2023, World Informations Syndicate. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive medication management services provided via telehealth or hybrid models: A scoping review

Comprehensive medication management (CMM) is increasingly provided by health care teams through telehealth or hybrid modalities. The purpose of this scoping literature review was to assess the published literature and examine the economic, clinical, and humanistic outcomes of CMM services provided by pharmacists via telehealth or hybrid modalities. This scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies were included if they: reported on economic, clinical, or humanistic outcomes;were conducted via telehealth or hybrid modalities;included a pharmacist on their interprofessional team;and evaluated CMM services. The search was conducted between January 1, 2000, and September 28, 2021. The search strategy was adapted for use in Medline (PubMed);Embase;Cochrane;Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature;PsychINFO;International Pharmaceutical s;Scopus;and grey literature. Four reviewers extracted data using a screening tool developed for this study and reviewed for risk of bias. Authors screened 3500 articles, from which 11 studies met the inclusion criteria (9 observational studies, 2 RCTs). In seven studies, clinical outcomes improved with telehealth CMM interventions compared to either usual care, face-to-face CMM, or educational controls, as shown by the statistically significant changes in chronic disease clinical outcomes. Two studies evaluated and found increased patient and provider satisfaction. One study described a source of revenue for a telehealth CMM service. Overall, study results indicate that telehealth CMM services, in select cases, may be associated with improved clinical outcomes, but the methods of the included studies were not homogenous enough to conclude that telehealth or hybrid modalities were superior to in-person CMM. To understand the full impact on the Quadruple Aim, additional research is needed to investigate the financial outcomes of CMM conducted using telehealth or hybrid technologies.Copyright © 2022 Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc.

Research on Affective Interaction in Mini Public Transport Based on IPA-FMEA

In the promotion of sustainable modes of transport, especially public transport, reasonable failure risk assessment at the critical moment in the process of service provider touch with users can improve the service quality to a certain extent. This study presents a product service touch point evaluation approach based on the importance–performance analysis (IPA) of user and failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA). Firstly, the authors capture service product service touch points in the process of user interaction with the product by observing the user behavior in a speculative design experiment, and perform the correlation analysis of the service product service touch point. Second, the authors use the IPA analysis method to evaluate and classify the product service touch points and identify the key product service touch points. Thirdly, the authors propose to analyze the failure of key product service touch points based on user-perceived affective interaction and clarify the priority of each key touch point. Finally, reluctant interpersonal communication, as the key failure caused by high risk, is derived according to the evaluation report, which leads to establishing new product service touch points and improving the overall user experience to promote sustainable transports with similar forms and characteristics.

„Korona neexistuje!": Humor ako komunikačná stratégia v čase krízy

The study provides an ethnographic probe into the lives of the members of the PCR test team during the pandemic of COVID-19. The aim is to show the use of humour as a communication strategy in times of crisis from the perspective of symbolic anthropology and ethnography of communication, especially theories of danger and joke. The approach of state health institutions have often failed to meet the needs of society, affecting patients' access to information, the treatment of diseases or the identification of positive patients. Humour helped to prevent the conflicts, signalled forgiveness and influenced attitudes towards adherence to the rules. We focus on interpersonal and interactional aspects of communication, social identification of the respondents, as well as the influence of political culture. Coping strategies are followed through: (1) representations of dirt and the boundaries of the body, (2) the recontextualization of the statements and acts, (3) the boundaries of the joke in relation to feelings of safety, and (4) the subversive effect of humour and flirtation in a time of the disciplining of bodies. The study demonstrates how laughter bridges the gap resulting from the conflicting informational inputs. The recontextualisation of the teams' motto: Corona does not exist! is interpreted in its socio-pragmatic dimension.

Federated Learning for Healthcare Domain - Pipeline, Applications and Challenges

Federated learning is the process of developing machine learning models over datasets distributed across data centers such as hospitals, clinical research labs, and mobile devices while preventing data leakage. This survey examines previous research and studies on federated learning in the healthcare sector across a range of use cases and applications. Our survey shows what challenges, methods, and applications a practitioner should be aware of in the topic of federated learning. This paper aims to lay out existing research and list the possibilities of federated learning for healthcare industries.© 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

An intermestic approach to China's public diplomacy: a case study of Beijing's COVID-19 communication in the early stages

PurposeThe aim of this study was to examine the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak and the international communication management of Chinese diplomats as a case for extending the definition of intermestic public diplomacy. The goal was to reveal how Beijing subtly used both domestic and foreign social media to organize a network for communication about COVID-19 and purposefully soften the highly centralized and hierarchical political propaganda of the Communist Party of China (CPC).Design/methodology/approachBased on the literature on digital public diplomacy, the authors applied the existing concept of intermestic to Chinese politics in order to demonstrate the digitalization of public diplomacy, along with its forms and strategies under an authoritarian regime. A hybrid methodology combining quantitative network analysis and qualitative discourse analysis permits examination of China's intermestic online communication network dynamics, shedding light on how such an intermestic practice promoted Chinese values and power to international publics in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis.FindingsThe authors' findings extend the implications of intermestic public diplomacy from a democratic context to an authoritarian one. By analyzing the content of public diplomacy and para-diplomatic social media accounts in China and abroad at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the authors outlined China's early crisis management, explaining its intermestic public diplomacy transmission modes and strategies. Moreover, the authors identified changes in the narrative strategies of Chinese diplomats and journalists during this process.Social implicationsThe findings of this study underline that Beijing established a narrative-making virtual communication structure for disseminating favorable Chinese strategic narratives and voices through differentiated communication on domestic and foreign social media platforms. Such intermestic communication strategies were particularly evident and even further weaponized by Beijing in its large-scale Wolf Warrior diplomacy in the spring of 2020. Thus, the study's findings help readers understand how China digitalized its public diplomacy, its digital communication patterns and strategies.Originality/valueOn the one hand, geopolitical uncertainty and the popularity of social media have contributed to the evolution of the intermestic model of public diplomacy. This model allows actors to coordinate homogenous and differentiated communication practices to deploy their influence. On the other hand, the authors did not examine how intermestic audiences perceive and receive public diplomacy practices. In future studies, scholars should measure the agenda-setting capacity of diplomatic actors by examining the effects of such intermestic communication efforts.

The Peculiarities of Students' Subjective Social Well-being Puring the COVID-19 Pandemic Depending on Their University Attendance Mode

The study examined the peculiarities of the subjective social and psychological well-being of general civil and military students during the Covid-19 pandemic, depending on the applied attendance modes: distance or face-to-face. General civil students had higher sleep quality, but they had less social contacts, compared to military students. The integral indicator of subjective social well-being was average in general civil and military students, and the differences were determined only for "social approval" scale, whose value was significantly higher in general civil students. The heaviest barrier in interpersonal communication for general civil and military students was ina-dequate expression of emotions;and inflexibility and vagueness of emotions were the least pronounced. Factors important for general civil students' psychological well-being were social approval, purposeful-ness in their aspirations and emotional matching. At the same time, three factors were determined for military students: perceived independence, social reassurance and emotional control during interactions.

Reciprocal relationship between interpersonal communication and depressive symptoms and the mediating role of resilience across two years: Three-wave cross-lagged panel model.

BACKGROUND: Depression among children has been a growing public health concern. It is generally recognized that individuals with depression are likely to have interpersonal malfunctioning. However, there remains a limited scientific understanding of the reciprocal relationship between interpersonal communication and depressive symptoms among rural Chinese children in a longitudinal approach. METHODS: Therefore, guided by the interpersonal model of depression and the developmental cascade model, the present study conducted a cross-lagged panel analysis study to explore the bidirectional relationship between interpersonal communication and depressive symptoms across three waves among 2188 elementary school students in rural areas of one county of Gansu Province, China. We also examined the mediating effect of resilience and sex differences of the models. RESULTS: Our results showed that depressive symptoms negatively predicted interpersonal communication from T1 to T2 and T2 to T3. Interpersonal communication negatively predicted depressive symptoms from T1 to T2, but not T2 to T3. Furthermore, resilience showed significant partial mediating effects in the reciprocal relationship between interpersonal communication and depressive symptoms. In terms of sex differences, the significant relationship between depressive symptoms at T1 and interpersonal communication at T2 was found to be significant among male students and marginally significant among female students. The full mediating effect of resilience at T1 was found only among male students, whereas resilience at T2 functioned as a full mediator between depressive symptoms at T2 and interpersonal communication at T3 only among female students. LIMITATIONS: First, the present sample consisted of only third and fourth grade (i.e., in T1) students from one county in rural China. Second, the present study examined depressive symptoms instead of depression as a clinical diagnosis. Third, the third wave of the data was collected during COVID-19. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could unexpectedly pose on child mental health. CONCLUSIONS: The finding underlined the importance of providing comprehensive depression prevention and intervention from fostering children's inner resilience and promoting their ability to navigate interpersonal resources.

How Life During a Pandemic May Have Contributed to Homicide in Houston, Texas

This study offers an examination of a sample of 150 homicides in Houston, Texas in 2020 as described by local news sources. The purpose was to understand dynamics that may explain what appears to be an increase in domestic disputes that led to increases in homicides. This mixed method study utilized content analysis that included quantifying the patterns of concepts in the news reports to isolate racial, gender and location factors. Data are displayed in tables and figures to illustrate patterns and regression analyses indicate predictive relations. The study is important given the recent homicide increases during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the substantial impact on families and communities. The data reveal that domestic disputes and access to firearms are evident in the increases. The study offers implications for micro and macro responses involving media coverage, interpersonal communication, community programming and messaging, law enforcement engagement, and justice system reforms.Key Take Away Points [list] [list] [list_item] increase in homicide during COVID-19 [/list_item] [list_item] decrease in police presence [/list_item] [list_item] majority of homicides are caused by guns [/list_item] [/list]

Applying the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children and Adolescents to Misophonia: A Case Example

Misophonia is a condition in which individuals suffer a wide range of intense emotions in response to sound triggers. Emotions such as anxiety, irritability, and disgust may lead individuals to engage in avoidance behaviors to escape or suppress sound triggers. Transdiagnostic treatment may serve as a practical intervention for misophonia as it addresses a broad scope of emotions and physiological sensations. This paper presents the first reported case example of misophonia treated with a transdiagnostic treatment protocol, the Unified Protocol for Emotional Disorders in Adolescents (UP-A). In this case, the UP-A was efficacious in treating a client with autism spectrum disorder, comorbid misophonia and anxiety symptoms. The client evidenced reliable change in misophonia and related problems. Future research should investigate the efficacy of the UP-A in a larger sample of youth with misophonia, as well as assess mechanisms of change in transdiagnostic treatment of this disorder in youth.Copyright © 2022 Society of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology.

Using a Palliative Extubation Simulation-Based Learning Model to Teach Key Palliative Medicine Topics and Skills Across Graduate and Undergraduate Medical Education (Sch472)

Outcomes: 1. Self-report the ability to use a palliative extubation simulation curriculum to teach key palliative care topics to learners across various levels. 2. Self-report the ability to mitigate communication and procedural errors associated with suboptimal palliative extubations to provide maximum comfort for patients and families at end of life. Background(s): The COVID-19 pandemic revealed gaps in the provision of end-of-life (EOL) care. In particular, the high number of mechanically ventilated patients at the EOL highlighted the need to standardize evidence-based palliative extubation (PE) amidst significant practice variation. Suboptimal PE practices can worsen symptoms, inappropriately hasten death, and add undue stress on patients, families, and healthcare staff. Effective training models are needed to standardize evidence-based PE. Simulation-based learning (SBL) has been shown to effectively improve medical knowledge, procedural proficiency, and interprofessional communication, all of which are necessary to successfully perform a PE. Unfortunately, the use of SBL in palliative care (PC) education is sparse. Method(s): An innovative educational activity using high-fidelity simulation and SBL models was created to teach key PC topics and skills within the context of a simulated PE procedure. The curriculum consists of a 1-hour didactic followed by 2 hours of simulation, divided into 4 sections. The simulation is designed to teach complex symptom management, communication strategies, and leadership skills. Each section concludes with a debrief to provide feedback and teaching points. This curriculum was piloted over multiple years among palliative medicine fellows. It will expand to include medical students this academic year with the plan to be further incorporated into medical resident education in the future. The following validated questionnaires will be used to study the efficacy of this SBL model: Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale, Simulation Design Scale, and Educational Practices Questionnaire. Participants will complete the questionnaires following the simulation. Conclusion(s): Multiple specialties have adopted SBL as an effective modality to enhance training. The use of SBL in palliative medicine education is relatively sparse. An innovative PE-simulation educational activity may provide an optimal way to teach key PC concepts across graduate and undergraduate medical education.Copyright © 2023

Is Social Media the Top Priority for Seeking and Sharing Information About COVID-19 Among Indonesian Students?

This study evaluates whether social media plays a role as the main source of information and, at the same time, as information sharing. Research on information-seeking behaviour, information needs, and information sharing has received increasing attention from various scientific communities since COVID-19 was declared a global epidemic. However, efforts have not been made to compare the capabilities of digital and interpersonal channels in both aspects of seeking and sharing information in Indonesia. Among the siege of information sources, identifying the primary sources of information used by students is important if the government is to intervene in health policies to overcome the pandemic. With an online survey conducted on 624 students, this study revealed that social media, which appears to be dominant as a source of COVID-19 information, cannot influence the behaviour of sharing information with others. The ETA correlation test confirms no correlation between the information source and information sharing behaviour. Indonesian students are moved to pass on information from interpersonal communication. In the two-stage communication model, individuals obtain information from the media and then discuss the information with others, which emerged in the conventional era and is still valid in today's digital era. The issue of trust is still inherent in social media, which makes it difficult to confirm the information on social media to be shared with others. The study explains that although communication technology has developed into the digital era, it does not necessarily eliminate the role of conventional technology. © 2023, Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved.

Communication challenges due to coronavirus epidemic with loneliness and negative emotions mediated by forgiveness characteristic

The aim of this research was to study the relationship of the communication challenges caused by coronavirus epidemic with loneliness and negative emotions along with the mediating role of forgiveness. The method was descriptive-correlative based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population included Tehran citizens who had experienced the home quarantine. The sample size was selected based on Cochran's formula equal to 384 people, by Convenience sampling method. The questionnaires were completed voluntarily by online survey. Russell et al.'s loneliness, Watson et al.'s negative emotion, Holland et al.'s Forgiveness Scale and the researcher-made communication challenge questionnaire were used in order to gather data. The reliabilities of research tools based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient were confirmed. Findings showed that the mediating role of forgiveness in the relationship of communication challenges with negative emotions and loneliness was significant, but the mediating role of forgiveness in social communication could mitigate these negative consequences. Accordingly, it is suggested that the development of personality traits be emphasized in education and in families in order to mitigate the negative consequences of communication challenges caused by crises in today's turbulent world. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Mind-body and creative arts therapies for people with aphasia: a mixed-method systematic review

Background: In the context of aphasia rehabilitation, there is a perceived need for interventions with a reduced linguistic demand targeting well-being. Mind-body and creative arts approaches are holistic and person-centred approaches, primarily relying on means other than verbal exchanges and promoting self-regulation strategies. Aim(s): This mixed-method systematic review aimed to evaluate the availability, feasibility and effectiveness of mind-body and creative arts therapies in promoting well-being for people with aphasia. Eight databases were searched using subject headings and keywords. Full-text screening, critical appraisal and data extraction were conducted independently by two reviewers. A segregated synthesis approach was used (i.e., Revised Effect Direction Plot technique and Thematic Synthesis approach). Findings are presented in a narrative and visual form. Main Contribution: Twenty-two studies were included (Mind-body: n = 11;Creative arts: n = 11). Heterogeneity of study design and quality, intervention type, procedures and dosage, outcomes, and level of offered communication support were identified. Improvements were noted across a wide range of well-being outcomes with more consistent positive results for anxiety and communication. One hundred and twenty-eight findings were extracted and synthesised in three broad themes: positive impact on self, empowering multifaceted experience, and relevance of needs-centred adjustments. Conclusion(s): Provisional findings about the benefits of mind-body and creative arts interventions on aspects of well-being for some individuals with aphasia were identified. However, findings are complex and need to be interpreted cautiously. Facilitators and barriers to these therapies are highlighted with related recommendations for practice. This review poses a demand for further research in the field, implementing rigorous methodology and aphasia-specific support to facilitate inclusion and engagement.Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.