Swiss university students’ risk perception and general anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic

University students were confronted with abrupt changes to their daily lives by the COVID-19 lock-down. We investigated Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7) and anxiety levels, and the association between perceived impact on well-being, studies, and daily lives and anxiety levels, adjusted for gender, age, social class and affiliation. Early in the lock-down all students of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (N = 12,429) were invited to a voluntary longitudinal health survey. Participation rate was 20% (n = 2437): 70% females, median age 25 yrs. (IQR 23–28). A total of 10% reported a deterioration of well-being compared to pre-Corona. LCA yielded three classes varying in perceived COVID-19 impact: 1 (low, n = 675), 2 (moderate, n = 1098), and 3 (strong, n = 656). Adjusted proportion of moderate to severe anxiety by class were 45% (95% CI: 28.0–62.0), 15.5% (95% CI: 13.1–17.9), and 5.1% (95% CI: 4.7–5.6), respectively. Multivariate regression analyses yielded an OR for moderate to severe anxiety of 3.88 (95% CI: 2.5–6.0, class 2) and 22.43 (95% CI: 14.5–34.6, class 3) compared to class-1. The investigated association implies that containment measures have a selective effect on anxiety in students. The diversity of students’ perception and associated anxiety should be monitored and considered in future response to pandemics

Students’ experience and adherence to containment measures during COVID-19 in Switzerland

Background: Young adults are not considered a risk group, but the public health response to COVID-19 impacts all citizens. We investigated the impact on young adults’ and their adherence to containment measures addressing potential gender differences. Methods: In April 2020 12 341 students of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences were invited to a longitudinal health survey. Survey topics spanned socio-demographic data, students’ health status and behavior, COVID-19 specific impact, concerns, information sources, adherence to containment measures, and trust in government bodies. Group comparisons by gender and multivariate ordinal regression models assessing adherence to restrictions of mobility and social contacts were conducted (n = 2373). Results: Mean age was 26.4 (SD = 5.6), 70% were female. 43.5% reported some concern about their own health, 2.7% stated major worries. Women experienced more conflicts (p < 0.000) and, enjoyed time with the family more (p < 0.000). Men felt less locked up (p = 0.001). The most frequented COVID-19 information source was public media (48%) and confidence in government bodies was high (82%) for both genders. Men yielded lower adjusted odds (OR; 95%-CI) of adherence regarding the following measures: social distancing (0.68; 0.53–0.87), non-utilization of public transport (0.74; 0.56–0.97), 5-person limit for social gatherings (0.47; 0.35–0.64) and the stay at home rule (0.64; 0.51–0.82). Conclusion: Early in the pandemic a high degree of adherence was observed in this young academic population. Containment measures restricting movement and social contact yielded considerable differences by gender, information source and perceived susceptibility to the virus. More targeted communication may increase adherence regarding mobility restrictions

A Normativa do Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre para o Armazenamento e Utilização de Materiais Biológicos Humanos e Informações Associadas em Pesquisa: Uma Proposta Interdisciplinar

Este artigo apresenta a justificativa e o processo de elaboração do marco normativo do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA) para o armazenamento e utilização de materiais biológicos humanos e suas informações associadas em atividades de pesquisa. Um grupo de trabalho multiprofissional se reuniu e discutiu todos os aspectos referentes a esta questão que envolve as atividades de biobanco e de biorrepositórios. Como produto deste trabalho é apresentada a Normativa Institucional

Sensitivity for multimorbidity: The role of diagnostic uncertainty of physicians when evaluating multimorbid video case-based vignettes

BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity can be defined as the co-occurrence of two or more chronic medical conditions in one person. Within the diagnostic process, accurately detecting a multimorbid disease pattern still poses a major challenge for most physicians, and is known as a source of diagnostic uncertainty. OBJECTIVE: We investigated, how sensitive, confident, and accurate physicians are in diagnosing multimorbid versus monomorbid patients. METHODS: We created eight video case-based vignettes, which differed in type of morbidity (multimorbid versus monomorbid), field of medical specialization (somatic versus mental), and relatedness of underlying diseases (causally related versus unrelated). In total, 74 physicians (GPs, residents in an emergency department and psychiatrists) watched three to five randomly allocated video cases and had to generate suspected diagnoses at the end of each of three video sequences. Additionally, participating physicians rated subjective confidence for all mentioned diagnoses and for three sequences per case with the help of confidence profiles. RESULTS: Altogether, physicians made a large number of accurate diagnoses (69%). Nevertheless, the overall number of underdiagnosed multimorbid cases (misses) was significantly higher (71%) than over-diagnosed monomorbid cases (false alarms) (7%). DISCUSSION: According to Signal Detection Theory, GPs and psychiatrists both showed lower detection performance for medical cases that lay beyond their own field of specialization. Remarkably, residents show the highest sensitivity for multimorbid cases with an approximately identically detection performance d' slightly over 1 for both field of medical specialization (somatic and mental). Furthermore, higher uncertainty in diagnosing multimorbid cases is related to lower confidence especially at the beginning of a diagnostic process, as well as to unrelated and therefore probably rare disease pattern. Several limitations of the study and the video case-based vignettes are described within the discussion section. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians have to be sensitized for multimorbidity even more, and have to be taught in the prevalence of existing disease combinations. Communicating uncertainty with other specialists could be helpful when faced with a sometimes "fuzzy" pattern of symptoms

Remédier aux difficultés d'apprentissage des élèves présentant un trouble déficit d'attention et hyperactivité (TDA/H) par une approche métacognitive : revue de la littérature

Le TDA/H est un syndrome développemental, qui se manifeste avant l'âge de 7 ans. Un grand nombre d'enfants et adolescents présentant le TDA/H souffrent de difficultés d'apprentissage entravant leur parcours scolaire. Si le TDA/H est aujourd'hui largement reconnu et traité par l'administration de médicaments, peu d'attention est portée sur la remédiation des difficultés d'apprentissage. L'intervention métacognitive est l'une des approches proposées pour ces enfants (Cornoldi, Barbieri, Gaiani, & Zocchi, 1999 ; Poissant, 2001 ; Reid & Borkowski, 1987 ; Vio, Offredi, & Marzocchi, 1999). Les recherches portant sur ce type d'interventions ont mis en évidence qu'elles sont particulièrement prometteuses pour les enfants avec TDA/H, leurs difficultés trouvant leur origine principalement au niveau du fonctionnement exécutif (Barkley, 1997 ; Cornoldi et al. 1999) et des métaconnaissances (Poissant, 2001). Cet article présente une synthèse de la littérature concernant ce trouble et les différentes formes d'intervention, avec un éclairage particulier sur les interventions de type métacognitives. Finalement, les implications pédagogiques seront discutées

La validité scolaire et sociale du Test d'Apprentissage de la Pensée Analogique (TAPA)

Le texte discute la validité scolaire et sociale du Test d'Apprentissage de la Pensée Analogique (TAPA

External Memory and Verbalization in Students with Moderate Mental Retardation: Theory and Training

Persons with moderate mental retardation were trained to use external memory strategies in order to overcome their working memory limitations. We expected that metacognitive training would allow these individuals to use external memories and that this would be associated with higher recall. It was further hypothesized that the training would be more effective when combined with a short verbalization instruction. Verbalization of one's own thinking and actions should support and reinforce strategic thinking and structure representation. Verbalization should also permit the participants to acquire or access meta-knowledge, one of the basic components postulated for transfer of strategies. Furthermore, performance in analogical tasks should be improved by transferring the use of external memory strategies. The results show that only some of the participants of the experimental group with and without verbalization used the external memory strategy after training. Those who did use the external memory strategy at posttest performed well with regard to recall performance. We concluded that an external memory strategy is required if the task memory load is high and that the memory performance depends on the use of an external memory aid. The problem of transfer to analogical reasoning tasks remained, most likely because how external memories could be used in such tasks was not made explicit, and did the tasks did not allow much use of external memories

Strategy acquisition by children with general learning difficulties through metacognitive training

Children with general learning difficulties commonly show lower school success and have a slower rate of learning. They show limited and inefficient strategy use in all kinds of tasks. Efficient strategy use requires a certain degree of metacognitive knowledge and executive control. A sample of 16 children (ages 8 to 12) with learning difficulties participated in a 3-month metacognitive training intervention that alternated between curriculum-related and curriculum-unrelated tasks. The children were indirectly taught cognitive and metacognitive strategies by means of guided prompting. The application of the strategies and the children's metacognitive knowledge were evaluated through observation of their behavior and verbalizations. Children showed progress in strategy use and metacognitive knowledge in both types of tasks, but it was only in the more concrete strategies that a positive correlation was found between application and quality of reflection. It is hypothesized that children perceived these concrete strategies to be of most practical value and they were therefore able to reflect most accurately on their use

A Normativa do Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre para o Armazenamento e Utilização de Materiais Biológicos Humanos e Informações Associadas em Pesquisa: Uma Proposta Interdisciplinar

Este artigo apresenta a justificativa e o processo de elaboração do marco normativo do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA) para o armazenamento e utilização de materiais biológicos humanos e suas informações associadas em atividades de pesquisa. Um grupo de trabalho multiprofissional se reuniu e discutiu todos os aspectos referentes a esta questão que envolve as atividades de biobanco e de biorrepositórios. Como produto deste trabalho é apresentada a Normativa Institucional