• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.222-234
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• 2022

Purpose: This study investigated the changes in the health-related behaviors of adult women in Korea during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: Data from the eighth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2019-2020) were analyzed. The participants were 4,848 women aged 19 to 64 years in 2019 and 2020. Data analysis using the complex sampling design was performed using SPSS 20.1. Results: Positive changes during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic in Korean adult women were found for improved subjective oral health perceptions (odds ratio [OR], 1.77; p<.001), increased moderate-intensity exercise in work and leisure activities (OR, 1.75; p<.001 and OR; 1.29, p=.004), and a decrease in secondhand smoke exposure at the workplace and in public places (OR, 0.64; p=.004 and OR, 0.60; p<.001). However, the following negative health behavior changes were found: decreased frequency of walking 5 days a week (OR, 0.81; p=.011) and an increase in unhealthy daytime sleep durations (OR, 1.40; p=006). Conclusion: Compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, Korean adult women perceived their subjective dental health more positively during the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased their exposure to secondhand smoke at work and in public places, decreased walking, and increased sleep duration during the week. Since this study only compared data between 1 year before and after the start of the pandemic, it is necessary to investigate a longer period of time in the future. A future study should attempt to identify the factors related to changes in health behaviors caused by the pandemic.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.183-208
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• 2022

Purpose - The main purpose of this study is to widely investigate the impact of recent pandemic crises on the synchronization of the world capital markets through 25 stock indices from major developed countries. Design/methodology/approach - This study collects 25 stock indices from major developed countries and the time period is between January 5, 2001 and February 24, 2022. The data sets used in the study include finance.yahoo.com and Investing.com.. The Granger causality analysis, unit-root test, VAR analysis, and forecasting error variance decomposition were hired in order to analyze the data. Findings - First, there are significant inter-relations among 25 countries around recent major pandemic crises(such as SARS, A(H1N1), MERS, and COVID19), which is consistent result with previous literature. Second, COVID19 shows much stronger impact on the world-wide synchronization than other pandemics. Third, the return volatility of each stock market varies, unit root tests show that daily stock index data are unstable while daily stock index returns are stable, and VAR(Vector Auto Regression) analyses presents significant inter-relations among 25 capital markets. Fourth, from the impulse response function analyses, we find that each market affects the other markets for short term periods, about 2~4 days, and no long term effect was not found. Fifth, Granger causality tests show one-side or two-sides synchronization between capital markets and we estimate, through forecasting error variance decomposition method, that the explanatory portions of each capital market on other markets vary from 10 to 80%. Research implications or Originality - The above results all together show that pandemic crises have strong effects on the synchronization of world capital markets and imply that these synchronizations should be carefully considered both in the investment decisions by individual investors and in the financial and economic policies by governments.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.7-14
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• 2022

COVID-19 has caused a global disturbance, increased anxiety, and panic, eliciting diverse reactions. While its cure has not been discovered, new infection cases and fatalities are being recorded daily. The focus of the present study was to analyze the reaction of gifted undergraduate students on social media during the quarantine period of the COVID-19. A special group of gifted students, who joined the program of attracting and nurturing talents at the University of Jeddah, University students as were the target sample of this study. To analyze online reactions during the pandemic; the choice of university students was arrived at as they are perceived to be gifted academically. Hence, the analysis of the impacts on their behavior on social media use is imperative. This study presented accurate and consistent data on the effects of social media using Twitter platforms on gifted students during the quarantine occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The behavior of learners due to during the use of social media was extensively explored and results analyzed. The study was carried out between April and May 2020 (quarantine period in Saudi Arabia) to establish whether the online behavior of gifted students reflects positive or negative feelings. The methods used in conducting this study the research were online interviews and scraping participants' Twitter accounts (where most of the online activities and studies take place). The study employed the Activity theory to analyze the behavior of gifted students on social media. The sample size used was 60 students, and the analysis of their behavior was based on Activity theory Overall, the results showed proactive, positive behavior for coping with a challenging situation, educating society, and entertaining. Finally, this study recommends investing in gifted students due to their valuable problem-solving skills that can help handle global pandemics efficiently.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

This study examined the relationship between depression, anxiety, stress, and adaptation to college life of international students living in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors affecting the adaptation to college life. This study was carried out between December 3, 2021, to January 25, 2022, on international students living in South Korea. The questionnaires were composed of self-reported questionnaires, and the survey URL was sent as text messages to international students who understood the purpose and rationale of this study and consented to participate in the survey. The data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 22.0, and t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient, and hierarchical regression were performed. As a result of the study, the average score of the study subjects was 8.44 points for depression, 8.28 points for anxiety, and 9. 28 points for stress. factors with significant differences in adaptation to college life according to general characteristics were living means and smoking. The relationship between the main variables, it was significant with depression (r=-.785, p<.001), anxiety (r=-.593, p<.001), and stress (r=-.726, p<.001). There was one negative correlation. It was found that the higher the depression, anxiety, and stress, the lower the college life adaptation. Lastly, depression (β=-.666, p<.001) was the factor affecting foreign students' adaptation to college life, and the explanatory power was 62%. Therefore, for international students to adapt to college life, it is necessary to establish an institutional strategy to detect depression, a negative psychological emotion, at an early stage and to systematically manage it. Also, it is necessary to find an intervention plan to relieve depression that can be applied in social isolation situations due to the spread of infectious diseases. Research confirming the intervention effect should be upgraded.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.123-132
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify factors related to hand washing practice among adolescents before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The study was conducted using data from the 15th~16th (2019~2020) Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey, and the subjects of the study were 57,303 and 54,948 people who participated in the 2019 and 2020 study, respectively. The data were analyzed with frequency test, rao-scott 𝑥² test and multiple logistic regression analysis using SPSS 27.0. Results: Changes in the hand washing practice rate were observed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in all five behaviors; before eating in school, after using the toilet in school, before eating at home, after using the toilet at home, and after returning home. The study found that the hand washing practice rate increased by 1.21-2.43 times after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, as a result of logistic regression analysis, the hand washing practice rate before and after the COVID-19 pandemic was related to gender, region, school grade, school type, economic status, health status, and personal hygiene education experience. Conclusion: This study confirmed the importance of hand washing education to improve the hand washing practice rate in adolescents. It is necessary to develop and apply an effective youth hand washing education program in consideration of various variables that appeared as significant factors influencing the hand washing practice rate before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.103-111
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to identify the influencing factors on aging anxiety by middle-aged men in rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemics. The design of this study was descriptive survey study. The participants were 180 middle-aged men aged 45 to 64 living in G province. Collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis with SPSS statistics 26.0 program. As a result of regression analysis, As a result of regression analysis, influencing factors on aging anxiety were stress(β=.10, p=.004), economic difficulties (β=.16, p=.007), COVID-19 psychological distress(β=.18, p=.003), family care burdens(β=.50, p<.001), and the explanatory power of the variables was 60.5%(F=55.93, p<.001). In the future, interventions are needed to manage aging anxiety and stress in middle-aged men, and support policies are needed to reduce psychological distress and overcome economic difficulties caused by COVID-19.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.57-69
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• 2022

Purpose: This study was performed to explore and describe the overall clinical practice adaptation experiences among nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This qualitative study applied the grounded theory method by Corbin and Strauss. Data were collected from May to August 2021 through individual in-depth interviews with 14 nursing students from three universities in B metropolitan city. Results: From open coding, 20 sub-categories and 10 categories were identified. Analysis revealed that the core category was the process of "keeping the place of learning while adhering to the restrictions of the era of pandemic" and that it consisted of four phases: confusion, withdrawal, adjustment, and growth. Through this process, participants utilized various action/interactional strategies such as "shifting to positive thinking," "building a shield to protect oneself," and "focusing on learning." The consequences of these strategies were "adapting to the reality of the infectious disease situation" and "strengthening a foothold to grow as a future nurse." Conclusion: An in-depth understanding of nursing students' experiences of adapting to clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic will guide nursing educators to promote effective teaching strategies to better support nursing students in a time of infectious disease crisis.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.247-260
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the characteristics and competencies of practice experienced by public health center nurses(PHNs) during the early response phase of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: PHNs were recruited from public health centers(PHC) in ten cities in Korea, using purposive sampling. They participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews from December 21, 2020, to February 18, 2021. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Three themes and nine categories were drawn from the findings. The three themes that emerged from the data analysis were as follows: 'Handling expanding work scope and overwhelming workload beyond prepared competencies, willing to go anywhere.', 'Performing tasks of cooperation and communication required in the disaster management administrative system.', 'Demonstrated proficiency in clinical nursing practices, but recognized the need for further development of leadership and administrative capabilities.' Conclusions: The experiences of the subjects' have implications for the development of content for community nursing education that cultivates basic competencies to respond to real pandemic situations during undergraduate education. It is proposed that it would be necessary to establish a support system for developing specialized competencies in public health nursing.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.80-91
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• 2022

Objective : Hospital workers' mental health has deteriorated because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of hospital workers and its determinants. Methods : Two surveys were conducted among employees working in a hospital that received COVID-19 patients from the early phase of the pandemic in South Korea. Data on demographics, perceived threat, workplace evaluation, resilience, and mental health status were collected using the Korean General Health Questionnaire-20 in the initial phase (February 2020) and during the third wave of COVID-19 (December 2020) for 467 and 545 workers, respectively. The mental health of hospital workers in the two phases was compared, and the risk and protective factors during the third wave were investigated. Results : The proportion of patients in the psychiatric high-risk group increased from 2.8% in the initial phase to 11.4% during the third wave. The perceived threat, workplace evaluation, and resilience of respondents deteriorated. Risk factors for mental health during the third wave included the perceived threat items of job stress, loss of control, and considering resignation. Protective factors included presence of children, workplace satisfaction, and hardiness in resilience. Conclusion : Hospital workers' mental health deteriorated as the pandemic progressed. General stress and tension such as job stress, loss of control, considering resignation rather than COVID-19-specific stress had negative effects on mental health of hospital workers. Therefore, care for work stress itself can be helpful to maintain the mental health of hospital workers. Also, governance to improve workplace satisfaction or hardiness in resilience can be a potential protective factor for hospital workers' mental health during the prolonged pandemic.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.134-143
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• 2022

Objectives: Many governments have imposed-and are still imposing-mobility restrictions to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, there is no consensus on whether policy-induced reductions of human mobility effectively reduce the effective reproduction number (Rt) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Several studies based on country-restricted data reported conflicting trends in the change of the SARS-CoV-2 Rt following mobility restrictions. The objective of this study was to examine, at the global scale, the existence of regional specificities in the correlations between Rt and human mobility. Methods: We computed the Rt of SARS-CoV-2 using data on worldwide infection cases reported by the Johns Hopkins University, and analyzed the correlation between Rt and mobility indicators from the Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports in 125 countries, as well as states/regions within the United States, using the Pearson correlation test, linear modeling, and quadratic modeling. Results: The correlation analysis identified countries where Rt negatively correlated with residential mobility, as expected by policymakers, but also countries where Rt positively correlated with residential mobility and countries with more complex correlation patterns. The correlations between Rt and residential mobility were non-linear in many countries, indicating an optimal level above which increasing residential mobility is counterproductive. Conclusions: Our results indicate that, in order to effectively reduce viral circulation, mobility restriction measures must be tailored by region, considering local cultural determinants and social behaviors. We believe that our results have the potential to guide differential refinement of mobility restriction policies at a country/regional resolution.