Relationships between Occupational Stress, Change in Work Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms among Non-Healthcare Workers in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study aims to clarify the effect of occupational stress and changes in the work environment on non-healthcare workers’ (HCWs) mental health during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted from 16 to 17 December 2020. Data from 807 non-HCWs were included. We evaluated occupational stress using the Generic Job Stress Questionnaire (GJSQ). Depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Japanese version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, respectively. We collected demographic variables, work-related variables, and the variables associated with COVID-19. The adjusted odds ratios for depressive and anxiety groups were estimated using multivariate logistic regression analyses, adjusted for all the demographic variables, work-related variables, COVID-19-related variables, and the six subdivided GJSQ subscales. The results confirm a relationship between variance in workload, job future ambiguity, social support from coworkers, having contact with COVID-19 patients, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Paying attention to job future ambiguity, the variance in workload at the workplace and individual perspectives, promoting contact and support among coworkers using online communication tools, and reducing contact with COVID-19 patients, will be useful for decreasing the depressive and anxiety symptoms among non-HCWs.

Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement through Social Media. Evidence from the University of Salerno

Over the last few decades, stakeholders’ growing attention towards social and environmental issues has challenged universities’ traditional accountability boundaries, imposing the adoption of innovative reporting tools that facilitate stakeholders’ engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices and performances. Against this backdrop, online communication tools, such as websites and social media platforms, have gained momentum as a pivotal means to increase dialogue with the myriad of stakeholders, especially during the pandemic period, as it has dramatically reduced physical interactions. Based on these premises, this study aims to dive deep into the use of social media to communicate CSR strategies in the university context by exploring the case of the University of Salerno. To this end, all posts published by the University of Salerno’s official Twitter account from 2015 to 2021 have been extracted and analyzed. Accordingly, the degree of interactions with stakeholders and the communication direction and balance level have been examined based on Carroll’s pyramid. Findings show a higher level of engagement for CSR posts and, in particular, for the philanthropic dimension. Results also highlight that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Salerno has empowered CSR disclosure through Twitter. The methodology adopted could be replicated for other universities to understand better how public universities use social media to involve a broader range of stakeholders in their CSR practices.

Online Communication Tools in Teaching Foreign Languages for Education Sustainability

Higher education curricula are developed based on creating conditions for implementing many professional and universal competencies. In Russia, one of the significant competencies for a modern specialist is business communication in oral and written forms in the Russian language and a foreign language. Therefore, teaching students to write in a foreign language is one of the modern requirements for young specialists’ professional training. This article aimed to study the tools of online communication that are used in teaching foreign languages. The article presents the results of an empirical study and analysis of factors of application of online communication technologies in foreign languages teaching, synchronous and asynchronous means used in online learning, and the advantages of integrating online communication tools into the educational process of teaching a foreign language. The study of the advantages and disadvantages of educational platforms is based on an analysis of information and online communication technologies used in the educational process. Based on the example of teaching a foreign language, the article shows how online communication platforms are involved in the educational process. Furthermore, the teachers’ and students’ opinions are presented on how online platforms are convenient. The survey involved 928 first-year students and 76 foreign language teachers of Volgograd State University (Volgograd), Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod), Tomsk Polytechnic University (Tomsk), Ural Federal University, named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (Ekaterinburg). It was revealed that the integration of online communication tools has positive effects on the formation and development of written communication skills.

The impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on families of students with special education needs

The Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the most significant events affecting the largest number of countries at the same time around the globe. Governments instituted the closure of schools and lockdown of cities and other areas to prevent the spread of the virus. Students had to learn through online platforms meant to enhance continued learning. The current study aimed to explore the extent to which Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown impact families of students with special education needs. Qualitative approach was used; semi-structured interviews were undertaken using online communication tools via Google Meet platform and for data analysis Atlas.ti program was used for coding and categorizing. The findings revolved around main themes in the study include; behavior problems in the children, psychological distress for the parents, and difficulty of delivering the rigid content and schedules. Implications for school and social support are discussed for policymakers in Jordan. Keywords: COVID 19, families, lockdown, students with special education needs.

“TikTok Is My Life and Snapchat Is My Ventricle”: A Mixed-Methods Study on the Role of Online Communication Tools for Friendships in Early Adolescents

Early adolescents are frequent users of online communication tools (OCTs). Yet, we have limited knowledge about how OCTs influence this population and their friendships. We sought opinions of 938 Austrian early adolescents on the role of OCTs for their friendships via a questionnaire and 207 focus groups. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the focus groups. We found that despite the emergence of some online-specific aggression, OCTs are perceived as beneficial for friendships. Early adolescents use online spaces naturally and differentiate little between online and offline communication. Only when it comes to high levels of intimacy, early adolescents also need an offline setting to fulfill their communication need. Online communication tools, especially newer forms such as online gaming, can surpass a mere communicative function and provide a space for building and maintaining friendships. In the future, OCTs should be considered as a tool to facilitate positive development in early adolescents.

Personality Factors Predicting Cyberbullying and Online Harassment

Today more than half of the world population use the internet and online communication tools. These changes in communication has come with a pay-off, which is cyber aggression. Bullying behavior in physical space has changed its medium. Personality is one of the factors that play a role in traditional bullying and it is related to cyberbullying. Different personality theories examine personality and online harassment behavior relations from different perspectives. Biological theories focus on brain anomalies and hormone-behavior interaction. Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes how cyberspace effect personality. Trait view of personality theories found that different traits which are psychopathy, narcissism, machiavellianism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, consciousness, neuroticism are related to cyberbullying perpetration. In this study, how personality traits related to online bullying behavior is examined. Researchers clearly showed that personality is a crucial factor in cyberbullying behavior. As cyberbullying behavior is complex, there is a need for further studies.

Internet Access as an Essential Social Good

During the coronavirus crisis, educational activities and nearly all social contact with friends and family were conducted via online communication tools. Such tools can only be used effectively if an individual has suitable internet access. Thankfully, the Netherlands is one of the EU leaders when it comes to Next Generation Access (NGA) coverage, with 98% of Dutch households having access to these high-speed connections; this is well above the USA (94%) and EU (87%) averages. However, this still means that nearly 344,000 individuals living in the Netherlands lack a strong internet connection. Here, we contend that the coronavirus crisis, and especially the associated lockdown wherein individuals were strongly encouraged to not leave their homes, has made it clear that high-speed internet access is a necessary good for modern social living.

Analisis Promethee II Sebagai Pendukung Keputusan Pemilihan Media Sosial

Nowadays, people cannot get away from social media. Social media is a part of the life of the wider community today, from teenagers to the elderly, many of which use social media to fill their spare time. Trends in the use of social media from various circles of society have many functions, such as news updates, online communication tools, sharing (data, images, and voice) without having to meet face to face. The impact of all social media use, this study aims to select the most popular social media used based on function, interest, or interface. This study uses the Promethee II method as an analysis of social media selection decisions with the results of calculations using Excel 2019. The alternative criteria objects in this study use popular social media such as Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook, Line, and Telegram. The research method uses the stages of data collection, namely the survey method, distributing questionnaires to respondents to provide responses to the most popular social media assessors.