Cognitive impairments and COVID-19.

Cognitive dysfunction is one of the manifestations of the neurological complications in coronavirus infection. In this article, we have collected material on the state of cognitive functions after suffering a coronavirus infection with aspects of possible pathogenetic mechanisms and a discussion on the prospects for treatment and rehabilitation. The COVID-19 pandemic, having manifested itself in December 2019, remains one of the most controversial topics in the world to the day. The growing number of reports about damage to the nervous system during coronavirus infection suggests that the virus is neurotropic. In the clinical picture of the disease, less attention is paid to such symptoms as severe weakness, fatigue, memory impairment. At the same time, it is this symptomatology that most often accompanies patients in the postcovid period and significantly reduces their quality of life, thereby making it difficult to adapt to social and work activities. The search was conducted for literatures published within the period from 2020 to the third quarter of 2021, domestic and foreign sources from the Web of Science, PubMed databases were analysed. The search queries were the following ones: "COVID-19", "cognitive impairment", "postcovid syndrome".Copyright © 2022, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University. All rights reserved.

Visiting national parks during the COVID-19 pandemic - an example of social adaptation of tourists in the perspective of creating social innovations

Social needs arising from the occurrence of global threats prompt researchers from various fields to look for innovative solutions that are friendly to society. The COVID-19 pandemic was a global experience so strong that it influenced many social processes, enabling natural experiments to be conducted that provided new knowledge about human behavior. One of the greatest impacts of lockdowns was observed in the case of tourist activity. National parks are highly desirable destinations for tourists and are able to attract large numbers of visitors. Tourism inside national parks has shown systematic growth, driven not only by the desire to be close to nature and to seek aesthetically pleasing experiences, but also by the need for relaxation and for participation in outdoor sports. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, visitor numbers to national parks did not decline, despite their temporary closure in 2020. The article presents the result of empirical research conducted in 2021 on tourists to selected national mountain parks. The research aimed to explore visitors' motives for visiting the parks, as well as types of behaviour and the opinions of tourists regarding the restrictions placed on tourism in certain national parks. Analysis was also conducted of tourists' attitudes towards restrictions on access to parks due to formal legal regulations, limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the potential to recompense for these needs by replacing them with alternatives behaviors in tourists' place of residence in the form of open social innovations. It was found, based on the opinions of tourists, that they visited national parks during the pandemic mainly for recreational and health purposes. Motivation to explore and admire nature or local culture was ranked third. On the other hand, the most frequently mentioned substitute of limited access to the national park was visiting nearby forests, meadows and city parks. The research allowed to notice the need to develop innovative solutions conducive to the psychological comfort of a community deprived of the possibility of mutual contact.

The Health Hexagon Model: Postulating a holistic lifestyle approach to mental health for times and places of uncertainty

Professional-driven mental health services are often predicated on westernized beliefs of mental health and distress. This presumptuous view results in treatment solutions that are not suitable to (many) non-western contexts because they are neither culturally valid nor practically sufficient. Instead of promoting imported ideas of mental health, we encourage communities, including Hong Kong, from and for where the authors primarily theorize the current thesis, to turn to and strengthen the resources they employed before the medicalization of distress and suffering. Basic foundational elements in one's everyday life, which we present here as the Health Hexagon Model, should be promoted, especially healthy sleep, healthy diet, regular physical activity, closeness with nature, supportive kinships and friendships, and a sense of purpose, meaning, or sacredness. These elements are not novel;the importance of these basic elements has been recognized, distilled, and transmitted generation after generation. We advocate for communities to identify the missing or hampered fundamental elements in their lives and focus on finding methods that would help them adopt a lifestyle conducive to individual and collective health. This call-to-action is particularly timely as the global community fights for its survival against the coronavirus and ponders ways to cope with the seismic changes in lifestyle it has brought.Copyright © 2022 The Authors

Difficulties in the Implementation of International Academic Mobility Programs: Student's Stance. Russian-German Experience in Solving Problems in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction. Academic mobility of students is an integral part of quality higher education in Russia. A frequent problem is a difficult adaption to a foreign country. The article looks into to the problem of offsetting negative consequences of cultural adaptation of Russian students in German universities during short-term stay. The aim of the article is to work out recommendations on preliminary preparation of short-term international academic mobility programs between Russian and foreign partner universities, taking into account cultural adaptation of students. Materials and Methods. The research draws on surveys of students participating in the 6-month (1 semester) international Russian-German academic mobility program. As a survey technique, a group continuous correspondence survey was employed. The questionnaire was compiled following the conditions of relevance and representativeness using empirical indicators and descriptive statistics. The method of statistical factor analysis served a tool to identify the main factors influencing the quality of adaptation;for a comparative analysis of the results of the survey, statistical methods of comparing averages and statistical visualization were used. Results. The article analyzes the results of surveys of students of the German-Russian Institute of Advanced Technologies about the main points of education in Germany that cause them difficulties. A comparative analysis of learning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (hybrid, almost completely remote learning) with the period before the pandemic (full face-to-face learning) was made. Conclusions are drawn about the prevailing factors that influenced the success of learning in both cases. Examples of practical recommendations are formulated as to the necessary preparation of Russian university students for studying at European universities in the years following the pandemic, taking into account the results of surveys of teachers from the host German university, as well as the observations of an expert from the Kazan National Research Technical University over the teaching process at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. Based on the results of the analysis of factors most affecting the success of Russian students in a foreign university, we propose measures aimed at accelerating and mitigating the adaptation of Russian-speaking students to a long stay in a foreign environment. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the hybrid form of education looks most effective, as it increases the success of Russian students studying abroad. Discussion and Conclusion. The proposed approach to the assessment of influencing factors and the developed methods for their elimination will help prevent similar problems in the future. The conclusions made by the authors contribute to the practice of short-stay international academic mobility organization. The article materials are of interest to the scientific and pedagogical community, faculty and management of educational institutions. © 2023 National Research Ogarev Mordovia State University. All rights reserved.

SOCIAL ADAPTATION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN THE CONDITIONS OF TRAINING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Introduction. Social adaptation is an important part of adjustment of international students to training at educational establishments. Better academic achievements among international students are associated with the University membership and a high level of cross-cultural relations. All the components of social adaptation in the conditions of training during COVID-19 pandemic naturally have undergone substantial changes. It is also reflected on psychological state of students, since every country of residence introduced certain quarantine regulations at different times. Some of these regulations were rather strict including curfew and prohibition to leave the house. Under such conditions worries of parents concerning incidence of COVID-19 at home and the country of residence cannot be excluded, as well as intensification of nostalgia due to impossibility to cross the border and return home etc. Objective of our research was to study the main components forming social adaptation of international students in the conditions of quarantine caused by COVID-19. Materials and methods. Our study involved 220 junior students of the 1st-3rd years of training at Bukovinian State Medical University (BSMU). In order to obtain maximum objective and reliable results, the survey was anonymous and randomized involving every third student of a corresponding year of studies. The whole list of questions was arranged into one questionnaire. A student had to give a positive or negative answer. Social adaptation of international students was assessed by means of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) developed by Robert W. Baker and Bohdan Siryk (1989, 1994) with the author's changes and modifications. About 85% of students involved in the survey were from India, about 4% – from Ghana, the rest 11% of the students were from other countries of Asia, Europe, Africa and USA. Results. Under conditions of transfer to the distance learning under pandemic conditions due to COVID-19 the components of social adaptation of international students remain on rather high levels. Thus, the level of general social adaptation under the above conditions remained on the highest and high rates among 55% international learners of higher education, and the rate of social distancing and communication with other people was in 41,4% of foreigners. Nostalgia level was maximum among 55,5% of international students under quarantine conditions of studies, and the rates of social adaptation to the environment remained on the highest levels practically among 80% of respondents. At the same time, direct interrelations of a moderate and strong levels are found between general social adaptation and social distancing with other people, nostalgia, social adaptation to the environment, between social distancing with other people and nostalgia, social distancing and social adaptation to the environment, and between nostalgia and social adaptation to the environment. Conclusions. One of the important components for successful academic progress of international students is their social adaptation. At the same time, all the major components of social adaptation in the form of general social adaptation, social distancing and communication with other people, nostalgia and social adaptation to the environment remain on the highest or rather high levels among the prevailing majority of international applicants of higher medical education under conditions of new forms of training during pandemic caused by COVID-19. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.

Perceived stress and life satisfaction during COVID-19 pandemic: the mediating role of social adaptation and the moderating role of emotional resilience.

The present study mainly focused on college students during the COVID-19 outbreak and aimed to develop and examine a moderated mediation model between perceived stress and life satisfaction, with social adaptation during COVID-19 as a mediator, and emotional resilience as a moderator. A sample of 1032 college students participated in this study and completed questionnaires regarding perceived stress, social adaptation during COVID-19, emotional resilience, and life satisfaction. Findings indicated that 1) social adaptation during COVID-19 partially mediated the association between perceived stress and life satisfaction; and 2) emotional resilience moderated the relationship between perceived stress and social adaptation during COVID-19 as well as perceived stress and life satisfaction. These two relationships became stronger for college students with lower levels of emotional resilience. The results were discussed to illuminate the mechanism in relation to theoretical and practical implication for improving college students' life satisfaction during the period of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Dynamic Interactive Social Cognition Training in Virtual Reality (DiSCoVR) for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A feasibility study

Background: Social cognitive difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can affect the daily lives of people with ASD profoundly, impacting the development and maintenance of meaningful social relations. Social cognition training (SCT) is commonly used for improving social functioning, but lacks ecological validity and the ability to effectively mimic social situations. Development of virtual reality (VR) interventions, focusing on enhancing social cognition, could add to the effectiveness of SCT within ASD care, by offering a safe, interactive and practical training setting, where generalization of knowledge and skills to the real-world are promoted. In this paper, our primary aim is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptance by participants and therapists of the Dynamic Interactive Social Cognition Method: Training in Virtual Reality (DiSCoVR) protocol as developed for adults with schizophrenic spectrum disorder (SSD), adapted for ASD (DiSCoVR-A). 26 participants, aged 18–63, took part in a pilot study. 22 participants completed baseline and post-assessment, including primary outcome evaluation assessment through a semi-structured interview. Secondary measures focused on social cognition, emotion recognition, mental flexibility, social anxiety, empathy and social responsiveness and were assessed at baseline (T0), post-treatment (T1), and at follow-up (T2) sixteen weeks after completion of the intervention. Results: Our results show that the majority of participant and therapists found the VR intervention acceptable and feasible, as reported in evaluation questionnaires and interviews. Conclusion: These preliminary findings are promising;however, controlled research is needed to further investigate the effectiveness of VR within social cognition training for adults with ASD.

Social Adaptation of Students in a Multicultural Environment during Distance Learning

The problem of social adaptation of students in a multicultural environment has always been a concern of pedagogical science. With the development of telecommunication technologies, educational institutions face with the issue of finding effective forms of interaction between students. The aim of the article is to theoretically and empirically develop an integrated concept of studying the resilience of foreign students in a multicultural environment during distance learning. Methods: survey, methods of remote collection and processing of information (GOOGLE Forms), Hardiness Scale (HS) developed by Kobasa and Maddi, statistical methods of data processing, methods of analysis of the reliability of survey. The correlation between adaptation and resilience of foreign students who participated in the study is (r = 0.45;p <0.01). In turn, the resilience index is 81.92%. According to the study, students show high and medium rates of resilience during distance learning in the process of adaptation to a multicultural environment. It has been found that most students do not have difficulty adapting to distance learning due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Thus, it was found that the process of adaptation of students in a multicultural environment during distance learning allowed maintaining a high rate of resilience, which indicates its effectiveness. Further research should be aimed at studying methods of increasing the level of students’ social adaptation in the context of distance learning. These studies can be used by employees of higher education institutions to organize an adaptive learning process. © 2022 Sciedu Press. All rights reserved.

Dancing with death. A historical perspective on coping with Covid-19.

In this paper, we address the question on how societies coped with pandemic crises, how they tried to control or adapt to the disease, or even managed to overcome the death trap in history. On the basis of historical research, we describe how societies in the western world accommodated to or exited hardship and restrictive measures over the course of the last four centuries. In particular, we are interested in how historically embedded citizens' resources were directed towards living with and to a certain extent accepting the virus. Such an approach of "applied history" to the management of crises and public hazards, we believe, helps address today's pressing question of what adaptive strategies can be adopted to return to a normalized life, including living with socially acceptable medical, hygienic and other pandemic-related measures.

En este artículo abordamos la cuestión de cómo las sociedades enfrentaron las crisis pandémicas, cómo intentaron controlar o adaptarse a la enfermedad, o incluso cómo lograron superar la trampa mortal de la historia. Basándonos en la investigación histórica, describimos cómo las sociedades del mundo occidental se adaptaron o salieron de las dificultades y las medidas restrictivas durante los últimos cuatro siglos. En particular, estamos interesados en cómo los recursos de los ciudadanos históricamente arraigados se dirigieron a vivir con el virus y, hasta cierto punto, a aceptarlo. Creemos que este enfoque de "historia aplicada" a la gestión de crisis y peligros públicos ayuda a abordar la urgente cuestión actual de qué estrategias de adaptación se pueden adoptar para volver a una vida normalizada, que abarque vivir con servicios médicos y de higiene socialmente aceptables y otras medidas relacionadas con la pandemia.