The purpose of this research was to explore the perceptions of student affairs administrators, working in both public and private higher education institutions, regarding how they learned to use technology and gain insight into how their work would evolve in the future. While the COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone in the higher education landscape—academic faculty, students, and student administrative professionals—this research focused specifically on a segment of administrative professionals within higher education institutions: student affairs professionals. The results of the study provide recommendations to higher education institutions and student affair professionals and how to work in a technologically evolving workplace. The researcher based the study on the three assumptions: (1) informal and incidental learning are key factors in growing the skills to learn the evolving technologies in the workplace; (2) higher-order thinking skills exist in student affairs professionals who went beyond transferring the in-person modality to online; (3) organizational competencies or ethical competencies in digital leadership skills existed in student affairs professionals who went beyond demonstrating technological competencies skills The study population were student affairs professionals who worked during COVID-19. Data sources were primarily through 12 individual interviews, all conducted via Zoom, critical incident reports, and documents. Key findings of the study revealed: (1) A strong majority of participants described the use of technology as having a significant communication platform; (2) A majority of participants indicated that the lack of user engagement was a challenge while using technology; (3) An overwhelming majority learn to overcome the challenge of using technology through peer conversation; and (4) A majority of participants stated that having a supportive leader influenced the use of technology. The main recommendations of the study were the following: (1) Higher education institutions should think of creating the space and opportunities for student affairs professionals to engage in conversation with one another to overcome the challenges of using technology. To develop the space, higher education climate and organizational culture around the perception of technology must be considered. Additionally, higher education institutions should invest in developing supportive leaders who have a positive perception of technology in the workplace; and (2) Student affairs professionals should not only learn to be open about using technology in the workplace, but also develop the inter-personal skills that is critical to overcoming the use of technology. For seasoned student affairs professionals who hope to become a leader within the institution, developing the leadership skills to become a supportive leader who has the technological and inter-personal skills is critical to better manage and lead their team.

[pt] O estudo em tela integra o campo temático da gestão escolar tendo como foco de sua investigação a atuação da liderança escolar, representada na maioria das vezes, pelo(a) diretor(a), no contexto da pandemia do Covid-19. Buscou-se inicialmente identificar na literatura o conceito e as tipologias da liderança escolar e como estão associadas com a autonomia e com os resultados educacionais, tendo como referência principal os conceitos de Liderança instrucional e liderança distribuída (Leithwood e Sun, 2012; Spillane, 2005). Complementarmente foi feito um levantamento da produção nacional e internacional recente sobre a gestão escolar no contexto da pandemia. Por meio de um estudo de caso, de natureza qualitativa, foram investigadas as experiências da gestão de duas escolas públicas municipais de São José de Ribamar (MA) a fim de compreender como os gestores escolares mobilizaram diferentes recursos e desenvolveram ações para responder aos desafios gerados e intensificados pela pandemia no que diz respeito a garantia do direito à aprendizagem dos estudantes. Integra-se à pesquisa, a análise documental, entrevistas com supervisores da secretaria municipal de educação, diretoras e professoras, além de dados do Censo Escolar (2020) e dos questionários contextuais do professor e do diretor da Prova Brasil (2019). A análise foi construída a partir de três categorias: o contexto sociocultural, estrutura e organização de cada escola, percepções dos diretores e dos professores das escolas sobre o perfil e as ações desenvolvidas pela gestão escola e pela rede durante esse período. Os achados deste trabalho indicaram, inicialmente, uma considerável centralização das ações da secretaria com pouco espaço de orientação pedagógica para as escolas e diretores em contraste com a relevância do papel dos diretores para a reorganização da rotina escolar. Neste último aspecto, observou-se que o processo requereu a colaboração dos professores e apontou para uma liderança mais autônoma, distribuída e instrucional em um dos casos. No outro, indica uma escola dependente das orientações da secretaria e uma liderança focada nas questões mais administrativas. Pode-se perceber que, se de um lado os diretores desenvolvem diferentes ações e mobilizam recursos diversos conforme sua experiência, formação e conhecimento, de outro, a falta de formação e de apoio do órgão central se constitui em um dos maiores obstáculos para o desenvolvimento de sua autonomia e liderança. / [en] The study on screen integrates the thematic field of school management focusing its investigation on the performance of school leadership, represented in most cases by the principal, in the context of Covid-19 pandemic. Initially, we sought to identify in the literature the concept and typologies of school leadership and how they are associated with autonomy and educational outcomes, having as main reference the concepts of instructional leadership and distributed leadership (Leithwood e Sun, 2012; Spillane, 2005). In addition, a survey of recent national and international production on school management in the context of the pandemic was carried out. Through a case study of a qualitative nature, the experiences of managing two municipal public schools in São José de Ribamar (MA) were investigated to understand how school managers mobilized different resources and developed actions to respond to the challenges generated. and intensified by the pandemic regarding guaranteeing the right to learn for students. The research includes documentary analysis, interviews with supervisors of the municipal education department, principals, and teachers, as well as data from the School Census (2020) and the contextual questionnaires of the teacher and the director of Prova Brasil (2019). The analysis was built from three categories: the sociocultural context, structure and organization of each school, perceptions of school directors and teachers about the profile and actions developed by the school management and the network during this period. The findings of this work initially indicated a considerable centralization of actions in the secretariat with little space for pedagogical guidance for schools and principals, in contrast to the relevance of the role of principals for the reorganization of the school routine. In this last aspect, it was observed that the process required the collaboration of teachers and pointed to a more autonomous, distributed, and instructional leadership in one of the cases. In the other, it indicates a school dependent on the guidelines of the secretariat and a leadership focused on more administrative issues. If, on the one hand, directors develop different actions and mobilize different resources according to their experience, training, and knowledge, on the other hand, the lack of training and support from the central body constitutes one of the biggest obstacles to development of their autonomy and leadership.

Yes / A global response to Covid‐19 pandemic has triggered issues related to stress and social restrictions; thus, mental health is seen as a particular area of concern for social well‐being for both policymakers and corporate regulators/companies. Given that mental health intersects with most, if not all, of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), this research brought to light issues surrounding employment of people with mental disabilities (PWMDs) and the financial merits of employing them. An online survey was administered to PWMDs to elicit what possible flexible opportunities could enable them to gain or stay at work. Interviews were also conducted with human resource managers and financial managers. Our results show that there are currently no flexible working opportunities available for PWMDs, which could enable them work effectively to improve both self and general economic growth.

Yes / Purpose - The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to global supply chains (SCs), affecting the production, distribution, and transportation of goods and ser- vices. To mitigate these disruptions, it is essential to identify the barriers that have im- peded the seamless operation of SCs. This study identifies these barriers and assesses their impact on supply chain network (SCN). Design/methodology/approach - To determine the relative importance of different bar- riers and rank the affected industries, a hybrid approach was employed, combining the best-worst method (BWM) and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). To accommodate the inherent uncertainties associated with the pan- demic, a triangular fuzzy TOPSIS was used to represent the linguistic variable ratings provided by decision-makers. Findings - The study found that the airlines and hospitality industry was the most affected by the barriers, accounting for 46% of the total, followed by the healthcare industry (23%), the manufacturing industry (19%), and finally the consumer and retail industry (17%). Research limitation/implications - This study is limited to the four critical industries and nine identified barriers. Other industries and barriers may have different weights and rankings. Nevertheless, the findings offer valuable insights for decision-makers in SC management, aiding them in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on their operations and enhancing their resilience against future disruptions. Originality/value - This study enhances our understanding of COVID-19’s impact on SCN and provides a framework for assessing disruptions using multi-criteria decision-making processes. The hybrid approach of BWM and TOPSIS in a fuzzy environment is unique and offers potential applicability in various evaluation contexts.

Yes / The purpose of this study is to determine whether Indian banks were able to weather the COVID-19 storm. We estimate banks’ deposits-generating and operating efficiencies using a two-stage directional distance function-based network data envelopment analysis (DDF- NDEA) approach and seek to capture the immediate impact of COVID-19 on these efficiency measures by comparing their magnitudes in the pre-pandemic (2014/15-2019/20), just 1-year prior to the pandemic (2019/20), and during the pandemic year (2020/21) periods. The study looks at whether the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was uniform across ownership types and size classes. The empirical findings suggest that the Indian banking system was resilient and withstood the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the study period, however, the large and medium-sized banks experienced some effi ciency losses. By and large, regardless of bank group, banks have shown resilience to the shock of the global health pandemic and improvements in efficiency. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 28 Dec 2024.

Jails play a unique role in the criminal legal system, incarcerating people who are awaiting trial or serving short sentences of less than a year. At midyear 2023, jails incarcerated 664,200 people and admitted 7.6 million people in the preceding 12 months (Zeng 2024). People incarcerated in jail often face several co-occurring hardships, including housing instability, untreated mental illness, and substance use problems, which jails can exacerbate. This dissertation argues jails create and respond to many of these problems associated with poverty, especially problems related to the health of incarcerated people. Across three papers, I demonstrate jails (1) were used as a punitive response to the prescription opioid crisis, especially in rural communities; (2) became a highly infectious environment in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic after failing to enforce many basic preventative measures like masking and social distancing, threatening the health of incarcerated people; and (3) readmit people with mental illness and substance use problems at much higher rates than people in good health. Taken together, these papers demonstrate the complex relationship between jails on the one hand and the health of incarcerated people and the public on the other.

With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 in Germany, the population faced a mentally challenging time. Governmental measures like social distancing measures, lockdowns and quarantines were implemented to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and save as many lives as possible. People of old age were soon identified as high risk group for a lethal course of disease and as in particular need of protection. Mental health professionals feared an aggravation of mental distress and mental pathology. Against this background, this dissertation aimed to investigate mental coping and the progression of mental health outcomes in old and oldest-old risk groups over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as associated sociodemographic and psychosocial factors associated with it. In our first study, we investigated the perceived stress coping competence (self-efficient coping vs. helplessness-associated coping) as well as perceived worries about and perceived threat by the COVID-10 pandemic and associated sociodemographic and psychosocial factors in the oldest-old population in Germany in the early phase of the pandemic. Linear multivariate regression models revealed that in our sample of n=197 people aged 78 to 100 years old higher levels of resilience were linked to higher perceived self-efficient coping. Male gender compared to the female gender, and a medium educational level in reference to a low educational level, was associated with less helplessness-associated coping. Loneliness showed associations with both, self-efficient and helplessness-associated coping. Higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms were linked to higher scores of helplessness-associated coping. Regarding perceived worries about the pandemic, binary logistic regression models showed that male gender and higher perceived social support were linked to more worries about the pandemic. Despite the higher risk for a severe course of disease for people of old age, older age was associated with less perceived personal threat by the coronavirus. Furthermore, more reported depressive symptoms were linked to less perceived threat, and higher reported somatization symptoms were associated with higher personal threat by the virus. Therefore, mental health factors seem to shape the way oldest-old individuals perceive the COVID-19 pandemic in partly unexpected ways, and resilience may illustrate an important factor when targeting more functional ways of coping with stress. Moreover, people of oldest-old age experiencing greater loneliness, high depressive and anxiety symptoms could be supported by adapting their coping skill repertoire to foster the feeling of self-efficiency when coping with stress. In our second and third study, we analyzed the development and progression of mental health factors like depressive, anxiety and somatization symptoms. First, in study 2 with n=156 people of oldest-old age (range= 78 to 97 years) Wilcoxon t-tests showed an increase of anxiety, depressive and somatization symptoms from 2021 to 2021 with generalized regression models revealing that higher levels of symptomatology in 2020 were associated with higher symptom burden in 2021. Higher perceived social support in 2020 was linked to less depressive symptoms in 2021. Building on this findings, we then conducted multilevel mixed-effects generalized linear models to analyzed data over three points of measurement from 2020, 2021 and end of 2021/beginning of 2022 with n=135 participants (age range= 78 to 97 years). Results showed that after a first increase of depressive and anxiety symptoms from 2020 to 2021, symptomatology levels stayed relatively stable from 2021 to 2021/2022. Moreover, older age and higher reported worries were associated with higher levels of anxiety symptoms. Greater perceived social support was linked to less anxiety and depressive symptoms over time. Resilience was associated with less depressive symptoms. Since pre-existing heart conditions illustrated an additional risk factor, next to an older age (60+ years), for a serious and lethal course of coronavirus disease, the fourth study additionally focused on an old age sample with cardiovascular risk profiles. The aim was a comparison of this cardiovascular risk group with the general old age population in terms of symptomatology levels and psychosocial factors associated with it. We analyzed data of n=1236 participants with n=618 showing a cardiovascular risk profile, drawn from the AgeWell.de study, and n=618 from a representative survey of the old age general population with an age range of 64 to 81 years in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that the cardiovascular risk group showed higher depressive symptom levels compared to the general population. Multivariate regression models revealed that in the cardiovascular risk group higher perceived social support was linked to less depressive and anxiety symptoms. In the general old age population perceived social support was associated with depressive symptoms, social support and anxiety symptoms showed no such association. Higher perceived worries were associated with higher reported anxiety symptoms in the general population only. Perceived resilience was linked to less depressive and anxiety symptoms in both groups. In conclusion, the oldest-old individuals showed an overall good mental health in the long term despite a first increase in anxiety and depressive symptomatology within the first year. Fostering perceived social support and perceived resilience may play an important role in preventing and reducing depressive symptomatology in times of crises like the pandemic.:Table of Contents I 1. Introduction 1.1. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2: the Disease and the Pandemic 1.2. Mental Health during the Pandemic in the General Adult Population 1.3. Mental Health in Old Age – with a Focus on Depression and Anxiety 1.3.1. Epidemiology 1.3.2. Etiology 1.4. Social Support as a Protective Factor? The Role of Social Goals over the Lifespan 1.5. Aims of the Dissertation 2. Empirical Investigations in the Old Age Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic 2.1. The Perception of Coping with Stress in the Oldest-old Population 2.2. The Development of Mental Health Factors and the Role of Social Support in the Oldest-old Population 2.3. The Development of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Role of Psychosocial Factors in the Oldest-old Population 2.4. Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in an Old Age Cardiovascular Risk Group Compared to the Old Age General Population 3. General Discussion 3.1. Implications for Prospective Research and Impulses for Public Mental Health Strategies 4. Conclusion Summary References Appendix List of Tables and Figures II

Bakgrund: Den 11 mars 2020 tillkännagav världshälsoorganisationen covid-19 som en pandemi. Röntgenavdelningen är en central del i patientflödet på ett sjukhus inte minst under pandemin. Till röntgenavdelningen kommer misstänkta eller bekräftade covid-19 patienter. Detta gör att röntgensjuksköterskor utsätts för en stor risk att bli smittade på sitt arbete. Syfte: Syftet med enkätstudien var att undersöka röntgensjuksköterskors upplevelser av sin arbetsmiljö under covid-19 pandemin. Metod: Kvantitativ enkätstudie med 197 deltagande röntgensjuksköterskor från Sverige. Resultat: Över hälften av de svarande kände oro för att smittas av covid-19 på arbetsplatsen. Majoriteten ansåg att deras kollegor tog covid-19 på allvar samtidigt som över hälften svarade att deras kollegor inte tog emot covid-19 patienter, den vanligaste orsaken var att de tillhörde en riskgrupp. Mer än tre fjärdedelar uppgav att patienter med misstänkt covid-19 hade anlänt till röntgenavdelningen utan förvarning. Gällande skyddsutrustning ansåg nästan alla att det fanns helt eller delvis tillgång till på arbetsplatsen och endast en bråkdel valde att själva införskaffa egen. Mer än hälften upplevde att det fanns klara rutiner för omhändertagande av covid-19 patienter och en tiondel upplevde att det inte fanns några klara hygienrutiner för covid-19 patienter. Slutsats: Enkätstudien visar på betydelsen av tydliga riktlinjer för hur arbetet ska bedrivas under en pandemi. Det visar även på betydelsen av att det finns adekvat skyddsutrustning vilket de allra flesta uppgav att det fanns. Vanligt förekommande var att patienter med misstänkt covid-19 anlände till röntgenavdelningen utan förvarning. Bristfälliga remisser var också förekommande, detta är något som måste förbättras. För att få mer kunskap om röntgensjuksköterskors upplevelse av att arbeta under covid-19 pandemin ser vi ett framtida behov av forskning i form av kvalitativa intervjustudier. / Background: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced covid-19 as a pandemic. The radiology department is a central part of the patient flow in a hospital, not least during the pandemic. Suspected or confirmed covid-19 patients arrive daily to the radiology department. This exposes radiographers for a great risk of becoming infected at work.Aim: The aim of the survey study was to investigate radiographers' experiences of their work environment during the covid-19 pandemic.Method: Quantitative survey study with 197 participating radiographers from Sweden.Results: More than half of the respondents felt anxious about being infected with covid-19 in their work. The majority considered that their colleagues took covid-19 seriously, while more than half answered that their colleagues did not receive covid-19 patients, mainly because they belonged to a risk group. More than three quarters stated that patients with suspected covid-19 had arrived in the radiology department without warning. Regarding personal protective equipment (PPE), almost everyone considered that there was full or partial access to PPE and only a fraction chose to acquire their own PPE. More than half felt that there were clear routines for the care of covid-19 patients and a tenth felt that there were no clear hygiene routines for covid-19 patients.Conclusion: The survey study shows the importance of clear guidelines for how the work should be conducted during a pandemic. It also shows the importance of having adequate PPE, which the vast majority stated was sufficient. It was common that patients with suspected covid-19 arrived in the radiology department without warning. Inadequate referrals were also common, which is something that needs to be improved. To gain more knowledge about radiographers' experience of working during the covid-19 pandemic, we see a future need to investigate this with qualitative interview studies.

Determining whether great crises in donor countries, such as the contemporary COVID-19 pandemic, alter foreign aid allotment represents an urgent research problem. This thesis aims to disentangle if and how aid is increased, reduced or remained the same during crises. The work conducted is a case study of three donor countries: Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom. Their aid is scrutinized in relation to three crises, the Nordic crisis, the global crisis of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. An identified disagreement in the previous research helps create the theoretical framework guiding this study. A hypothesis is drawn from said framework, that aid allotment is to decrease during crises in donor countries. The findings of this thesis can neither confirm nor reject the hypothesis. Case-specific patterns emerge, implying a relationship between crises and alterations of aid. Seemingly, crises affect foreign aid allotment both positively and negatively, opening up for further research to verify the relationship.

Under år 2020 drabbades världen av en pandemi, ett omfattande virus vid namn Covid-19 som har påverkat både organisationer och individer runt om i världen negativt, vilket har krävt att värdet av en lyckad kriskommunikation varit stor för organisationer. På grund av detta är det viktigt att organisationen har kunskap i hur de ska anpassa sin kriskommunikation i sociala medier efter den typen av kris som Covid-19-pandemin är. Därför fokuserar denna uppsats på kriskommunikation i sociala medier för yrkesgruppen kommunikatörer under en pandemi som Covid-19. Syftet är att undersöka och identifiera faktorer som är viktiga för yrkesgruppen kommunikatörer när de ska kriskommunicera på sociala medier, samt undersöka och identifiera sociala mediers viktigaste egenskaper att använda som verktyg under en pandemi som Covid-19.  Uppsatsen grundas av empiriskt material i form av intervjuer och metoden som används är en kvalitativ metodansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer, med avsikt att studera den kunskap och de erfarenheter som respondenterna besitter. Uppsatsen underbyggs även av forskning inom användandet av sociala medier under en pandemi och kommunikatörens roll under en pandemi som tillsammans bygger en förförståelse för ämnet. Uppsatsen resulterar i sex viktiga egenskaper hos sociala medier som kan nyttjas i en kris som Covid-19-pandemin och fem teoretiska och praktiska faktorer som är viktiga för kommunikatören att utgå från i kriskommunikationen under en pandemi. De sex viktiga egenskaperna hos sociala medier är spridning, mätbarhet, ägandeskap, omvärldsbevakning, källa till information och dialog. De fem faktorer som uppsatsen resulterat i är situationen, resurser, saklig och faktabaserad information, snabb kommunikationsprocess och interaktion. Faktorerna kan generera i en lyckad kriskommunikation under Covid-19 och liknande kriser. / In 2020, the world was hit by a pandemic, a widespread virus called Covid-19 that has negatively affected both organizations and individuals around the world, which has shown that successful crisis communication is important for organizations. Because of this, it is important that the organization has knowledge of how to adapt its crisis communication in social media to the type of crisis that Covid-19 is. Therefore, this essay focuses on crisis communication in social media for the professional group of communicators during a pandemic like Covid-19. The purpose is to investigate and identify factors that are important for the professional group of communicators when they are to communicate in crisis on social media, as well as to investigate and identify the most important characteristics of social media to use during a pandemic such as Covid-19.  The essay is based on empirical material in the form of interviews and the method used is a qualitative methodological approach with semi-structured interviews, with the intention of studying the knowledge and experiences that the respondents possess. The thesis is also supported by research in the use of social media during a pandemic and the role of the communicator during a pandemic that together builds a pre-understanding of the subject.  The essay results in six important features of social media that can be used in a crisis such as Covid-19 and five theoretical and practical factors that are important for the communicator to start from in crisis communication during a pandemic. The six important characteristics of social media are dissemination, measurability, ownership, external monitoring, source of information and dialogue. The five factors that the essay resulted in are the situation, resources, factual and fact-based information, fast communication process and interaction. The factors can generate a successful crisis communication during Covid-19 and similar crises.