OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to determine the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students, categorically focusing on effective coping strategies adopted.

The researcher used a descriptive cross-sectional design and a pseudo-random number sampling method with an inversion technique to randomly select 548 health science students who participated fully out of the sum of 4,140 students from each department. The initial goal was to include 572 students in the sample. This ensured a fair representation of students from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). The researcher evaluated these students using the COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire and Brief-Cope Scales.

Findings showed that 58.8% of the respondents were females, 34.7% were enrolled in the nursing program, and 59.7% chose to live with their parents. Most of the students experienced moderate stress, with 45.25% and 5.47% experiencing extremely stressful or distressing situations, in terms of relationships and academic life, respectively. There were no significant differences in fear of contagion, regardless of the students' gender. and social isolation between students who lived with and without their parents. In terms of relationships and academic life among the students, there was no significant difference in relation to the demographic characteristics. Results also showed that 26.6% of the students used problem-focused coping “a little bit," and there was no significant difference as to their developmental characteristics for those using problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, or avoidant coping. However, the results indicated a greater tendency towards avoidant coping strategies, with no significant differences observed. Students disproportionately adopted problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant coping strategies. Students reported a weakly significant positive correlation between emotionfocused coping and problem-focused coping, and a large negative association between fear of contagion and problem-focused coping strategies. They also reported a slightly positive correlation between relationships, academic life, and social isolation.

The study revealed that most students experience moderate stress, which gradually escalates into extremely stressful situations, particularly in relationships and academics. The researcher found no significant differences in fear of contagion or social isolation. However, avoidant coping was more prevalent compared to problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies. There were weak positive correlations between emotion-focused and problem-focused coping. Policy reform in the health and academic systems will strategically improve students' mental health.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Nurses comprise the majority of the health workforce in the Philippines. Previous studies revealed that nurses manifest negative mental health outcomes exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to determine the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) of nurses in the Philippines and their workplace psychosocial support interventions during the pandemic. The ProQOL measures compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout (BO), and secondary traumatic stress (STS).

A self-administered online questionnaire was disseminated by the Philippine Nurses Association, Inc. to affiliated nurses via email and Facebook posts. Out of 713 responses, 239 were eligible with their data analyzed using t-test, one-way ANOVA, and post hoc pairwise multiple comparisons.

Respondents were found to have high CS (41.95 [SD 5.97]), moderate BO (23.56 [SD 6.07]), and moderate STS (26.62 [SD 8.18]). The most reported intervention was policies on confidentiality of workers’ mental health (84.94%) while the least reported was community engagements under the hospital’s mental health program (61.51%). ProQOL scores significantly differed in CS by age (p=0.011), position (p=0.044) and monthly income (p=0.016), BO by age (p=0.001) and years with current employer (p=0.009), and STS by region (p=0.017) and area of assignment (p=0.015). The existence of interventions yielded significant increase in CS and decrease in BO scores.

Nurses in the Philippines exhibit high and favorable ProQOL during the pandemic. The majority of respondents reported the presence of workplace interventions which yield significant differences in CS and BO. The findings highlight the importance of workplace psychosocial support interventions and the need to strengthen implementation.

Objectives: Nurse empowerment is essential to ensure delivery of the best quality patient care and attaining positive nurse outcomes. Studies describe its relationship to retention, patient safety, commitment, productivity, job satisfaction, and positive outcomes. The study aimed to determine the level of empowerment of nurses in a tertiary university hospital during the pandemic crisis. Methods: The study was an exploratory descriptive cross-sectional design. Participants (N = 176, Nurses) were randomly selected through a sampling frame. The validated self-administered questionnaire, the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire II, was used for data collection. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between the means of the participants’ empowerment scores when grouped according to their demographic profile. Results: The study found that the nurses in the tertiary university hospital have an overall moderate level of empowerment (TSE x̄ = 22.69, SD = 3.53; GE x̄ = 3.72, SD = 1.01). It was also found that there were statistically significant differences between the means of their total structural and global empowerment scores when grouped according to their age group, civil status, length of service, level of position, and area designation; while no statistically significant difference existed when grouped by their sex and level of education. Conclusion Since nurse empowerment leads to positive nurse and patient outcomes, improving levels of empowerment is thus essential. The results of this study will help administrators identify groups of nurses with relatively lower levels of empowerment and in turn develop programs that will help improve their levels of empowerment.
pandemic

Background: Turnaround time is an integral component of primary healthcare and is a key performance indicator of healthcare delivery. It is defined as the time patients spend during a healthcare facility visit. In this study, turnaround time is defined as the time elapsed from registration to the end of consultation. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the turnaround time of consults in the primary care system in a rural site in the Philippines, and compare turnaround time during the pre-pandemic and COVID-19 pandemic periods. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of patients seen at the primary care facility under the Philippine Primary Care Studies (PPCS) rural site from April 2019 to March 2021. Patients included in this study were chosen through random sampling. Electronic medical records (EMR) of these patients were reviewed. Turnaround time was computed electronically from time of registration to end of consultation. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize data and report turnaround time. The turnaround time before and during the pandemic was compared using an independent sample t-test (if normally distributed) or Mann Whitney U test (if not normally distributed). A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A random sample of 342 patients out of the total 45,501 patient consults seen at the rural primary healthcare facility from April 2019 to March 2021 were included in this study. The median turnaround time was 29.0 minutes (interquartile range [IQR] 68.3), with range of 0.9 to 437.2 minutes. During the pre-pandemic period, the median turnaround time of consults is 29.3 minutes (IQR 70.4) which is 1.8 minutes longer than the pandemic period which showed median turnaround time of 27.5 minutes (IQR 72.7). The difference between the two time periods was not statistically significant (P = 0.39). Conclusion The study showed that the median turnaround time of medical consults was 29.0 minutes, which was shorter by 80 minutes compared to other published Philippine studies. The turnaround time did not differ significantly in the pandemic and prepandemic period, despite new policies and systems that were implemented during the pandemic.
primary care ; electronic medical records ; pandemic ; Philippines

Objective: The study aimed to identify some interventions to improve the psychological well-being of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The data used in this study are EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Taylor & Francis, Science Direct, and JSTOR. These studies were searched for available full-text articles. We used tools for risk of bias assessment, namely, the quality assessment checklist of Joanna Bright Institute tools for cross-sectional studies, cohort studies, and randomized controlled trials. Results: A total of eight studies were included in this review. The interventions in dealing with the psychosocial problems of COVID-19 nurses consisted of 2 categories: (1) interventions to prevent psychosocial problems - simulation-based teamwork training, mental health promotion strategies, and pre-examination, triage, prevention, and control of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) evaluation training; and (2) interventions to overcome psychosocial problems experienced by COVID-19 nurses - mobile wellness programs, intervention FOREST, emotional freedom techniques, tele-counselling and mental health interventions. Conclusion Despite limitations, we were able to perform a complete assessment of the risk of bias in included studies that provide reliable information on the studies. It is recommended that hospitals can provide interventions to improve the psychological well-being of nurses.
pandemic

BACKGROUND: School-aged children bear a lot of difficulties and discomforts brought about by the new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the general well-being of children during the pandemic, how the children are coping with all the challenges, and parents' strategies to help their children cope METHODOLOGY: This study utilized a descriptive correlational research design with purposive sampling. Data was collected through an online survey. The standardized Kidcope-Child version was utilized to measure children's coping, while the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL)™ 4.0 Short Form 15 Generic Core Scales was utilized to measure the children's well-being. RESULTS: A total of 134 parents participated in the study. No significant relationship was found between the age, sex, and coping strategies of the children, as well as between the age and well-being of children. Male children experienced more difficulty in physical functioning (p-value= 0.028), social functioning (p-value= 0.017), and overall well-being (p-value= 0.031) compared to female children. The computed mean for parents' helping strategies was between 2.67 to 2.78, which lies between the categories of sometimes (2) to always (3). CONCLUSION School-aged children were found to be using more positive coping strategies than negative coping strategies during the pandemic. They have “sometimes” to “almost no” experience of difficulty in terms of the five functions of well-being. Parents used the six fundamental tasks of parenting to help their children cope.
coping strategies ; well-being ; COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals including pediatric occupational therapists (OTs) mandatorily had to shift to the practice of telehealth in the absence of a safe in- person setup caused by the outbreak. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the psychosocial experiences encountered by selected pediatric OTs in the Philippines brought by the shift to telehealth practice during the COVID-19 pandemic METHODOLOGY: Purposive sampling was used in the study to gather six (6) licensed pediatric OTs who provide occupational therapy (OT) services via telehealth in the Philippines, and the respondents were not personally connected to any of the researchers. A semi-structured one-on-one interview with the participants through a Zoom call was conducted to obtain their psychosocial experiences. A thematic analysis was used and four (4) themes emerged by the end of the study: consequences of the shift to telehealth practice, changes during telehealth provision, increased resilience, and increased psychological strain. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the transition to provision of telehealth services to pediatric clients has challenged the practices of the selected pediatric OTs in terms of preparing for the session, where one of the main prevalent concerns was toward collaboration and communication with the caregivers; conducting of telehealth sessions, where communication interruption was one of the main concerns; and in ethical considerations, where OTs made it a point that they rectified ethical dilemmas amidst telehealth provision. These experienced challenges also included increased workload and psychological distress, while improved occupational balance and adaptability were most commonly experienced by OTs
COVID-19 Pandemic ; Occupational Therapy ; Telehealth

INTRODUCTION: Lockdowns and quarantine measures during the pandemic have led to increased media consumption among students worldwide. This study aimed to determine the association between the status of the psychological well-being of medical students in a private tertiary institution and social media use during the pandemic. METHODS: This is cross-sectional analytical study which included medical students in a private tertiary institution. SONTUS was used to measure social media usage, while Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well- Being was used to assess the psychological well-being. PRR and Chi-square test were used for data analysis. RESULTS: There were 317 respondents in the study. Based on the results of SONTUS, there are 114 respondents who have high usage. For the Ryff’s scale, there were 76 respondents who have low well- being scores. The computed Pearson Chi-square has an associated probability (p-value) of 0.855 which is more than the set significance level of 0.05. For the PRR, the computed value was 1.04. CONCLUSION There was no association found between the psychological well-being status of medical students in a private tertiary institution and social media use during the pandemic.
social media use ; well-being ; pandemic

Objective: This study aimed to describe the clinical profile and treatment outcomes of patients treated with a short course (<10 fractions) of palliative radiotherapy during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another aim of the study is to compare patients treated with short-course and long-course palliative radiotherapy in terms of the site and volume irradiated. Methods: An ambispective study comprised 23 patients treated with short-course palliative radiotherapy from March 2020 to February 2021. The retrospective aspect of this study included a review of medical records and radiotherapy plans, while the prospective part involved communication with patients or legally authorized representatives via phone call. Demographic, clinical, and treatment-related information were gathered. Results: Of 92 patients receiving palliative radiotherapy, 23 were treated with a short course, while 69 were planned for at least ten fractions. Of the 23 patients receiving short-course radiotherapy, most had colorectal (35%) and head and neck (26%) primary malignancies. The most commonly treated sites were the pelvis (24%), vertebral bones (21%), and head and neck masses (21%), and the most common indications were pain (45%) and bleeding (32%). The majority were treated with 20 Gy in 5 fractions (42%) and 25 Gy in 5 fractions (38%). Complete resolution of symptoms was observed in 43% of cases, and more than half reported no side effects (58%). Median survival was 71 days. All patients treated in the lung, stomach, and brain underwent a long course of palliative radiotherapy. Patients with a long course also had higher mean irradiated volumes (1871 cm3 vs. 2150 cm3). Conclusion In this single institution review, a short course of palliative radiotherapy was proven to provide good symptom control with few side effects. During the COVID-19 pandemic, its use should be strongly considered, especially in patients with poor performance status, transportation difficulties, and limited life expectancy.
COVID-19 pandemic ; short course

BACKGROUND This presentation articulated a personal perspective of an Occupational Therapy (OT) practitioner regarding the changes already happening within the field of rehabilitation before the COVID-19 pandemic and its cataclysmic role that accelerated changes in the delivery of rehabilitation services, specifically in advancing the application technologies and innovative practices in the clinics, renewed focus on strengthening and supporting OT and rehabilitation professionals’ health and well-being, and use of transformational instructions to prepare students for future healthcare challenges. Included in this presentation is the global response to ensure the delivery of rehabilitation services, the exemplar of local innovations and resilience among Filipino OT and the rehabilitation community, emerging opportunities and threats brought about by the pandemic, and the lessons and innovations we bring forward as part of the new normal post-COVID-19 pandemic, and beyond.
Rehabilitation ; COVID-19 pandemic