Challenges of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic for women in the UAE

Vulnerability and Agency in the Time of COVID-19: The Narratives of Child and Youth Care Workers in South Africa

In this paper, we use data generated through one-on-one interviews with 12 purposively sampled Child and Youth Care Workers to examine their narratives of work and life-related vulnerabilities and agency during the peak of the COVID-19 global pandemic in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Our findings show that Child and Youth Care Workers were vulnerable to poor mental health. Indeed, working and socialising during the height of COVID-19 posed a mental toll on the Child and Youth Care Workers in this study, who experienced fear, uncertainty, anxiety and stress. Moreover, these workers faced challenges with working under the so-called new normal, which was instituted as part of a non-pharmaceutical response to slow and curb the spread of COVID-19. Finally, our findings show that Child and Youth Care Workers actively identified and applied specific emotionally-focused and physically-focused coping mechanisms to deal with the burden brought on by the pandemic. The study has implications for CYCWs working during crisis periods.

Introduction of "Teach and Work from Home" in Radiology during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Current Status: Implementation Research Done at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital

Background

The current COVID-19 pandemic is forcing the world community to change how things should be done to avoid widespread transmission and containment of infection. Some countries are promoting "Work from Home" for disciplines like radiology" to prevent infection dissemination in hospital facilities. So the aim of this study is to introduce 'work & teach and from home' during the pandemic by establishing convenient virtual platforms for faculty members and students.

Methods

This implementation research introduced a model "teach and work from home" during COVID pandemic. It was evaluated using a cross-sectional design to assess the effect of attending each session on the exam score of residents during the 1^st 2 months of the COVID-19 declaration in Ethiopia. Teaching and service activities that didn't require physical presence were identified and replaced with virtual activities. Additional faculty teaching activity was also introduced to compensate for the reduced radiology caseload.

Results

Teach and work from home was introduced, and a total of 196 online teaching activities were conducted during the model's two-month introduction. Online attendance of teaching activities was shown to have a positive relation with exam scores for all levels of trainees.

Conclusion

It was able to introduce teach and work from home model in the department of radiology at Addis Ababa university and it was shown that residents' retention of knowledge with the virtual platform was encouraging. It also brought a new experience in virtual teaching which is still practiced after the pandemic.

Remote Work in Peru during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The objective of this research is to investigate the characteristics of remote work in Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the study will allow exploring the advantages, disadvantages, challenges and opportunities that Peruvian remote workers face during this crisis scenario. This was a basic-type, descriptive-level study employing a quantitative approach and a non-experimental design. The sample consisted of 275 workers from two companies located in Metropolitan Lima, and the data were collected in the year 2021. A questionnaire with 30 questions was proposed for data collection; it was validated by three experts, and its reliability was α = 0.85. The findings of the remote work variable place it at a medium level with 40.73%; in the flexibility dimension, the medium level prevailed with 42.55%; the autonomy dimension exhibited a high level with 41.09%; and the productivity dimension exhibited a medium level with 43.64%. In the technology dimension, the low level prevailed with 36.36%, while the psychosocial risks dimension exhibited a medium level with 33.18%. In conclusion, the characterization of remote work in Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed us to establish the most relevant aspects that affected workers who migrated to this form of work.

Modeling the Impact of Mentoring on Women’s Work-Life Balance: A Grounded Theory Approach

The purpose of this study was to model the impact of mentoring on women’s work-life balance. Indeed, this study considered mentoring as a solution to create a work-life balance of women. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews with both mentors and mentees of Tehran Municipality were conducted and the collected data were analyzed using constructivist grounded theory. Findings provided a model of how mentoring affects women’s work-life balance. According to this model, role management is the key criterion for work-life balancing among women. In this model, antecedents of role management and the contextual factors affecting role management, the constraints of mentoring in the organization, as well as the consequences of effective mentoring in the organization are described. The findings of this research contribute to the mentoring literature as well as to the role management literature and provide recommendations for organizations and for future research.

COVID-19 and Lockdown, as Lived and Felt by University Students

In the last 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has spread all over the world, forcing the closure of universities, among other unusual measures in recent history. (1) Background: This work is based on the study HOUSE-ULisbon, a survey carried out during the second confinement (March-May 2021) in Portugal with the collaboration of all the Faculties of the University of Lisbon (UL). The present work aims to explore gender differences in how first-year college students experienced and felt COVID-19 and the second confinement. (2) Methods: A questionnaire was carried out. In total, 976 university students (19.66 years (SD = 4.033); Min = 17 and Max = 65) from the first year of the UL were included, of which 69.5% (n = 678) were female, and 30.5% were male (n = 298). SPSS v. 26 was used for quantitative data and MAXQDA 2020 for qualitative data. (3) Results: Overall, students reported various symptoms of physical and mental discomfort (especially females). Statistically significant differences were found in the problems that could arise from the pandemic, such as the prevalence of higher anxiety and worries by females, and online gaming by males. In coping strategies, differences were found in leisure and family relationships, with greater difficulty on the female side. Social interaction was perceived as difficult or very difficult by both genders. As strategies for future pandemics, they highlighted a concerted effort between the government and media in the transmission of messages to the population, facilitating information, knowledge and adoption of protective behaviors. (4) Conclusions: These results are important data for activating or maintaining resources and services for first-year university students, who in some university institutions were supported during the pandemic by psychological, material (e.g., computers, internet), and financial support measures, which are now diminished or extinct. The impacts on their lives will certainly not be extinguished post-pandemic, and health, education, and public policy measures should be prioritized for this group. These results are important data for activating resources and services for students, informing health and education professionals, and supporting public policies.

Burnout and Quality of Work Life among Municipal Workers: Do Motivating and Economic Factors Play a Mediating Role?

This study analyzes the relationship between burnout and quality of work life among municipal workers subjected to higher levels of stress and emotional exhaustion, impacting their occupational health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a sample of 459 municipal workers, the relationship between burnout and quality of work life is tested by considering the isolated mediating effect of the feeling of contributing to productivity and the combined effects of two mediators representing the feeling of contributing to productivity and receiving an appropriate salary. The main findings include a negative association between the three dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, feelings of cynicism, and a sense of being less effective, and the mediators: contribution to productivity and appropriate salary. Also detected was an important mediating role associated with the effects of not feeling contributive at work, as well as not being well paid, on the relation between the burnout syndrome dimension of low effectiveness and quality of work life. For future action by public authorities and public managers, the need is highlighted to create innovative human resource management frameworks and flexible work organization, with remuneration plans based on productivity goals and aimed at an improved balance between personal life and work.

Psychosocial Determinants of Loneliness in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic-Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health and social behavior of people around the world. Due to epidemiological restrictions, the period of forced isolation contributed to the feeling of loneliness. The aim of the research is to identify factors and conditions associated to the feeling of loneliness in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

The survey was conducted among 262 people from the north-eastern Polish area, using an online survey. The diagnostic survey method was used, using the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Measurement Scale, the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), the WHOQoL-Bref questionnaire.

RESULTS

A statistically significant relationship was observed between the feeling of loneliness and areas of quality of life, especially psychological and social, generalized self-efficacy and marital status and way of living (p < 0.05). Higher levels of stress, social distancing, restrictions at work, health status were significantly correlated with an increase in loneliness. Remote work was associated with a lower assessment of the quality of life in the psychological field (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Higher levels of loneliness were significantly more likely to affect people living alone and not in a relationship. Higher levels of loneliness were significantly associated with lower quality of life in the social and psychological domains, lower levels of self-efficacy, and remote work.