scholarly journals Pediatric Mental and Behavioral Health in the Period of Quarantine and Social Distancing With COVID-19

10.2196/19867 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. e19867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiancheng Ye
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Clinical Practices ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
The World

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has spread rapidly throughout the world and has had a long-term impact. The pandemic has caused great harm to society and caused serious psychological trauma to many people. Children are a vulnerable group in this global public health emergency, as their nervous systems, endocrine systems, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axes are not well developed. Psychological crises often cause children to produce feelings of abandonment, despair, incapacity, and exhaustion, and even raise the risk of suicide. Children with mental illnesses are especially vulnerable during the quarantine and social distancing period. The inclusion of psychosocial support for children and their families are part of the health responses to disaster and disaster recovery. Based on the biopsychosocial model, some children may have catastrophic thoughts and be prone to experience despair, numbness, flashbacks, and other serious emotional and behavioral reactions. In severe cases, there may be symptoms of psychosis or posttraumatic stress disorder. Timely and appropriate protections are needed to prevent the occurrence of psychological and behavioral problems. The emerging digital applications and health services such as telehealth, social media, mobile health, and remote interactive online education are able to bridge the social distance and support mental and behavioral health for children. Based on the psychological development characteristics of children, this study also illustrates interventions on the psychological impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the world has been struggling to curb the influences of the pandemic, the quarantine and social distancing policies will have long-term impacts on children. Innovative digital solutions and informatics tools are needed more than ever to mitigate the negative consequences on children. Health care delivery and services should envision and implement innovative paradigms to meet broad well-being needs and child health as the quarantine and social distancing over a longer term becomes a new reality. Future research on children's mental and behavioral health should pay more attention to novel solutions that incorporate cutting edge interactive technologies and digital approaches, leveraging considerable advances in pervasive and ubiquitous computing, human-computer interaction, and health informatics among many others. Digital approaches, health technologies, and informatics are supposed to be designed and implemented to support public health surveillance and critical responses to children’s growth and development. For instance, human-computer interactions, augmented reality, and virtual reality could be incorporated to remote psychological supporting service for children’s health; mobile technologies could be used to monitor children’s mental and behavioral health while protecting their individual privacy; big data and artificial intelligence could be used to support decision making on whether children should go out for physical activities and whether schools should be reopened. Implications to clinical practices, psychological therapeutic practices, and future research directions to address current effort gaps are highlighted in this study.

scholarly journals Pediatric Mental and Behavioral Health in the Period of Quarantine and Social Distancing With COVID-19 (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiancheng Ye
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Clinical Practices ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
The World

UNSTRUCTURED The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has spread rapidly throughout the world and has had a long-term impact. The pandemic has caused great harm to society and caused serious psychological trauma to many people. Children are a vulnerable group in this global public health emergency, as their nervous systems, endocrine systems, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axes are not well developed. Psychological crises often cause children to produce feelings of abandonment, despair, incapacity, and exhaustion, and even raise the risk of suicide. Children with mental illnesses are especially vulnerable during the quarantine and social distancing period. The inclusion of psychosocial support for children and their families are part of the health responses to disaster and disaster recovery. Based on the biopsychosocial model, some children may have catastrophic thoughts and be prone to experience despair, numbness, flashbacks, and other serious emotional and behavioral reactions. In severe cases, there may be symptoms of psychosis or posttraumatic stress disorder. Timely and appropriate protections are needed to prevent the occurrence of psychological and behavioral problems. The emerging digital applications and health services such as telehealth, social media, mobile health, and remote interactive online education are able to bridge the social distance and support mental and behavioral health for children. Based on the psychological development characteristics of children, this study also illustrates interventions on the psychological impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the world has been struggling to curb the influences of the pandemic, the quarantine and social distancing policies will have long-term impacts on children. Innovative digital solutions and informatics tools are needed more than ever to mitigate the negative consequences on children. Health care delivery and services should envision and implement innovative paradigms to meet broad well-being needs and child health as the quarantine and social distancing over a longer term becomes a new reality. Future research on children's mental and behavioral health should pay more attention to novel solutions that incorporate cutting edge interactive technologies and digital approaches, leveraging considerable advances in pervasive and ubiquitous computing, human-computer interaction, and health informatics among many others. Digital approaches, health technologies, and informatics are supposed to be designed and implemented to support public health surveillance and critical responses to children’s growth and development. For instance, human-computer interactions, augmented reality, and virtual reality could be incorporated to remote psychological supporting service for children’s health; mobile technologies could be used to monitor children’s mental and behavioral health while protecting their individual privacy; big data and artificial intelligence could be used to support decision making on whether children should go out for physical activities and whether schools should be reopened. Implications to clinical practices, psychological therapeutic practices, and future research directions to address current effort gaps are highlighted in this study.

scholarly journals Workshop on Emerging Technology and Data Analytics for Behavioral Health (Preprint)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kotz ◽  
Sarah E Lord ◽  
A James O'Malley ◽  
Luke Stark ◽  
Lisa A. Marsch
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Health Behavior Change ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Dartmouth College ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
User Experience Design ◽  
Health Technologies

UNSTRUCTURED Wearable and portable digital devices can support self-monitoring for patients with chronic medical conditions, individuals seeking to reduce stress, and people seeking to modify health-related behaviors such as substance use or overeating. The resulting data may be used directly by a consumer, or shared with a clinician for treatment, a caregiver for assistance, or a health coach for support. The data can also be used by researchers to develop and evaluate just-in-time interventions that leverage mobile technology to help individuals manage their symptoms and behavior in real time and as needed. Such wearable systems have huge potential for promoting delivery of anywhere-anytime health care, improving public health, and enhancing the quality of life for many people. The Center for Technology and Behavioral Health at Dartmouth College, a P30 “Center of Excellence” supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, conducted a workshop in February 2017 on innovations in emerging technology, user-centered design, and data analytics for behavioral health, with presentations by a diverse range of experts in the field. The workshop focused on wearable and mobile technologies being used in clinical and research contexts, with an emphasis on applications in mental health, addiction, and health behavior change. In this paper, we summarize the workshop panels on mobile sensing, user experience design, statistics and machine learning, and privacy and security, and conclude with suggested research directions for this important and emerging field of applying digital approaches to behavioral health. Workshop insights yielded four key directions for future research: (1) a need for behavioral health researchers to work iteratively with experts in emerging technology and data analytics, (2) a need for research into optimal user-interface design for behavioral health technologies, (3) a need for privacy-oriented design from the beginning of a novel technology, and (4) the need to develop new analytical methods that can scale to thousands of individuals and billions of data points.

The Courts, the Remote Hearing and the Pandemic: From Action to Reflection

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Legg ◽  
Anthony Song
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Data Gap

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, courts around the world rapidly shifted to remote hearings. Balancing public health directives with the need to continue upholding the rule of law, what followed was the largest, unforeseen mass-pilot of remote hearings across the world. For courts this was necessarily a time of action, not reflection. However, after having maintained court operations, it is now necessary to reflect on the experience of remote courts and their users during an otherwise unprecedented situation. Unlike previous iterations of remote hearings, the COVID-19 experience was fully remote – whereby all participants took part in the hearing remotely. The difficulty is until now, almost no prior empirical data has existed on this type of fully remote hearing with the majority of previous research focused on the use of audiovisual links (‘AVLs’) to facilitate partially remote appearances within courtrooms. To bridge the research and data gap on fully remote hearings, this article draws on the previous body of literature to both examine the COVID-19 experience, and to assist in guiding future research and use of remote hearings.

scholarly journals The Effects of Air Pollution on COVID-19 Infection and Mortality—A Review on Recent Evidence

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurshad Ali ◽  
Farjana Islam
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Nitrogen Dioxide ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The World ◽  
Harmful Effects

The outbreak of COVID-19 has created a serious public health concern worldwide. Although, most of the regions around the globe have been affected by COVID-19 infections; some regions are more badly affected in terms of infections and fatality rates than others. The exact reasons for such variations are not clear yet. This review discussed the possible effects of air pollution on COVID-19 infections and mortality based on some recent evidence. The findings of most studies reviewed here demonstrate that both short-term and long-term exposure to air pollution especially PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may contribute significantly to higher rates of COVID-19 infections and mortalities with a lesser extent also PM10. A significant correlation has been found between air pollution and COVID-19 infections and mortality in some countries in the world. The available data also indicate that exposure to air pollution may influence COVID-19 transmission. Moreover, exposure to air pollution may increase vulnerability and have harmful effects on the prognosis of patients affected by COVID-19 infections. Further research should be conducted considering some potential confounders such as age and pre-existing medical conditions along with exposure to NO2, PM2.5 and other air pollutants to confirm their detrimental effects on mortalities from COVID-19.

scholarly journals On the Delta Plus Variant of SARS-CoV-2

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 52-55
Author(s):  
Selia Chowdhury ◽  
Mehedi Hasan Bappy
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Vaccine Efficacy ◽  
World Health ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
The World ◽  
Associated Symptoms ◽  
Health Organization

The unprecedented consequences brought by the COVID pandemic are still going on, the virus hasn’t been tamed yet. It is evolving through mutations to consistently being a risk to public health. Recently, the Delta variant has been declared as the variant of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO). In this article, a subvariant of Delta known as Delta Plus has been presented to provide a relevant foundation for future research works. The evolution, pathogenesis, associated symptoms, suggested prevention and treatments, vaccine efficacy, and current trends of transmission of Delta Plus variant of SARS-CoV-2 are reviewed and discussed.

Sleep and pain

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole K. Y. Tang ◽  
Esther F. Afolalu ◽  
Fatanah Ramlee
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Long Term Conditions ◽  
Treatment Development ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Pain and sleeplessness are two of the commonest reasons for primary care appointments. The prevalence of each problem alone is high, and to add to the complexity, pain and insomnia frequently co-occur, with pain interrupting sleep and pain being further aggravated following a poor night’s sleep. Sleep and pain management are increasingly recognized as important to public health. In particular, insomnia and chronic pain are long-term conditions that actively contribute to morbidity, disability, economic burden to society, and suffering to the individual and immediate family. This chapter examines the interrelationship between the two at the population level. Specifically, evidence from population-based studies regarding the co-occurrence and temporal link of pain and sleep is reviewed, with moderators and mediators of the relationship highlighted. Possible directions for future research and treatment development are also outlined.

scholarly journals COVID-19 in Iran: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Strategies for Preparedness – A Report From the Field

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morteza Arab-Zozani ◽  
Djavad Ghoddoosi-Nejad
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Seasonal Influenza ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Hand Washing ◽  
Social Awareness ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Preventive Actions ◽  
The World ◽  
First Onset ◽  
Successful Control

ABSTRACT The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel unknown virus that is challenging whole countries all over the world, has prompted different strategies from various governments. Iran, as one of the first countries to experience the onset of the virus outbreak, made and implemented some policies that should be assessed, so that lessons may be learned for the future. Although some negative actions and policies, such as delays in cancellation of international flights especially from China, not taking the disease seriously and comparing it with seasonal influenza, and the like, are hard to ignore, some impressive actions are also vividly clear. Policies, such as social distancing, dramatically increasing social awareness about preventive actions in terms of public health, and using masks and hand washing, were cost-effective policies that resulted in successful control of the virus in the first onset. While some quite clearly ineffective decisions were made by Iranian authorities, the huge catastrophic effect of sanctions cannot be forgotten. Possibly in level situations with similar countries, Iran will have far better results regarding preparedness for future pandemics like COVID-19.

scholarly journals Validating a Phenomenological Mathematical Model for Public Health and Safety Interventions Influencing the Evolutionary Stages of Recent Outbreak for Long-Term and Short-Term Domains in Pakistan

Complexity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahsan Nawaz ◽  
Xing Su ◽  
Shahid Iqbal ◽  
Hafiz Zahoor ◽  
Ali Asad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
The World ◽  
Recent Outbreak ◽  
Safety Interventions ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
The Right

During the outbreak of an epidemic, it becomes significantly essential to monitor the effects of containment measures and forecast the outbreak, including the epidemic peak. Many countries have either implemented strict lockdown to counter the spread of coronavirus disease or taken necessary preventive measures across the world to reduce the outbreak of this epidemic war. Several epidemic models have been presented across the world to examine the effects of public health-related strategies on mitigating the spread of current infectious disease, yet no reputable model has been presented for Pakistan as well as other South-Asian developing countries as per the authors’ knowledge. In this research, an actual coronavirus prediction in Pakistan is presented, which may guide the decision-makers as to how this pandemic has spread across the country and how it can be controlled. Furthermore, in the absence of targeted medicines, the analysis helps to develop a precise plan for the eradication of the outbreak by adopting the calculated steps at the right time. The mathematical phenomenological models have been adopted in this study to predict, project, and simulate the overall affected cases reflected due to the recent outbreak in Pakistan. These models predict the expected growth, and the estimated results are almost well matched with the real cases. Through the calibration of parameters and analyzing the current situation, forecast for the appearance of new cases in Pakistan is reported till the end of this year. The constant level of number of patients and time to reach specific levels are also reported through the simulations. The drastic conditions are also discussed which may occur if all the preventive restraints are removed. This research quantitatively describes the significant characteristics of the spread of corona cases. It acknowledges and provides an understanding of a short-term and long-term transmission of coronavirus outbreak in the country as three evolutionary phases. Therefore, this research provides a pathway to cope with the emerging threat of a severe outbreak in developing and nondeveloping countries.

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