Family Functioning and the Pandemic: How Do Parental Perceived Social Support and Mental Health Contribute to Family Health?

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine measures implemented have profoundly impacted parents and families. The stress and uncertainty generated by the COVID-19 virus, as well as the disruption of routines and social relationships, have weakened both individual and family health and functioning. OBJECTIVE: The present research is part of a larger study that aims to understand, with a family systems theory, the longitudinal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on school-aged children, adolescents, and their parents. More specifically, this paper aims to investigate parents' experience of the first months of the pandemic as a predictor of perceived social support, parental ill-being (aggregate score of well-established poor psychological functioning indicators), parental satisfaction, and family functioning. METHOD: During the first lockdown (April-May 2020), 203 parents of school-aged children living in Quebec completed an online questionnaire. RESULTS: Path analysis indicates that the impact of COVID-19 and health preoccupation due to COVID-19 are both positively associated with individual parental ill-being, which in turn detracts from family functioning and parental satisfaction. Furthermore, perceptions about positive effects of the pandemic are negatively associated with parental ill-being, and positively with perceived social support, which in turn significantly contributes to family functioning and parental satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The findings highlight the importance of adopting a systemic perspective to best understand the effects of the pandemic and the social and health measures on individuals, families, and systems, as well as to better support parents and family health through periods of uncertainty.

Unraveling EFL Teacher Buoyancy in Online Teaching: An Ecological Perspective.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching became a significant method at different levels of education across the globe. The transition from traditional offline to online educational environments brought new challenges for language teachers. Buoyancy plays a crucial role for teachers to bounce back from challenging situations. However, there is a scarcity of empirical research on language teacher buoyancy in online contexts from an ecological perspective which is conducive to unfolding the complex and dynamic nature of buoyancy. To fill this gap, the current study utilized a qualitative research method to investigate the factors influencing English teacher buoyancy in online teaching and how they shape and exercise buoyancy in their negotiation with different ecological systems in online teaching guided by Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. The findings revealed that teachers experienced multiple challenges from different ecological systems, such as ineffective classroom interaction, work-life imbalance, heavy workload, and higher school requirements. Additionally, teacher buoyancy was shaped by the dynamic interaction between teachers and ecological systems and was not only viewed as the individual's ability but as a socio-ecological product. Based on the above findings, the paper provides some implications for developing and researching language teacher buoyancy in the future.

Part two: the challenges of a soft systems inquiry. Integrating Husserl and Gadamer

PurposeThis study aims to explore the ideas of Husserl and Gadamer as a possible basis of future soft systems methods of enquiry.Design/methodology/approachIn Part one, the author has taken up the argument that soft systems is underpinned by Husserl's phenomenology. The implication of this contention is an acceptance of subjectivity, and that our understanding the world is based upon personal experience. A consequence of this thinking renders predetermined models of the world to be deficient because each situation is unique. Instead of seeking a "solution”, the soft systems investigator engenders a cycle of learning as a means of gaining greater understanding. This means that a soft systems inquiry involves exploring the situation with those involved as a means of reaching an informed way forward. In this second paper, the author continues to explore Husserl's phenomenology and also consider Gadamer's ideas on hermeneutics and the importance of the "cycle of learning” that is central to any soft systems inquiry. The study concludes with a summary of points that, the author suggests, should be considered when undertaking a "soft” systems inquiry and in the development of any methodology that may enable it.FindingsBoth papers explore the phenomenological ideas of Husserl and the relationship to soft systems. In paper one, the basis of this exploration was Checkland's assertion that phenomenology could be the basis of soft systems. In the second paper, the author takes this further by exploring Gadamer's ideas on hermeneutics and reflect upon the possibility of blending them with Husserl's thinking.Research limitations/implicationsI had some difficulty in tracking down the published work relating to the development of soft systems, notably the Journal of Applied Systems Analysis. This journal was published by Lancaster University and covered more than 20 years of debate and provides an important record of its development. The author managed to find what might be the only compete set at the University of Southampton. This allowed the author to gain some understanding of the development of the thinking. Since the late 20th century, the number of publications on soft ideas has been severely limited, seemingly reflecting the dominance of reductionist science. It seems timely for such a paper as this to help initiate further debate.Practical implicationsAs indicated above – the difficulty is finding early journal publications where the ideas and their relationship to the action research programme emerged. Checkland himself, with whom the author has always enjoyed a close relationship, has, at the age of 90, withdrawn from academic activity;the early papers in the Journal of Applied Systems Analysis are probably the only "evidence” of the developing ideas at that time. Checkland has summarised the development (see references in the author's two papers), but these early documents have the advantage of being written by a variety of scholars at the time rather than a single source.Social implicationsThe current crisis of the corona virus demonstrates the strength and the limitations of reductionist thinking. It is appropriate at this time that other methods and ideas of thinking about complexity are "visible”. Whilst there are many ideas, techniques, methods and so on in systems, these come from a common base, namely, to accept a world as tangible and easily modelled;adopting and alternative way of thinking can be challenging and healthy.Originality/valueSoft systems thinking is 50 years old, but there has been virtually no progress since the soft systems methodology (SSM) emerged of Husserl and Gadamer in the 1970-1990s;such is the dominance of this methodology. This paper attempts to revisit the early thinking and consider what soft systems thinking means rather than focus on SSM.

Rethinking the ombuds office for a post-COVID world: an innovation perspective

This study characterises the ombuds office in higher education as an innovative practice of handling employee, staff, and student grievances. Though ombuds offices have had a place on many higher education campuses for some time, their function has evolved in response to a changing environment. Drawing on Open-Systems theory, this study views the COVID-19 pandemic as both a challenge and an opportunity for universities to revisit their grievance handling practices and to devise best practices for a post-pandemic world. This study examines this assumption in the case of public higher education institutions in the State of Texas, using data from university websites and an online survey administered between March 2021 and May 2021. The study suggests that the new practices that ombuds offices have devised during the pandemic will serve as a toolbox that has the potential to place these offices on the track of sustainability in the post-COVID time. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Expanding current decentralized research model concepts for targeted community health interventions

Background: Inclusion of historically underrepresented populations in research has been a problem existing for many years. The recent Covid pandemic has exposed the significant cost of gaps in access to care. There remains a need to reevaluate current research paradigm frameworks to consider tailored approaches that accommodate any location that would ease participant burden and maintain retention. Current decentralized research models include home and mobile options. However, barriers exist, and certain demographics remain elusive to recruitment into research studies. Aim(s): In this paper, we aim to identify a theoretical framework that will allow for more inclusivity in research. Methodology: Current utilized community-based decentralized research models are compared, barriers in recruitment and retention of interested participants are examined, and a framework individualized to study participants is offered. Result(s): The proposed framework expands upon the complex adaptive systems theory to incorporate community-based research which considers dividing studies into individual study visit components that may differ in location. It allows for ease of research participant access to care and mutual collaboration among providers and institutions. This new theoretical model expansion outlines a novel approach to communitybased participatory research for increased representation and inclusion. Conclusion(s): Investigators should carefully consider creative and effective solutions to overcome barriers to research participation access, increase diversity and representation, and provide tailored public health interventions. Minimally risk study intervention visits may occur in multiple community-driven locations such as: community resource centers, local physician offices, mobile research units, remote electronic visits, home settings, and a combination of the above (hybrid model). Breaking studies into individual study visit components expands the reach of science into the communities that have long been difficult to reach.

Workforce burnout from a systems science perspective

Workforce burnout is an increasing problem across many industries and professions, with significant impacts on both manufacturing and service sectors. For example, burnout is a major problem for more than 80% of healthcare systems, with the costs of replacing doctors who leave their job and reduced clinical hours related to burnout are estimated at $4.6 billion annually. Productivity is reduced, mental health is affected, family relations are weakened, and a solution to all of this is not clear. More than 10 years ago, the global cost of burnout was estimated to exceed $300 billion annually. Major societal events, such as the recent ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or political unrest, can further exacerbate individual burnout and its impacts. Advancements in burnout research over the past two decades have mostly been to develop methods for measuring and classifying burnout and in lessons learned empirically from various intervention implementations, but with little-to-no analytic modeling research to help inform effective policies. In a recent report in fact, the National Academy of Medicine emphasized the need to develop analytic models that better quantify the extent of the problem in a way that translates into actionable results in addition to approaches for understanding the impact of interventions. The overall aim of our proposed research accordingly is to develop and apply analytic disease progression models to help understand burnout dynamics and evaluate the long-term benefits of interventions prior to wide-scale implementation testing. The proposed dissertation includes three fundamental contributions. First, we develop and introduce two disease progression models of individual and organizational burnout based on Markov chains, parameterized and linked from limited data via optimization and simulation models. We also illustrate the use of the developed models to estimate and compare the relative effectiveness of various strategies and interventions to reduce burnout, with a focus on estimating long-term impacts from limited early testing data, contributing to pre-randomized trial methods. Second, we leverage the models to estimate the effect of COVID-19 on two healthcare professional populations in two case studies. Finally, we propose several potential methodological extensions to disease progression modeling including investigating the effect of higher order nesting, bootstrapping and time non homogeneity. Results indicate that the disease progression models of the proposed type can accurately model individual and institutional burnout progression to help better understand the dynamics of burnout and analyze the effectiveness of potential interventions to make more informed decisions. Sensitivity analysis investigates the impact of data limitations on model accuracy, while sampling provides limits for model results. Model extensions provide empirical approach to the time non-homogenous problem which if approached mathematically requires extensive longitudinal data. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The Association of Short-Video Problematic Use, Learning Engagement, and Perceived Learning Ineffectiveness among Chinese Vocational Students.

Short videos are very popular among students, but the immersive nature of the software makes them prone to problematic use and even addiction. Internet addiction, including short-video problematic use, has been a hot topic in recent years due to the COVID-19 epidemic. However, there are few empirical studies that have explored the effects of short-video problematic use on students. Thus, vocational colleges in China were recruited to participate in this study. There were 1089 effective participants, with a valid recall rate of 90.8%. This included 466 male students (42.8%) and 623 female students (57.2%), with a mean age of 19.19 years (standard deviation of 1.07 years). Five hypotheses were proposed and validated by structural equation modeling within the framework of ecological systems theory and engagement theory to explore the association of short-video problematic use, three types of learning engagement, and perceived learning ineffectiveness. Research findings showed that: (1) short-video problematic use has a negative effect on behavioral engagement; (2) behavioral engagement has a positive effect on both emotional and cognitive engagement; and (3) emotional and cognitive engagement have a negative effect on perceived learning ineffectiveness. According to the results, it can be seen that short-video problematic use has a detrimental effect on students' learning experiences, so teachers and parents need to pay attention to the negative effects of excessive use among students.