Search Results (3,478)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, migrant workers in Singapore endured one of the longest and most stringent periods of confinement globally. Segregationist policies were intensified as the state imposed strict disciplinary regimes over workers’ mobility and everyday lives, framed as public health interventions but functioning also as labor discipline and social control. This study asks: how did migrant workers experience, narrate, and endure life under such conditions of confinement? Drawing on sixteen in-depth interviews with South Asian male construction workers, conducted in dormitories and makeshift worksites, we adopt a grounded theory approach to elicit contextually grounded accounts of life under lockdown. The analysis highlights three interrelated themes: emotional regulation, migrant masculinity and the gendered politics of endurance, and digital connectivity as an affective infrastructure. These practices enabled workers to carve out agentic spaces within structures designed to render them passive. Our findings reveal that even amid fear, surveillance, overcrowding, and economic precarity, workers combined stoicism, transnational kinship ties, religious routines, and solidarity to sustain resilience. While initially guided by Foucauldian notions of surveillance and biopower, the study advances a counter-Foucauldian insight: that institutional control is never total, and migrant narratives of resilience offer nuanced understandings of agency under constrain. Full article

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of maternal involvement in children’s home-based learning activities during the COVID-19 lockdown on mothers’ parenting stress, the quality of maternal care perceived by offspring, and the level of children’s internalizing/externalizing symptoms. This study recruited 415 subjects from the general population. To assess parenting stress, mothers were administered the Parenting Stress Index–Short Form; to assess children’s perceived quality of maternal care, this study used the Parental Bonding Inventory; and the Child Behavior Checklist/6–18 was used to assess internalizing/externalizing symptoms in children. Correlations showed that the amount of time spent by the mother supervising children’s self-study was highly and positively correlated with parental stress and offspring’s externalizing (but not internalizing) symptoms, and highly and positively correlated with the subscale of maternal overprotection in the children’s perceived quality of maternal care. Moreover, the multiple regression analyses conducted based on the above significant correlations showed that the amount of time spent by the mother overseeing children’s study was associated with parental stress, children’s externalizing symptoms, and maternal overprotection. Overall, the current study contributes to showing the burden families had to face as a result of school closures and accompanying distance learning during the COVID-19 epidemic. Full article

In order to understand how health beliefs map onto health behaviors, a national survey, administered in the wake of the COVID-19 campus closures, was conducted to explore college students’ mind-body health beliefs and their health behaviors (across dimensions of physical exercise, diet/nutrition, and socialization). To this end, the Mind-Body Health Screener (MBHS), a five-item, Likert scale, brief measure, was developed. The present study applied an online survey design administered nationally to U.S. undergraduate students during the initial lockdowns with the pandemic (n = 557). To examine the psychometric properties of the MBHS, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were run as well as measures of reliability. Furthermore, linear regressions and effect sizes were computed to understand the connection between mind-body health beliefs and behaviors. While initial data supported the psychometric properties of the Mind-Body Health Screener (MBHS) developed for this purpose, substantive results suggested that mind-body health beliefs did not relate to mind-body health behaviors (either before or after the campus closures), aligning with the Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Post hoc analysis did, however, suggest a significant change in health behaviors from pre-campus closures to during the closures, suggesting students engaged in more physical exercise, eating behaviors, and socializing before campus closed, observed with small to large effects. Taken together, the findings of the present study illustrate how the Cognitive Dissonance Theory is a relevant perspective to consider the relation between health beliefs and behaviors during a period of immense stress, such as the COVID-19 initial campus closures. Full article

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid transition to emergency online learning affected the academic and social lives of young people. This study aimed (a) to examine how university students’ well-being was influenced during the second stage of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021) in Greece and (b) to explore the relationship between university students’ online learning competence and well-being during the pandemic in two universities in Greece. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during 2021 among the students at the Universities of West Attica and Ioannina. Participants completed a self-administered online questionnaire including demographics, the General Health Questionnaire-12, the Flourishing Scale Questionnaire, and an Online Education Experience Questionnaire. Focusing on the Flourishing Scale Questionnaire, factor analysis, reliability, and validity of the identified underlying factor were estimated and multivariable median regression analysis was performed to investigate determinants of well-being. Results: 1103 students participated, 73.6% were female, and 80.4% were aged <25 years. Analysis revealed satisfactory convergent validity and high reliability of the Flourishing Scale Questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient = 0.88). Over 50% of the participants reported high levels of well-being. Students with greater confidence in using basic online learning tools and satisfaction with living conditions during lockdown reported well-being (p < 0.001). In contrast, those who reported dissatisfaction with their living conditions (p = 0.002) or whose living arrangements were influenced by financial concerns (p = 0.046) reported unwellness. Conclusions: The results provided useful insight into the complex interrelations between the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, online education, and young people’s well-being, especially nowadays, when education, employment, and entertainment increasingly rely on internet-delivered modes for young people. Full article

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, healthcare professionals (HCPs) faced extremely high levels of work-related stress, which negatively affected their mental health, job satisfaction, and patient care. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs can help mitigate these challenges. Method: A randomised controlled trial design was used to evaluate the effects of an 8-week MBSR intervention on stress-related outcomes among HCPs compared with a control group. The comprehensive assessment included cortisol levels, perceived stress, attention and awareness, emotional fatigue, and job strain. Results: The MBSR intervention significantly reduced cortisol levels in the short term and improved attention and awareness, with sustained benefits during follow-up. Medium to medium–large effect sizes were observed for job strain and emotional fatigue, although statistical significance was not achieved. Similarly, perceived stress showed negligible changes over time. The variability in stress responses highlights the importance of personalised approaches to mindfulness interventions. Discussion: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, MBSR is promising for improving attention and awareness and reducing physiological stress markers in HCPs, although its effects on other occupational outcomes remain uncertain. Future research should focus on longer interventions to maximise the benefits of mindfulness practices in healthcare settings. Full article

Background/Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a widespread shift to remote work, significantly altering child supervision. In Australia, prolonged lockdowns created unique conditions where many parents were working from home while simultaneously caring for children. This study aimed to investigate potential changes in the epidemiology of paediatric injury-related presentations to emergency health services among children in Southwest Victoria, Australia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using deidentified emergency presentation data from ten health services in regional Victoria for children aged 0–14 years between 2018 and 2023. Injury data were analysed across three timeframes (Pre-COVID, COVID, Post-COVID). Chi-squared tests assessed differences in injury presentations by age, gender, and service type. Significance was determined at p < 0.05. Results: A total of 21,072 child injury-related presentations occurred. Males accounted for 57.6% of presentations, with the 10–14 age group comprising 39.8% of cases. During lockdown, injury presentations increased among 0–4-year-old females (from 30.2% to 32.0%), likely reflecting reduced supervision as parents juggled work-from-home responsibilities. Conversely, rates declined among older children, particularly 10–14-year-olds, potentially due to reduced participation in sports and outdoor activities. More than half of all cases (59.1%) were presented to Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD)-reporting emergency departments. Conclusions: The shift to working from home during the pandemic had a measurable impact on childhood injury patterns, particularly among younger children. These findings highlight the importance of considering parental work and childcare arrangements in injury prevention strategies and highlight the benefits of additional regional data to provide a more accurate picture of regional health service use. Full article

Background and Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has had severe and far-reaching repercussions for health systems and societies, creating a global mental health crisis that has persisted after the pandemic. This study examined differences in mental health (i.e., psychological distress and well-being) by gender and pandemic period (i.e., lockdown, second and third pandemic waves, the last year of the pandemic, and the post-pandemic period) among Spanish individuals in two stages of adulthood: established adulthood and midlife. The second objective was to identify the risk and protective factors for psychological distress and well-being during the post-pandemic period. Materials and Methods: The study design was repeated cross-sectionally. The non-probability sample included 3677 people (66.2% women) from the general Spanish population, aged 30 to 59 years. Participants were assessed between 1 June 2020 and 23 May 2024 using the following self-reports: the General Health Questionnaire-12 item version, the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience, the Brief Inventory of Thriving, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Social Support Scale, the Stressful Events Questionnaire, the Brief Resilience Scale, and the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire. Results: Although rates of psychological distress varied across pandemic periods, women consistently experienced higher rates than men. During the post-pandemic period, the rates of psychological distress were 47.5% for women in established adulthood and 34.7% for midlife women, compared to 28.6% and 22% for men, respectively. Low self-esteem was the main predictor of greater psychological distress and lower well-being for both genders and age groups in the post-pandemic period. Another significant predictor was lower stress resilience. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic threatened women’s mental health and well-being more than men’s, and this threat persists after the pandemic, especially among women in established adulthood. The study’s findings are relevant for the design of policies, programs, and strategies to achieve better mental health and well-being among citizens and greater gender equality. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of strict lockdown measures have significantly impacted various dimensions of the global economy. This study examines the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown stringency on exchange rate volatility in India using three core variables, i.e., COVID-19 cases, the lockdown stringency index, and exchange rate volatility. To achieve the above objectives, we have employed advanced econometric techniques, such as wavelet coherence and a hybrid non-parametric quantile causality framework, on the dataset spanning from 30 December 2020 to 24 January 2022. Robustness is assessed using Troster–Granger causality in quantiles and Breitung–Candelon Spectral Causality tests. The wavelet coherence analysis indicates that the initial outbreak of COVID-19 increased the exchange rate volatility, while the enforcement of stringent lockdowns in the later phases helped reduce this volatility. Similarly, the hybrid quantile causality results indicate that both COVID-19 cases and lockdown measures possess predictive power over exchange rate fluctuations. The robustness checks confirm these findings and establish a causal relationship between the pandemic, policy responses, and currency market behaviour. This study helps clarify the complex, nonlinear dynamics between pandemic-related variables and exchange rate volatility in emerging markets. Based on the aforementioned result, it is recommended that policymakers implement targeted lockdown strategies coupled with timely monetary interventions (such as foreign exchange reserve management or interest rate adjustments) to mitigate volatility and maintain currency stability during future pandemic-induced shocks. Full article

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted essential health services globally, including contraceptive provision. This study examined barriers to contraceptive access in Nigeria during the national lockdown and lessons for future health crisis preparedness. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of 1273 respondents was conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression were used to identify predictors of unmet contraceptive need. Online convenience sampling may limit representativeness. Results: Fear of contracting COVID-19 at health facilities (76.6%), closure of drug and chemist shops (53.7%), movement restrictions (48.4%), and inability to reach healthcare providers (43.5%) were the most reported barriers. Adults aged 26–33 years (AOR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.05–3.73), those married or cohabiting (AOR = 3.87, 95% CI: 2.58–5.68), and Yoruba respondents (AOR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.04–2.58) were significantly more likely to report unmet need. Tertiary education (AOR = 0.28, 95% CI: 0.13–0.55) and rural residence (AOR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.37–0.86) were protective factors. Conclusion: COVID-19-related restrictions exposed systemic weaknesses in Nigeria’s contraceptive delivery. Addressing fragile supply chains, strengthening community-based alternatives, and embedding reproductive health into emergency preparedness plans will be critical to building resilient systems for future crises. Full article

This study examined the temporal changes and dispersion of potential sources of the six criteria air pollutants, namely, particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 and 10 μm (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O₃), in eastern Xinjiang, China, during the COVID-19 period in summer 2020 (16 July to 29 August ). Compared to the same periods in 2019 and 2021, the mean concentrations of all pollutants, except for SO₂ and O₃, and the air quality index (AQI) were lower in 2020 (relative changes: NO₂ 48.3–54.4%, PM₁₀ 35.8–49.6%, PM_2.5 19.3–43.5%, CO 16.5–34.8%, AQI 17.2–29.4%), which can be attributed to the reduced anthropogenic activities. Compared to the period before the lockdown in 2020 (16 June to 15 July), the mean NO₂ concentration showed the largest decrease during the lockdown (47.9%), followed by PM_2.5 (32.7%), PM₁₀ (37.6%), and CO (15.4%). In contrast, there were only minimal changes in O₃, with the mean concentrations falling slightly by 7.56%, and the mean concentration of SO₂ increased by 10.4%. The decrease in NO_x and the dry climate could have hindered O₃ formation, while vital industrial activities in eastern Xinjiang probably maintained SO₂ emissions. In the subsequent recovery period (30 August to 28 September), the mean NO₂ concentration increased the most at 59.3%, which was due to the rapid resumption of traffic-related emissions. During the lockdown in 2020, the diurnal profiles of PM_2.5, PM₁₀, NO₂, and CO concentrations showed lower peak concentrations in the morning (09:00–11:00) and evening (20:00–22:00), demonstrating a significant reduction in traffic-related emissions. The lower O₃ and higher SO₂ peak concentrations may have resulted from lower NO_x levels and higher electricity consumption due to the “stay-at-home” policy. The analysis of the distribution of potential sources showed that O₃ generally originated from widespread source areas, while the other pollutants mainly originated from local emissions. During the lockdown period, the source areas of PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ were more dispersed, with an enhanced contribution from long-range transport. Full article

Background and Objective: The intricate connection between daily behaviours and health necessitates robust monitoring, particularly with the advent of Internet of Things (IoT) systems. This study introduces an innovative approach that exploits the synergy of information from various IoT sources to assess the alignment of behavioural routines with health guidelines. The goal is to improve the readability of behaviour models and provide actionable insights for healthcare professionals. Method: We integrate data from ambient sensors, smartphones, and wearable devices to acquire daily behavioural routines by employing process mining (PM) techniques to generate interpretable behaviour models. These routines are grouped according to compliance with health guidelines, and a clustering method is used to identify similarities in behaviours and key characteristics within each cluster. Results: Applied to an elderly care case study, our approach categorised days into three physical activity levels (Insufficient, Sufficient, Desirable) based on daily step thresholds. The integration of multi-source data revealed behavioural variations not detectable through single-source monitoring. We demonstrated that the proposed visualisations in calendar and timeline views aid health experts in understanding patient behaviours, enabling longitudinal monitoring and clearer interpretation of behavioural trends and precise interventions. Notably, the approach facilitates early detection of behaviour changes during contextual events (e.g., COVID-19 lockdown and Ramadan), which are available in our dataset. Conclusions: By enhancing interpretability and linking behaviour to health guidelines, this work signifies a promising path for behavioural analysis and discovering variations to empower smart healthcare, offering insights into patient health, personalised interventions, and healthier routines through continuous monitoring with IoT-driven data analysis. Full article

This study investigates the variability of major air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NO_x, including nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂)), ozone (O₃), and particulate matter with a diameter ≤ 10 µm (PM10), in Thessaloniki over the period 2001–2022, highlighting their evolution in response to vehicle technology adoption and the COVID-19 pandemic. Four monitoring stations representing urban traffic, urban background, urban industrial, and suburban industrial environments were analyzed. PM10 concentrations generally decreased until 2015 but rose thereafter, mainly due to increased petrol car usage, with the highest levels recorded at the urban traffic station during colder months, influenced by domestic heating and local wind patterns. NO and NO₂ concentrations peaked at urban traffic and industrial sites, closely linked to vehicle emissions and industrial activities, respectively, with notable reductions during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. O₃ levels showed steady trends with diurnal and seasonal variability inversely related to NO_x concentrations and positively correlated with temperature. Despite some pollutant reductions, air quality issues persist in Thessaloniki. The findings emphasize the need for robust governmental policies promoting cleaner heating alternatives; two policy scenarios are presented in this respect with the corresponding air pollutant concentrations estimates up to 2035. Full article

The socio-emotional impact and educational inequalities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in vulnerable children, particularly those from disadvantaged immigrant families, require further investigation, especially in preschool-aged children. This study, based on a sample of 110 foreign-born mothers living in a northern Italian region who completed an online questionnaire, explores emotional and behavioral problems in children and parenting quality across three time points: before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdown. It also examines mothers’ perceptions of their remote relationship with early childhood education centers during the lockdown. Findings show that children’s behavioral problems increased after the onset of the pandemic, particularly in contexts characterized by negative family climates and dysfunctional parenting. The study highlights the protective role of early childhood education services in supporting parental practices and offering children a sense of normalcy during a time of crisis. These findings offer valuable insights to guide professionals in designing parenting support initiatives that take into account the long-term psychological and educational impact of the pandemic on preschool children and immigrant families. Full article

Remote work, as a technologically possible and widely applicable working mode, gained renewed attention during lockdowns amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. On one hand, remote work ensured that working remained sustainable; on the other hand, the unexpected and widespread nature of the immediate shift to remote work led to issues in terms of practicing and adapting to the process. Moreover, remote work can have strong social, economic, and environmental effects that have to be comprehensively understood. The high interest of employees in continuing with full or hybrid remote work calls for effective coping strategies at the individual and organizational levels in the future. This article focuses on academic studies documenting the peculiarities of remote work during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The aim is to identify the issues relating to remote work during the COVID-19 lockdowns that are documented in academic studies and thematically classify them into a range of factors. In this study, bibliometric and content analyses were employed, leading to comprehensive insights into the following areas: (1) remote work as a cause for changes in physical and psychological health; (2) remote work as a cause for changes in daily behavior, routine, and lifestyle; (3) factors that affect the process and productivity of remote work; (4) societal, economic, and environmental consequences of remote work; and (5) the distribution of the effects of remote work on individuals, economic subjects, and sectors. In conclusion, this study on working practices during the COVID-19 lockdowns that were documented in academic studies offers several benefits and areas of novelty: first, a comprehensive overview of the widespread process of adjusting to this new working mode; second, a classification of factors that affected the process at different stages and in different areas; and third, common factors that had more widespread effects during the remote working period. The findings also offer the following theoretical and practical implications: For researchers, this article can be a reference offering a holistic view of remote working during these lockdowns. For practitioners, it can provide an understanding of the impacting factors and their contextualization in terms of health, sociodemographic, and sectoral aspects can allow for more accurate human resource management strategies. Full article

Background/Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures markedly disrupted children’s lives, raising concerns particularly about their weight. We investigated changes in body mass index (BMI) in children by grade and sex, from pre- to post-COVID-19 lockdown, and BMI recovery post-lockdown. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the height, weight, and BMI of students from a single elementary school from 2019 to 2023, excluding 2020 (the year of the COVID-19 lockdown). We conducted longitudinal and cross-sectional studies to examine changes in BMI according to grade and BMI status pre-lockdown (2019) and post-lockdown (2021–2023). Results: In the entire student body, the BMI Z-score in 2021, 1 year after the COVID-19 lockdown, had increased significantly compared with that in 2019, 1 year pre-lockdown (p = 0.009). However, longitudinal studies in each grade yielded different results. Students who were in the first grade in 2019 experienced a significant decrease in BMI Z-score post-lockdown (p = 0.003). In contrast, students who were in other grades showed a significant increase in BMI Z-score post-lockdown, with those who were in third grade in 2019 showing the most significant increase (p = 0.027). Conclusions: The degree of BMI increase in children and adolescents due to the COVID-19 lockdown was inconsistent. Changes in obesity status post-lockdown varied depending on age and obesity levels pre-COVID-19 lockdown. Therefore, to manage and prevent obesity-related metabolic diseases in the post-COVID-19 era, diverse approaches and strategies tailored to age and obesity grades during the COVID-19 lockdown will need to be adopted. Full article