Browsing by Subject "COVID-19"

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Associations and patterns in lifestyle and body weight among university students over one year into the Covid-19 pandemic: A cluster analysis
(2025) Bschaden, Andreas; Ströbele-Benschop, Nanette
In March 2020, the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections led to far-reaching measures worldwide to slow the spread of the virus. University students were particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the shift to distance learning. Research found an increase in body weight among a significant proportion of students, as well as unfavourable changes in food consumption and physical activity in the first months of the pandemic. The present study aimed to examine changes in food consumption, physical activity, and body weight more than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among students at a German university in July/August 2021 (n = 951). Changes in food consumption, physical activity, and self-reported body weight since the beginning of the pandemic were assessed in comparison to pre-pandemic levels. Weight gain was reported by 38 % of students, weight loss by 30 %. Changes in sweet and savoury snacks consumption were positively, and changes in sporting frequency and fruit consumption were negatively associated with weight change. A cluster analysis revealed five groups of student clusters, two of which were able to benefit from the changes in their daily lives with increased physical activity and vegetable consumption. Negative consequences, such as reduced physical activity or increased sweet and savoury snack consumption, were found in two groups. One group appeared to be unaffected. The study helps to understand how the pandemic affected students differently. A closer look is needed to identify the reasons for these varied consequences and to develop strategies to assist those who are struggling to better cope with such situations.
Curtailment of civil liberties and subjective life satisfaction
(2021) Windsteiger, Lisa; Ahlheim, Michael; Konrad, Kai A.
This analysis focuses on the lockdown measures in the context of the Covid-19 crisis in Spring 2020 in Germany. In a randomized survey experiment, respondents were asked to evaluate their current life satisfaction after being provided with varying degrees of information about the lethality of Covid-19. We use reactance as a measure of the intensity of a preference for freedom to explain the variation in the observed subjective life satisfaction loss. Our results suggest that it is not high reactance alone that is associated with large losses of life satisfaction due to the curtailment of liberties. The satisfaction loss occurs in particular in combination with receiving information about the (previously overestimated) lethality of Covid-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic and emergencies in Otolaryngology-head and neck surgery: An analysis of patients presenting to emergency rooms in South-West Germany: A bi-center study
(2024) Wolpert, Stephan; Knoblich, Nora; Holderried, Martin; Becker, Sven; Schade-Mann, Thore; Wolpert, Stephan; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Knoblich, Nora; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Holderried, Martin; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Becker, Sven; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Schade-Mann, Thore; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Mitra, Amal K.
This study was designed to examine the changes in emergency room visits in otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study included 11,277 patients who presented to a tertiary care hospital (ER) and an emergency practice (EP) during on-call hours in the first half of 2018, 2019, and 2020. The epidemiologic parameters, diagnoses, and level of urgency were recorded using a four-step scale. A comparison was made between the pre-pandemic years and 2020. The findings revealed a significant decrease in the frequency of ER visits in the second quarter of 2020 compared to 2019 (ER: 30.8%, EP: 37.8%), mainly due to the fact that there were significantly fewer patients, with low levels of urgency. Certain diagnoses, such as epistaxis (−3.0%) and globus sensation (−3.2%), were made at similar frequencies to 2019, while inflammatory diseases like skin infections (−51.2%), tonsillitis (−55.6%), sinusitis (−59%), and otitis media (−70.4%) showed a significant reduction. The study concludes that patients with a low triage level were less likely to visit the ER during the early stages of the pandemic, but some diagnoses were still observed at comparable rates. This suggests a disparity in perception between patients and ER staff regarding urgency. Many of the issues discussed were also emphasized in the 2024 proposal by the German Ministry of Health to reform emergency care in Germany.
The return of happiness
resilience in times of pandemic
(2022) Ahlheim, Michael; Kim, In Woo; Vuong, Duy Thanh
Many papers have been written about peoples loss of life satisfaction during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but not much has been said about their resilience after the first shock had passed. Were people able to return, at least in part, to their original level of life satisfaction? This amounts to the question to which degree people had shown psychological resilience during the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis. In this context, it is also of interest which internal and external factors supported a persons tendency to prove resilient during the crisis. Based on an online survey conducted in August / September 2020 in Germany we try to answer these questions. We find that after a loss of average life satisfaction during the first three months after the outbreak of the pandemic in Germany many peoples life satisfaction increased again. Roughly 60% of the respondents proved resilient in the sense that eight months after the outbreak of the pandemic they had regained the same or an even higher level of life satisfaction as compared to the situation before the COVID-19 crisis. Our results show that besides socioeconomic characteristics like age and income and certain character traits, peoples personal experience during the crisis and their approval or disapproval of government policy during the crisis had an important influence on their chance to prove resilient. Therefore, a consistent and competent crisis communication building up trust in governments crisis management capacity is essential for peoples resilience in a crisis.
Uncovering the complexities of remote leadership and the usage of digital tools during the COVID-19 pandemic
a qualitative diary study
(2022) Krehl, Eva-Helen; Büttgen, Marion
The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way people work and live. More people than ever work from home. Due to the sudden changes, leaders are faced with various challenges, such as the fear of loss of control or keeping their teams motivated. In this study, we explore the daily experiences of leaders aiming to work effectively while using digital tools and working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The overarching purpose of our study is to gain a better understanding about how leaders navigate the complexities of crisis-induced remote leadership by the use of digital tools by addressing the following questions: (1) Which practices do leaders use to deal with the complexities of day-to-day remote leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) How do different digital tools fit the diverse leadership practices? (3) What drives and inhibits leaders’ effectiveness in dealing with the complexities of remote leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic? To explore these research questions, we draw on longitudinal data from 155 qualitative diaries written by 31 leaders over a five-work-day period. We identify four categories of leadership practices, namely (1) solve problems collaboratively and monitor team progress, (2) create space for socialising and teambuilding, (3) make the team feel supported and encourage feedback and (4) communicate to build a virtual culture of trust. Our findings reveal that leaders demonstrate a broad repertoire of leadership practices, whereby relation orientation is more pronounced than task orientation. Moreover, leaders tend to focus on operational and team-oriented leadership practices, and they encounter the challenge of choosing the right digital tool to match their message. Our study’s results show that they use a variety of digital tools, but video conferences seem especially suitable for supporting remote leadership practices. However, several factors have impacts on remote leadership effectiveness, which we consider in the managerial implications.