“Covid Was a Worldwide Pandemic That Caused Trauma for Everyone... There Were Also ‘Silver-linings’” – Adult and Youth Qualitative Perspectives

American Journal of Qualitative Research · 2025-04-21 · 3 citations

The global COVID-19 pandemic had both detrimental and positive impacts on children, youth, and families. To inform policy and public health recommendations for future services, resources, and mandates, there is a need to take a more holistic approach to understanding stress, adaptations, role shifts, and resilience from multiple perspectives. Using an open-ended question format, this study surveyed parents, childcare providers, and youth (ages 12-17) about their experiences with the pandemic in general and changes observed in their children (adult participants) and themselves (youth participants). Data from 479 participants were analyzed. Via thematic content analysis, nine themes emerged that are organized into five categories: (1) Developmental, (2) impact on loss, (3) modified connections with others, (4) adjustment, and (5) mandate and financial woes. With developmental maturity also came developmental delays. Participants reported heightened anxiety, sadness, and fear of death and illness that is related to the fact that many experienced grief in many ways. Participants reported a variety of adaptive coping strategies that helped them appear resilient. The change to online schooling was particularly challenging for many parents and educators. Some perceived the pandemic mandates to be harmful without alternatives being considered. There is a cautionary tale to be told about public health acceptance and relevance for physical, psychological, and financial health. Families shifted their priorities. Connections with others were strained due to different opinions. Recommendations are offered in preparation for future pandemics that may help families, adults, and youth experience more silver linings and fewer thorns.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of para-veterinary workers about ticks and tick-borne diseases in three provinces of Pakistan

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-08-07

Abstract There is a high prevalence of tick infestation in Pakistani livestock, affecting more than 45% of the population of more than 200 million small and large ruminants. Most livestock farmers seek assistance from para-veterinary workers, who fall under the definition of Veterinary Paraprofessionals (VPPs), according to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). There is a shortage of information concerning the awareness of these para-veterinary workers regarding tick control and management. This study aims to bridge this critical knowledge gap by conducting a cross-sectional survey that evaluates the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of para-veterinary workers about tick-borne diseases (TBDs) in Pakistan. Between March and August 2023, we conducted a web-based survey among para-veterinary workers recruited via email, text message, and face-to-face conversations. Poisson regression was used to identify factors associated with knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) scores related to TBDs. We received 118 responses from three provinces; only 27.9% ( n = 33) responded that they had attended workshops related to ticks and TBDs. Attending workshops was associated with higher KAP scores. All section scores were correlated, and higher knowledge scores were significantly associated with lower odds of tick exposure. Our findings suggest that workshop attendance is important in increasing overall awareness and promoting better practices regarding TBDs.

COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences Among Adults, Youth, and Childcare Providers: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

2025-05-14

<sec> <title>BACKGROUND</title> The COVID-19 pandemic challenged families, youth, and frontline workers, including childcare providers. Studying lived experiences before, during, and near the pandemic’s end from multiple perspectives provides a more holistic and deeper understanding of its effects and impacts. </sec> <sec> <title>OBJECTIVE</title> This study investigated how parental, childcare provider, and youth stress, mental health, and role overload relate to individual coping and family functioning, as well as vaccine attitudes and uptake patterns among youth, parents, and childcare providers. Information learned from this investigation will inform policy and messaging for future public health crises. </sec> <sec> <title>METHODS</title> This study is an explanatory sequential mixed methods study designed to capture the voices of parents of children younger than 18 years of age, childcare providers, and youth aged 12-17 years through surveys and interviews. This retrospective cross-sectional study began with a web-based survey that included demographic questions and validated scales to assess personal well-being, household and family dynamics, behavioral problems, and vaccination-related perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. Open-ended responses about pandemic experiences for themselves and their families were included. A subsample of parents, youth, and childcare providers was selected for in-depth interviews about their pandemic-related experiences. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize demographic characteristics, and internal consistency was assessed for all survey measures using Cronbach α. Future studies will use inferential statistical techniques to analyze survey measures, thematic analysis for open-ended survey responses and interview data, and mixed methods data integration to synthesize quantitative and qualitative findings. </sec> <sec> <title>RESULTS</title> Data collection for the study began in August 2022 and finished in August 2023. Data analysis is currently in progress to address research questions, and study preparation and dissemination efforts are underway. A total of 506 adults and 93 youths answered a study survey, and 45 adults and 21 youths completed in-depth interviews. Among the 506 adults, 166 were childcare providers. The adult sample had a mean age of 42.8 (SD 9.15) years and was predominantly female (467/506, 92.3%), with 9.7% (49/506) identifying as Black, 4.7% (24/506) as Hispanic, and 81.2% (411/506) being parents of children aged 17 years or younger. The youth sample had a mean age of 14.5 (SD 1.63) years, and 55.9% (52/93) were female, 6.4% (6/93) were Black, and 17.2% (16/93) were Hispanic. Several dyads and triads participated. The sample included 42 parent-child dyads, 3 parent-parent dyads, 2 parent-parent-child triads, and 21 parent-child-child triads. </sec> <sec> <title>CONCLUSIONS</title> These data will be used to understand the diverse experiences of families, youth, and childcare providers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes successful and unsuccessful adaptations, responses to policies and mandates, and the unmet needs for health messaging, programs, policies, and services. This research aims to guide the development of effective policies and public health communication, fostering scalable and sustainable messaging resources. </sec> <sec> <title>INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT</title> DERR1-10.2196/77521 </sec>

A quantitative and qualitative assessment of differential privacy’s ability to support collaborative research using a real-world data analysis

JAMIA Open · 2025-11-03

Objective: Sharing clinical data for research that is both collaborative and privacy-preserving remains a challenge. Differential privacy (DP) offers a solution by introducing noise to query results. Using the PrivateSQL DP platform, this study assesses the resulting utility of differentially private data at different levels of aggregation through analyses of COVID-19 pandemic associations with new cancer diagnosis counts (NCCs). Materials and Methods: Data from a multi-hospital system for adult (18-90 years) encounters from 2019-2021 with apparently new cancer diagnoses were extracted, then queried using standard SQL ("original") and DP, each with 1-week and 4-week aggregations. Analyses on the 4 datasets included NCCs by year and multivariate regression models of associations between COVID-19 positivity rates (by county) and change in NCCs between pre- and post-COVID-19 start. Results: NCCs dropped in 2020, rebounding in 2021. This same pattern was demonstrated in the 4-week, but not the 1-week, DP dataset. Confidence intervals were substantially narrower in regressions using original datasets compared to those using DP datasets, and narrower in DP dataset regressions using 4-week rather than 1-week aggregation. Post-hoc sensitivity analyses found significant associations with 2 variables of interest on the original datasets (though these have methodologic limitations), but not the DP datasets. Discussion: DP reduces analytic accuracy to protect data privacy, but aggregation mitigated this tradeoff. Strategies for using DP in healthcare research and potential opportunities to enhance the DP platform were identified. Conclusion: DP platform enhancements for hypothesis-driven medical studies may expand DP's ability to support fruitful, cross-institutional research collaborations.

Editorial: Intestinal Ultrasound for the Assessment of Constipation—Out of the Shadows? Authors' Reply

Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics · 2025-08-14 · 1 citations

We appreciate the insightful comments by Vos and colleagues on our expert position statement on the role of intestinal ultrasound (IUS) in luminal contents assessment [1]. IUS is a rapidly evolving area emerging as an alternative modality for the assessment of disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI) [2]. Patients with DGBI are exposed to more ionising radiation than healthy controls; IUS offers safety, cost effectiveness, and accuracy over conventional assessment methods [3]. Until recently, however, IUS for functional assessment has remained in the realm of paediatrics, with a paucity of adult studies and a lack of description or validation of sonographic parameters [4]. Our position statement [2] was intended to serve as initial guidance and a summation of current evidence. A narrative review has further summarised available evidence on luminal contents assessment [5]. A study performed in a DGBI cohort did not find a correlation between sonographic findings and symptoms, but did suggest that IUS was useful in identifying those patients who would benefit from therapy for constipation rather than treatment of diarrhoea due to identification of faecal loading [6]. Together, these set the scene for IUS in the assessment of luminal contents in clinical practice. However, they clearly illustrate knowledge gaps and the need for further research. Small studies have shown that IUS is as accurate as computed tomography [7, 8]. However, prospective, blinded, and centrally read studies are required to measure the accuracy and validity of IUS in measuring luminal contents, to improve reliability and uptake in both clinical trials and practice [9]. The Sonographic Examination and Assessment of Ulcerative Colitis Associated Constipation (SEE UCAC trial, ACTRN12622001207707) is the first prospective, blinded, and centrally read study to directly compare the accuracy of luminal contents assessment against CT scan with ultrasound. Interim results of 63 patients suggest close correlation between IUS and CT in assessing luminal contents as well as excellent inter-rater agreement between sonographic parameters [10]. The body of evidence supporting the use of IUS in clinical practice has remained in the assessment of inflammation, particularly in adults. It is now with great optimism that we see the increasing interest and growing potential of IUS in the assessment of DGBI and luminal contents emerging from the shadows into the spotlight. Ryan M. Mathias: conceptualization; writing – original draft. Thomas M. Goodsall: writing – review and editing. Claire E. Parker: writing – review and editing. Alice S. Day: writing – review and editing. Yoon K. An: writing – review and editing. Brandon Baraty: writing – review and editing. Chamara Basnayake: writing – review and editing. Jakob Begun: writing – review and editing. Ray K. Boyapati: writing – review and editing. Rebecca Burgell: writing – review and editing. Michael T. Dolinger: writing – review and editing. Giovanni Maconi: writing – review and editing. Kerri L. Novak: writing – review and editing. Shintaro Sagami: writing – review and editing. Rebecca L. Smith: writing – review and editing. Ashish R. Srinivasan: writing – review and editing. Stuart A. Taylor: writing – review and editing. Vipul Jairath: writing – review and editing. Christopher Ma: writing – review and editing. Robert V. Bryant: writing – review and editing; Supervision. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This article is linked to Mathias et al. papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.70250 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.70300. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Distrust, trauma, doubt, and protective reactions to coronavirus disease 2019: cautionary tales and lessons to learn for future pandemics: a case report

Journal of Medical Case Reports · 2025-03-21 · 3 citations

BACKGROUND: Vaccine uptake has declined since the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic began. The pandemic changed people's perception about vaccination due to factors such as increasing mistrust in government, spread of misinformation, fear of side effects, unclear communication, concerns about rushed vaccine development, and opposition to mandates infringing on personal choice. Understanding different perspectives on vaccine decision-making is crucial for informing effective approaches to communicating about vaccines. CASE PRESENTATION: This study presents three cases with varying attitudes and behaviors about vaccination for coronavirus disease 2019, traditional childhood illnesses, and influenza influenced by different contexts and experiences. The cases span the continuum of vaccine hesitancy and uptake, from distrustful and resistant (Alexis, 56-year-old non-Hispanic White American female), through resentment for mandated uptake of the expedited coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine versus trust of long-standing preventive vaccines (Nia, 51-year-old non-Hispanic Black American female), to accepting and adopting (David, 38-year-old non-Hispanic White American male). These cases have similarities and differences across ten key "themes," including vaccine attitudes; decision-making motivations; prioritizing family's health; influence of past vaccination trauma on decision-making; significance of social support; the importance of information to guide decisions; (dis)trust in news, social media, and politicians; disappointment in humanity; future recommendations including respecting individual autonomy and providing the necessary information for individual decision-making; and openness to future vaccines. CONCLUSION: The long-term impact of the public health response-including vaccine mandates-and aftermath of stigmatization of people with differing and less socially desirable vaccine beliefs on vaccine uptake and health and medical service engagement remains unknown. By drawing on rich, nuanced information collected from individuals at a time of intense national dialogue around vaccines, these three case studies offer unique and novel insights into how the dialogue around vaccine uptake should evolve to meet the needs of different people. These findings have implications for broadly promoting public health engagement by hearing varied experiences and tailoring approaches to reach diverse groups of individuals. Findings from these cases provide insights and recommendations for tailoring future pandemic-related responses to audiences with similar beliefs and experiences as those presented in these cases.

Introduction

2025-11-14

A weather-driven mathematical model of Culex population abundance and the impact of vector control interventions

Ecological Informatics · 2025-05-16 · 2 citations

Even as the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile Virus (WNV) in North America has risen over the past several decades, effectively modelling mosquito population density or abundance has proven to be a persistent challenge. It is critical to capture the fluctuations in mosquito abundance across seasons in order to forecast the varying risk of pathogen transmission from one year to the next. We develop a process-based mechanistic weather-driven Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) model to study the population biology of both aquatic and terrestrial stages of mosquito population. The progression of mosquito lifecycle through these stages is influenced by different factors, including temperature, daylight hours, intra-species competition and the availability of aquatic habitats. In our work, weather-driven parameters are derived from a combination of laboratory research and data from the literature. In our model, we include precipitation data as a substitute for evaluating additional mortality in the mosquito population. We compute the Basic offspring number of the associated model and perform sensitivity analysis. Finally, we employ our model to assess the effectiveness of various adulticides strategies to predict the reduction in mosquito population. This enhancement in modelling of mosquito abundance can be instrumental in guiding interventions aimed at reducing mosquito populations and mitigating mosquito-borne diseases such as the WNV. This model could help optimise the timing of adulticide applications and evaluate the impact of multiple spray events within a short period. • We have built and calibrated a mechanistic, process-based mathematical model for the dynamics of Culex population by incorporating entomological data and weather-driven factors. • We have computed an analytical expression of Basic offspring number : R 0 F . • Global sensitivity analysis has revealed the impact of mortality rate of larvae due to flushing in R 0 F . • We have evaluated and compared different adulticide spraying practices employed by the Northwest Mosquito Abatement District and the optimal spraying option has been identified.

Saliva Has High Sensitivity and Specificity for Detecting SARS-CoV-2 Compared to Nasal Swabs but Exhibits Different Viral Dynamics from Days of Symptom Onset

Diagnostics · 2025-07-30 · 1 citations

Background/Objectives: Saliva as a diagnostic medium for COVID-19 requires fewer resources to collect and is more readily adopted across a range of testers. Our study compared an Emergency Use Authorized direct saliva-to-RT-qPCR test against an FDA-authorized nasal swab RT-qPCR assay for participants who reported symptoms of respiratory infection. Methods: We analyzed 737 symptomatic participants who self-selected to test at either a community testing facility or a walk-in clinic due to respiratory symptoms and provided matched saliva and nasal swab samples. Samples were collected between March and September of 2023, both before and after the declared end of the public health emergency. Results: A total of 120 participants tested positive in at least one of the tests. For participants testing in the first 5 days of reported symptoms, the saliva test had a 94.0 positive percent agreement (PPA; 95% C.I. 88.9–99.1%) with the nasal test and a 99.0 negative percent agreement (NPA; 95% C.I. 98.1–99.9%). The viral load decreased beyond day 1 of reported symptoms for saliva testing. Viral load increased up to day 4 for nasal swabs and then decreased. The same number of discordant positive samples (five each) occurred for both tests within 5 days of symptoms onset. Conclusions: In the endemic phase of COVID-19 and for development of new tests, testing methods that are less invasive are more likely to be adopted. The results of saliva-based versus nasal swab PCR measurements relative to days of symptom onset are needed to optimize future testing strategies.

Conclusion

2025-11-14