Query: study work pandemic

title: Is returning to work during the COVID 19 pandemic stressful? A study on immediate mental health status and psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures of Chinese workforce
abstract: This study aimed to quantify the immediate psychological effects and psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures of a workforce returning to work during the COVID 19 epidemic. Workforce returning to work was invited to complete an online questionnaire regarding their attitude toward the COVID 19 epidemic and return to work along with psychological parameters including the Impact of Event Scale Revised, Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale 21 (DASS 21) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) Psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures include precautions at personal and organization levels. From 673 valid questionnaires, we found that 10.8% of respondents met the diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after returning to work. The respondents reported a low prevalence of anxiety (3.8% depression (3.7% stress (1.5% and insomnia (2.3% There were no significant differences in the severity of psychiatric symptoms between workers/technicians and executives/managers. More than 95% reported psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures including good ventilation in the workplace and wore a face mask as protective. Factors that were associated with the severity of psychiatric symptoms in the workforce were marital status, presence of physical symptom, poor physical health and viewing return to work as a health hazard (p<0.05) In contrast, personal psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures including hand hygiene and wearing face masks as well as organizational measures including significant improvement of workplace hygiene and concerns from the company were associated with less severe psychiatric symptoms (p<0.05) Contrary to expectations, returning to work had not caused a high level of psychiatric symptoms in the workforce. The low prevalence of psychiatric symptoms could be due to confidence instilled by psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures before the resumption of work. Our findings would provide information for other countries during the COVID 19 pandemic.

title: The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on cancer deaths due to delays in diagnosis in England, UK: a national, population based, modelling study
abstract: Since a national lockdown was introduced across the UK in March, 2020, in response to the COVID 19 pandemic, cancer screening has been suspended, routine diagnostic work deferred, and only urgent symptomatic cases prioritised for diagnostic intervention. In this study, we estimated the impact of delays in diagnosis on cancer survival outcomes in four major tumour types.  In this national population based modelling study, we used linked English National Health Service (NHS) cancer registration and hospital administrative datasets for patients aged 15 84 years, diagnosed with breast, colorectal, and oesophageal cancer between Jan 1, 2010, and Dec 31, 2010, with follow up data until Dec 31, 2014, and diagnosed with lung cancer between Jan 1, 2012, and Dec 31, 2012, with follow up data until Dec 31, 2015. We use a routes to diagnosis framework to estimate the impact of diagnostic delays over a 12 month period from the commencement of physical distancing measures, on March 16, 2020, up to 1, 3, and 5 years after diagnosis. To model the subsequent impact of diagnostic delays on survival, we reallocated patients who were on screening and routine referral pathways to urgent and emergency pathways that are associated with more advanced stage of disease at diagnosis. We considered three reallocation scenarios representing the best to worst case scenarios and reflect actual changes in the diagnostic pathway being seen in the NHS, as of March 16, 2020, and estimated the impact on net survival at 1, 3, and 5 years after diagnosis to calculate the additional deaths that can be attributed to cancer, and the total years of life lost (YLLs) compared with pre pandemic data.  We collected data for 32 583 patients with breast cancer, 24 975 with colorectal cancer, 6744 with oesophageal cancer, and 29 305 with lung cancer. Across the three different scenarios, compared with pre pandemic figures, we estimate a 7*9 9*6% increase in the number of deaths due to breast cancer up to year 5 after diagnosis, corresponding to between 281 (95% CI 266 295) and 344 (329 358) additional deaths. For colorectal cancer, we estimate 1445 (1392 1591) to 1563 (1534 1592) additional deaths, a 15*3 16*6% increase; for lung cancer, 1235 (1220 1254) to 1372 (1343 1401) additional deaths, a 4*8 5*3% increase; and for oesophageal cancer, 330 (324 335) to 342 (336 348) additional deaths, 5*8 6*0% increase up to 5 years after diagnosis. For these four tumour types, these data correspond with 3291 3621 additional deaths across the scenarios within 5 years. The total additional YLLs across these cancers is estimated to be 59 204 63 229 years.  Substantial increases in the number of avoidable cancer deaths in England are to be expected as a result of diagnostic delays due to the COVID 19 pandemic in the UK. Urgent policy interventions are necessary, particularly the need to manage the backlog within routine diagnostic services to mitigate the expected impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on patients with cancer.

title: Impact of COVID 19 pandemic on information management research and practice: Transforming education, work and life
abstract: The COVID 19 pandemic has forced many organisations to undergo significant transformation, rethinking key elements of their business processes and use of technology to maintain operations whilst adhering to a changing landscape of guidelines and new procedures. This study offers a collective insight to many of the key issues and underlying complexities affecting organisations and society from COVID 19, through an information systems and technological perspective. The views of 12 invited subject experts are collated and analysed where each articulate their individual perspectives relating to: online learning, digital strategy, artificial intelligence, information management, social interaction, cyber security, big data, blockchain, privacy, mobile technology and strategy through the lens of the current crisis and impact on these specific areas. The expert perspectives offer timely insight to the range of topics, identifying key issues and recommendations for theory and practice.

title: Mental Health and Work Attitudes among People Resuming Work during the COVID 19 Pandemic: A Cross Sectional Study in China
abstract: The unprecedented outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID 19) caused an economic downturn and increased the unemployment rate in China. In this context, employees face health and social economic stressors. To assess their mental health (i.e. anxiety, depression, insomnia and somatization) and work attitudes (i.e. work engagement, job satisfaction and turnover intention) as well as the associated factors, we conducted a cross sectional study among people who resumed work after the Spring Festival holiday during the COVID 19 pandemic. The results show that the prevalence of anxiety, depression, insomnia and somatization among these people was 12.7% 13.5% 20.7% and 6.6% respectively. The major risk factor for mental health was worrying about unemployment, and the main protective factors were psychological strengths (i.e. resilience and optimism) Regarding work attitudes, the percentage of people who felt more satisfied with their job (43.8% was larger than that of those who felt less satisfied (26.9% while the percentage of people who thought about quitting their job more frequently (15.7% was smaller than that of those who considered it less frequently (63.2% However, work engagement was lower than usual. Similar to the factors associated with mental health, the major risk factor for work attitudes was also worrying about unemployment, and the main protective factors were resilience and optimism. In addition, the nature of the organization, job status, age, position and income changes were also related to these work attitudes. Our findings shed light on the need for organization administrators to be aware of the status of and factors associated with employees' mental health and work attitudes during the COVID 19 pandemic. Policies or interventions could be developed based on our findings.

title: Achieving Effective Remote Working During the COVID 19 Pandemic: A Work Design Perspective
abstract: Existing knowledge on remote working can be questioned in an extraordinary pandemic context. We conducted a mixed methods investigation to explore the challenges experienced by remote workers at this time, as well as what virtual work characteristics and individual differences affect these challenges. In Study 1, from semi structured interviews with Chinese employees working from home in the early days of the pandemic, we identified four key remote work challenges (work home interference, ineffective communication, procrastination, and loneliness) as well as four virtual work characteristics that affected the experience of these challenges (social support, job autonomy, monitoring, and workload) and one key individual difference factor (workers' self discipline) In Study 2, using survey data from 522 employees working at home during the pandemic, we found that virtual work characteristics linked to worker's performance and well being via the experienced challenges. Specifically, social support was positively correlated with lower levels of all remote working challenges; job autonomy negatively related to loneliness; workload and monitoring both linked to higher work home interference; and workload additionally linked to lower procrastination. Self discipline was a significant moderator of several of these relationships. We discuss the implications of our research for the pandemic and beyond.

title: Burnout among healthcare professionals during COVID 19 pandemic: a cross sectional study
abstract: The unpredictable nature of the new COVID 19 pandemic and the already alarming incidence of healthcare workers being affected can have a significant impact on the psychological well being of the staff.  To describe the prevalence of burnout among healthcare professionals and the associated factors.   Eight university affiliated hospitals in the capital city of Tehran, Iran.  All healthcare workers at the study sites who had been taking care of COVID 19 patients.  Age, gender, marital status, having children, hospital, job category, experience, and work load, as well as the level of burnout in each subscale.  326 persons (53.0% experienced high levels of burnout. The average score in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment was 26.6, 10.2, and 27.3, respectively. The level of burnout in the three subscales varied based on the personal as well as work related factors and gender was the only variable that was associated with high levels of all three domains.  There was no control group and thus we cannot claim a causal relationship between COVID 19 and the observed level of burnout. Not all confounding factors might have been accounted for.  Burnout is prevalent among healthcare workers caring for COVID 19 patients. Age, gender, job category, and site of practice contribute to the level of burnout that the staff experience.

title: Comparative analysis of perceived stress in dermatologists and other physicians during home quarantine and COVID 19 pandemic with exploration of possible risk factors A web based cross sectional study from Eastern India
abstract: Since the declaration of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) as global pandemic, several countries including India have enforced a national lock down. We aimed to compare the perceived stress of dermatologists and nondermatologists, due to lock down and COVID 19 pandemic and analyze the role of possible risk factors. We conducted a web based cross sectional study to determine the perceived stress of doctors using the Perceived Stress Scale 10 and evaluate possible risk factors. Among 384 valid responders, we had 37.5% dermatologists and 62.5% nondermatologists. Perceived stress was more in nondermatologists compared to dermatologists, but not statistically significant (P 0.1) Degree of stress was also comparable (P 0.5) Higher stress was significantly associated with females and unmarried individuals in both groups. Risk of infecting self or colleagues or family members and lack of protective gear at work place were top causes of stress. Perceived stress is increased in all doctors due to COVID 19 pandemic and lock down. Even dermatologists have developed high stress due to current situation, comparable to nondermatologists, despite being traditionally considered an outpatient speciality with minimum stress. Thus, proper mental health care policies should be adopted for all doctors, including dermatologists.

title: Data Driven Study of the COVID 19 Pandemic via Age Structured Modelling and Prediction of the Health System Failure in Brazil amid Diverse Intervention Strategies
abstract: In this work we propose a data driven age structured census based SIRD like epidemiological model capable of forecasting the spread of COVID 19 in Brazil. We model the current scenario of closed schools and universities, social distancing of individuals above sixty years old and voluntary home quarantine to show that it led to a considerable reduction in the number of infections as compared with a scenario without any control measures. Notwithstanding, our model predicts that the current measures are not enough to avoid overloading the health system, since the demand for intensive care units will soon surpass the number available. We also show that an urgent intense quarantine might be the only solution to avoid this scenario and, consequently, minimize the number of severe cases and deaths. On the other hand, we demonstrate that the early relaxation of the undergoing isolation measures would lead to an increase of millions of infections in a short period of time and the consecutive collapse of the health system.

title: Anxiety and depression symptoms, and lack of emotional support among the general population before and during the COVID 19 pandemic. A prospective national study on prevalence and risk factors
abstract: The effects of the COVID 19 pandemic on the mental health and emotional support among the general population are unclear. We therefore assessed if the prevalence of high Anxiety and Depression Symptoms (ADS) levels and lack of Emotional Support (ES) increased, and if risk factors of ADS and ES changed.  Data was extracted from surveys conducted with the Dutch longitudinal population based LISS panel (N=3,983) ADS and ES were assessed in March 2019 and 2020. Risk factors for ADS and ES were extracted from surveys in November 2018 and 2019. These were: ADS, gender, education, domestic situation, employment, age, ethnicity, lung and heart problems, and diabetes.  The prevalence of high ADS levels and lack of ES did not increase compared to the pre outbreak prevalence. ADS, non native ethnic background, (partial) work disabilities and lung problems were predictive of both ADS and lack of ES in March 2019 and 2020. Job seekers, students and those who take care of housekeeping were more at risk for ADS in March 2020, but not in 2019. While 35 49 years old respondents were less at risk for ADS in March 2019, they were more at risk in 2020. Parents with child(ren) at home and those who take care of housekeeping more often lacked ES in March 2020, but not in 2019.  No other mental health problems were assessed.  No increase in the prevalence of ADS and lack of ES was found. Some risk factors remained significant after the outbreak, while others changed notably.

title: The link between bike sharing and subway use during the COVID 19 pandemic: The case study of New York's Citi Bike
abstract: The full societal impact COVID 19 pandemic is laid bare in urban mobility patterns. This research explored the recently published data on the operation of subway and bike share systems (BSS) during the COVID 19 outbreak in New York city, providing evidence on its impact over urban transport systems, but also on how its different components can work in conjunction. The BSS has proved to be more resilient than the subway system, with a less significant ridership drop (71% vs 90% ridership drop and 50% decrease on the ridership ratio) and an increase on its trips' average duration (from 13 min to 19 min per trip) Moreover, the study found evidence of a modal transfer from some subway users to the bike sharing system. The first effects of the free BSS programs aimed at essential service workers were also evaluated. BSS can improve the resilience of urban transport systems to disruptive events. Overall, this paper offers clues on how bike sharing, and cycling in general, can support the transition to a post coronavirus society.