This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the geographical labour mobility of employees in Sweden. The analysis employs a difference-indifference (DiD) approach to compare the mobility patterns of employees in treated municipalities with higher COVID-19 infectious rates to those in controlled municipalities with lower infectious rates. The study utilizes two primary datasets: population-wide micro-level data on COVID-19 infectious rates provided by the Swedish Public Health Agency, and aggregate data on employed commuters from Statistics Sweden. The latter dataset includes information on the residential and employed municipalities of individuals aged 16 and above between 2014 and 2021. The analysis focuses on the geographical mobility ratio which represents the proportion of employed commuters with different residential and employed municipalities. Regression models are used to estimate the treatment effect of COVID-19 on geographical labour mobility, controlling for municipality-specific factors and potential confounding variables. The results indicate that the treated municipalities with higher COVID-19 infectious rates exhibit significantly higher geographical labour mobility than the controlled municipalities. However, the main effect of time, representing the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, is found to be statistically non-significant, suggesting that the pandemic did not have a direct effect on workers' geographical mobility. Gender is found to have an equal influence on commuters' mobility patterns, irrespective of the impact of COVID-19. The study contributes to the understanding of labour mobility dynamics during a pandemic and highlights the importance of considering contextual factors such as infection rates and demographic characteristics. It also underscores the need for further research to explore the nuanced factors influencing remote work preferences among different demographic groups.

BACKGROUND: It is widely documented that people with a mobility disability are at increased risk of severe illness, morbidity, or mortality following a disaster. However, disaster risk is multifactorial and not simply a result of underlying conditions. There is a need to examine contributors to dis- ability experiences during a pandemic, and strategies to account for these in pandemic response. METHODS: Using grounded theory methodology, we employed iterative, inductive coding, and constant comparative methods. Sixteen people with a mobility disability from Ontario and Quebec, Canada, participated in 1-hour qualitative interviews (ages 20-86). Participants' disability etiology included stroke, multiple sclerosis, amputations, and other. RESULTS: The pandemic was a source of dis-ability for the whole population, making disability disparities more noticeable and highlighting the role of adaptive capacity in disaster resilience. Although COVID-19 compounded existing barriers faced by people with a mobility disability, participants were able to mobilize their assets (i.e., individual capacity, mobility assists, etc.), empowering them to take action to maintain autonomy. When the general population experienced barriers to social connection, adaptations to support resilience were at the forefront of policy decisions. New solutions, including digital infrastructure, demonstrated the potential to diminish existing barriers by providing accommodations to meet the accessibility needs of people with disability, especially for regular healthcare provider contact. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to break the cycle perpetuating health-related inequities. Pandemic planning, response, and recovery can be reformed toward disability-inclusiveness with systemic changes focused on human rights and physical and psychosocial needs of people with a mobility disability.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a public health crisis affects the pregnancy decisions and experiences of Canadians, how pregnancy history impacts these experiences, and whether the delivery of pregnancy care has been impacted or changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This thesis surveyed women from across the country about their experiences during pregnancy with prenatal care and social support, as well as their birth experiences and perceptions of new motherhood during the pandemic. Interviews were conducted with perinatal care providers from Ontario about their personal experiences providing perinatal healthcare services, as well as their perceptions of their patients’ experiences. This thesis aims to identify prenatal, birth and postpartum experiences described by Canadians, and quality of perinatal health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: In the healthcare sector, many workers are believed to be “double duty carers” (DDCs) - individuals providing care both at work and home. DDCs often work in paid care work while providing unpaid care to family/friends outside of work. The COVID-19 pandemic places additional stressors on these vulnerable carers. Caring is an emerging global health issue involving the straining of roles due to the pandemic. Informal or unpaid caring is globally known to be a women's health issue given the gendered nature of caring, resulting in women shouldering greater physical, social, and emotional costs. Purpose: The aim of this study was to understand the impact of COVID-19 on DDCs through the perspective of employers and DDCs. The knowledge generated illuminates how the paid and unpaid caring has been affected by the pandemic, what supports, or coping strategies are being utilized by DDCs. Methods: This mixed-methods study comprises two phases; a quantitative survey for employers and qualitative interview for DDCs. The survey investigates how workplace supports have been impacted by the pandemic, while the interview investigates DDCs’ experiences/coping strategies during the pandemic. Finally, triangulation of the data from the two phases will be used to create evidence-based policy recommendations to enhance DDC supports. Results: Healthcare employers were observed to be cognizant of DDCs’ diminishing wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic; yet, less than half supported their carer-employees. DDCs had increased care demands both at work and at home and experienced a lack of access to their usual support system and support services. The data from both phases helped elucidate recommendations and areas of concern for DDC support that can serve as important implications for carer-friendly workplace policies (CFWP). Conclusion: By exploring the intersection of perspectives from employers and DDCs, this study will contribute to evidence-informed guidelines for CFWP during a pandemic. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The term ‘double duty carer’ (DDC) refers to individuals, often women, that are provide care both at home and at work. DDCs are an important workforce that are vulnerable to negative physical and mental health consequences which are exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the pandemic on DDCs’ caring responsibilities and supports from the perspectives of healthcare employers and DDCs. Findings showed that the COVID-19 pandemic made paid and unpaid caring much more demanding, inflicted poor health consequences upon DDCs and made supports difficult to access. DDCs are experiencing increased role strain and having to invest more hours in paid and unpaid care. The findings of this study can be used to improve DDC support and strengthen the collaborative relationships among healthcare employers and DDCs.

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One of the greatest natural hazards that is faced with in much of the United States are tornadoes. Despite improvements in the warning processes, the risk of significant loss of life remains high. That is particularly true with vulnerable communities which have higher proportions of mobile homes; however, violent tornadoes are very difficult to manage in permanent homes or buildings as well. As a result, tornado shelters have been built in some communities and have become available to the public. However, their presence is intermittent, and there are many tornado-prone areas that lack such shelters. After a public survey, it was found that there was unmet demand for tornado shelters and, at least in the most extreme circumstances, a large percentage of the population would be willing to utilize such. It was also found that better communication of tornado shelters would increase utilization rates either in circumstances where they already exist or where the need exists. Some residents, particularly those in mobile homes, were likely to utilize shelters more frequently, which increased their need to an even greater extent. Once both the public and broadcast meteorologists were surveyed, it was found that the public was strongly supportive of mobile applications about tornado shelters in their area, and local television sources and the websites and applications related to those stations were also popular sources. Broadcast meteorologists in the Deep South in particular mentioned the need for more shelters and advocated construction, but not as much in other regions. They mentioned that mobile apps would be quite useful for the public to locate shelters. A case study in the context of the concurrent COVID-19 pandemic (knowing that crowded spaces was not a desirable situation amidst the pandemic) found that shelters were still potentially useful with mitigation. Those concurrent hazards made for a more challenging study and proved to be a valuable case study in tornado sheltering. The results found that it was possible to attenuate both threats provided that careful planning and actions were undertaken. As a result, both short-term and long-term recommendations were suggested which may also be useful in future pandemic situations.

The issues of sustainable development began to attract researchers in the second half of the twentieth century. Since then, interest in this topic has only increased. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development introduced by the United Nations in 2015 confirmed that sustainable changes require efforts from people, consumers and companies, politicians, economists, and researchers. In particular, special attention is paid to sustainable consumer behaviour. The level of consumption consciousness directly affects the entire chain, from the production of goods to their disposal. In this regard, in recent years, a large number of studies have been conducted on the topic of sustainable consumer behaviour. However, in 2019 the coronavirus pandemic changed the world. The majority of global population was forced to stay at home because of lockdowns, which is why digitalization received a great impetus for development. By influencing daily activities, it has also significantly changed our consumer habits. Thus, in this thesis, the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on sustainable consumer behaviour is being studied. In particular, attention is paid to cultural differences.

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This study employed Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model to better examine the reactions and learning experiences of a group of pharmaceutical industry sales professionals who participated in pandemic-related virtual compliance training in spring 2020. The field of learning technologies has few examples and limited knowledge regarding the evaluation of virtual training in the context of pandemic-related compliance training in the biopharmaceutical sector. This qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews to collect data from industry participants, allowing an examination of their experiences relative to the first three stages of Kirkpatrick's training evaluation framework, namely the reactions of the trainees, the knowledge transferred to the trainees, and the performance as it relates to the trainees' changed behaviors because of their participation in virtually delivered training.