Psychological vulnerability in Portuguese and German adults during COVID-19 pandemics - A comparative study

Objective: To analyze comparatively the topics of quality of life (QL), and well-being (WB) in a population of German and Portuguese adults during the pandemics, in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the psychological vulnerability to crisis across countries and cultures. Method(s): The defined dimensions of "trait anxiety", "feeling of threat", "difficulty to relax", "empathy & pro-social attitude", "health care", "sleep quality" and "optimism" were measured as predictors of QL and WB. A sample of 470 adults divided in three age groups - young adults (18-34 years), middle-aged adults (34-54 years) and old adults (55 years and older) - completed a self-report questionnaire assessing socio-demographic data, as well as quality of life and well-being during the pandemics period, through the above mentioned dimensions. Result(s): Portuguese participants expressed higher empathy & pro-social attitude and health care, but in Germany participants reported higher quality of sleep. Young adults in both countries gave similar responses: a) they rated their quality of life lower than middle-age adults (mean difference=-4.83, SE=1.63, p < 0.01) and old adults (mean difference=-8.61, SE=2.04, p < 0.01), b) they showed also lower optimism than middle-age (mean difference=-1.02, SE = 0.35, p < 0.02) and old adults (mean difference=-1.51, SE = 0.34, p < 0.01), and c) they showed lower well-being than middle-age (mean difference=- 2.37, SE = 0.81, p < 0.02). Conclusion(s): Young adults rated their quality of life, optimism, and well-being during pandemics lower than middle-age and old adults, and experienced higher levels of trait anxiety and difficulty to relax. It seems that young adults show a lower psychological adjustment than other age groups during COVID-19 crisis. It is concluded that quality of life, optimism, and well-being during the pandemics are affected differently according to country and group of age, suggesting individual differences in psychological vulnerability across cultures and ages, and consequently the need of specific interventions to cope with the pandemic's crisis.

Covid-19 Impact on the Health of Portuguese Teachers

Objective: The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the physical and mental health of Portuguese teachers. Method(s): The sample consists of 1779 Portuguese teachers (1423 female and 356 male);58% (n=1029) over 50 years of age;72.7% (n= 1293) with more than 21 years of service;and 48.1% (n= 856) teaching 3rd cycle/secondary school. We studied the distribution of responses for the variables: professional wellbeing, exhaustion, cognitive problems, musculoskeletal dysfunctions and voice disorders, and performed an analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by Bonferroni post-hoc test (p<.05), according to gender, age, years of service and teaching level. Result(s): 13.6% of the teachers reported feeling ill-being during the performance of their professional activity;85.6% exhaustion;74% musculoskeletal disorders;68.9% cognitive problems;and 59.7% voice disorders. The results according to gender, age, years of service show significant differences in all health dimensions (p<.05), except for teaching level for musculoskeletal disorders (F=.982, p=.427). In all health dimensions, the most significant differences occurred in the groups of teachers aged 20-21 years and 56-70 years;length of service between 0-5 years and those of more than 21 years;and the teaching level between 1st cycle and special education, with the exception of professional well-being where the greatest difference was reported between preschool and 3rd cycle/secondary teachers (95% CI ].9076;4.6364[;p=.000). Conclusion(s): The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened teachers' health status and professional well-being. The impact of these results on the quality of teaching should be the focus of future studies.

Numerical Simulations of the Effects of the Radiant Floor Combined with the Displacement Ventilation of the Spread of Exhaled Contaminants in the Confined Space

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the importance of confined space ventilation to reduce the risks of cross infection. To evaluate and compare the relative impacts of different mitigation strategies is important in order to reduce the risk of infection in a given situation. Using CFD methods, this study aimed to modulate the spread of exhaled contaminants in a floor-heated and ventilated space. Three different inlet velocities and four floor temperatures were used to assess the effect of the radiant floor combined with the displacement ventilation (RFDV) on room airflow and pollutant spread. Results show that RFDV reduced exposure to infection from 87% to 50% compared to the reference case. The inlet velocity is required to increase when the floor temperature is higher to decrease the contaminant exposure risk to in the room. This research provides a timely and necessary study of the ventilation and heating systems. These findings are expected to be useful for designing future of RFDV. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.