ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic created a major transformation in the delivery of music therapy services worldwide as they moved online. Telehealth research is in its infancy and online work with children and adolescents with visual impairment has yet to be investigated. This survey-based study explored the experiences and perceptions of parents of children and adolescents with visual impairment (n = 11) who engaged in online music therapy. Video playlists were accessed regularly and almost all parents reported positive (2/11) or very positive (8/11) responses and perceived them as beneficial in engaging with their child. Ninety-five percent (10/11) of parents perceived the teleheath programme to be a positive experience for their child, 73% (8/11) observed positive behaviours directly after the sessions, and 82% (9/11) indicated that the programme was a valuable family resource that supported bonding and interaction. Inductive reflexive thematic analysis generated four themes from the qualitative data: (a) positive impacts, (b) interactive family resource, (c) connection to school, and (d) challenges. A discussion of the findings is followed by implications for practice. © The Author(s) 2021.
ABSTRACT
World has transformed to a new era after the outbreak of a virus named COVID-19 in late 2019, a virus that consequently spread worldwide, forced the governments to declare smart, partial, or complete lockdowns. The constant and prolonged lockdowns resulted in the uncertainty over disease status, inadequate information, food supplies and boredom that led to anger and confusion, emotional breakdowns, and development of aggressive behaviors. During the pandemic and constant lockdown, one of the major differences in day-to-day activities was the transformation of the working and learning environment from the physical to the online realm. The prime objective of the study is to highlight that during pandemic how transferring towards online working helped people to stabilize their emotions, anxieties, aggressions, anger and frustration. The study is designed to find out how online working has negatively connected with the development of aggression and how emotional intelligence has mediated this effect. The study design is non-experimental, correlational and comparative, followed by quantitative research analysis. The survey technique used in the data collection process where validated and reliable questionnaire were used for data collection and hypothesis testing. A sample size of 233 (144 females, 88 males, 1 participant did not disclose gender) participants from the metropolis city of Karachi participated in an online survey. Results have indicated that engaging people in online working improved mental and emotional stability as well as the suppressed level of direct, indirect and displaced aggression. Moreover, emotional intelligence has acted as a negative influencing mediator towards different forms of aggression, where an expansion in online working, positively impacted emotional intelligence and negatively co-related with direct, indirect and displaced aggression. No gender difference is found in terms of emotional intelligence, however, a distinctive difference in terms of indirect and direct form of aggression is reported. It is concluded that emotional intelligence is acting as a mediator between online working and direct, indirect and displaced aggression. It means that engaging people in online working helped to stabilize themselves in terms of emotions and helped them to control their anxieties during isolation. © Italian e-Learning Association.
ABSTRACT
This is a personal view from London as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread here and the situation changes from day to day. As such it can only be a snapshot caught in time; it is not a diary of events. The Coronavirus Act 2020 gives Government enormous powers and was passed by Parliament in one day of debate immediately before it closed early for the Easter break. In March, the government imposed a "lockdown: the closure of all" but "essential" businesses and people other than essential workers must work from home but are allowed out for exercise and food shopping but must maintain 2 m apart, the "social distancing rule". The aim is to suppress the spread of the virus, reduce the death toll and "protect the National Health Service (NHS)" which needed time to empty wards and expand its intensive care unit (ICU) capability to deal with an expected influx of thousands of very sick patients. I discuss whether this strategy is working, how and why it has rapidly been altered to respond to criticism. Why was the Government so slow to seek the help of private laboratories to assist with testing? Why was the personal protective equipment (PPE) guidance altered only after criticism? I look at the impact of the lockdown on the UK economy, the changes to practice of medicine and speeding of scientific research. Cooperating with the lockdown has its price; is it harming the health and mental health of children, people living in households with potentially abusive partners or parents and those who are disabled or financially desperate? Is the cure worse than the disease? The Economy is being devastated by the lockdown and each day of lockdown it is worse. Is litigation being seeded even now by the pandemic? Notwithstanding unprecedented Government financial help many businesses are on the edge of collapse, people will lose their jobs and pensioners income. The winners include pharmacies, supermarkets, online food retailers, Amazon, online apps, providers of video games, services, streaming and scientific research laboratories, manufacturers of testing kits, ventilators, hand sanitisers, coffins, undertakers, etc. The British public is cooperating with lockdown but are we less productive at home? Parents with babies and children often child minders, school, grandparents or paid help which is not now available. Will current reliance on video-conferencing and video calls permanently change the way we work and will we need smaller city offices? Will we travel less? Will medical and legal practice and civil and criminal trials be generally carried out remotely? Will social distancing with self-isolation and job losses and business failures fuel depression? Is Covid-19 comparable to past epidemics like the Plague and Spanish flu?