Results of the COVID-19 mental health international for the general population (COMET-G) study.

INTRODUCTION: There are few published empirical data on the effects of COVID-19 on mental health, and until now, there is no large international study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, an online questionnaire gathered data from 55,589 participants from 40 countries (64.85% females aged 35.80 ± 13.61; 34.05% males aged 34.90±13.29 and 1.10% other aged 31.64±13.15). Distress and probable depression were identified with the use of a previously developed cut-off and algorithm respectively. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics were calculated. Chi-square tests, multiple forward stepwise linear regression analyses and Factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tested relations among variables. RESULTS: Probable depression was detected in 17.80% and distress in 16.71%. A significant percentage reported a deterioration in mental state, family dynamics and everyday lifestyle. Persons with a history of mental disorders had higher rates of current depression (31.82% vs. 13.07%). At least half of participants were accepting (at least to a moderate degree) a non-bizarre conspiracy. The highest Relative Risk (RR) to develop depression was associated with history of Bipolar disorder and self-harm/attempts (RR = 5.88). Suicidality was not increased in persons without a history of any mental disorder. Based on these results a model was developed. CONCLUSIONS: The final model revealed multiple vulnerabilities and an interplay leading from simple anxiety to probable depression and suicidality through distress. This could be of practical utility since many of these factors are modifiable. Future research and interventions should specifically focus on them

Authenticity and Provenance in Long Term Digital Preservation: Modeling and Implementation in Preservation Aware Storage

A growing amount of digital objects is designated for long term preservation- a time scale during which technologies, formats and communities are very likely to change. Specialized approaches, models and technologies are needed to guarantee the long-term understandability of the preserved data. Maintaining the authenticity (trustworthiness) and provenance (history of creation, ownership, accesses and changes) of the preserved objects for the long term is of great importance, since users must be confident that the objects in the changed environment are authentic. We present a novel model for managing authenticity in long term digital preservation systems and a supporting archival storage component. Th

Three Perspectives on Older Adults’ Daily Performance, Health, and Technology Use During COVID-19: Focus Group Study

Abstract BackgroundDuring COVID-19 lockdowns, older adults’ engagement in daily activities was severely affected, causing negative physical and mental health implications. Technology flourished as a means of performing daily activities in this complex situation; however, older adults often struggled to effectively use these opportunities. Despite the important role of older adults’ social environments—including their families and health professionals—in influencing their technology use, research into their unique perspectives is lacking. ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the daily activity performance, health, and technology use experiences of healthy independent Israeli adults (aged ≥65 years) during COVID-19 from a 3-dimensional perspective: older adults, older adults’ family members, and health professionals. MethodsNine online focus groups, averaging 6-7 participants per group, were conducted with older adults, family members, and health professionals (N=59). Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and constant comparative methods. ResultsThe intertwining of daily activity performance and health emerged as a central theme, with differences between the groups. Older adults prioritized their self-fulfilling routines based on motivation and choice, especially in social-familial activities. In contrast, family members and health professionals focused on serious physical and mental health COVID-19–related consequences. A consensus among all three groups revealed the meaningful role of technology use during this period in bridging functional limitations. Participants delved into technology’s transformative power, focusing on the need for technology to get engaged in daily activities. ConclusionsThis study illustrates the profound interplay between daily activity performances, physical and mental health, and technology use, using a 3-dimensional approach. Its focus on technology’s uses and benefits sheds light on what older adults need to increase their technology use. Interventions for improving digital activity performance can be tailored to meet older adults’ needs and preferences by focusing on motivational and preference-related activities

Preservation datastores: Architecture for preservation aware storage

The volumes of digital infonnation are growing continuously and most of today's information is "born digital". Alongside this trend, business, scientific, artistic and cultural needs require much of this information to be kept for decades, centuries or longer. The convergence of these two trends implies the need for storage systems that support very long tenn preservation for digital information. We describe Preservation DataStores, a novel storage architecture to support digital preservation. It is a layered architecture that builds upon open standards, along with the OAlS, XAM and OSD standards. This new architecture transfonns the logical information-object, a basic concept in preservation systems, into a physical storage object. The transformation allows more robust and optimized implementations for preservation aware storage. The architecture of Preservation DataStores is being developed as all infrastructure component of the CASPAR project ' and will be tested in the context of this project using scientific, cultural, and artistic data. 'Work partially supported by European Community under the Information Society Technologies (1ST) program of the 6th FP for RTD- project CASPAR contract IST-033572. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this paper. It does not represent the opinion of the European Community, and the European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of data appearing therein. 1

Results of the COVID-19 mental health international for the health professionals (COMET-HP) study: depression, suicidal tendencies and conspiracism.

INTRODUCTION: The current study aimed to investigate the rates of anxiety, clinical depression, and suicidality and their changes in health professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data came from the larger COMET-G study. The study sample includes 12,792 health professionals from 40 countries (62.40% women aged 39.76 ± 11.70; 36.81% men aged 35.91 ± 11.00 and 0.78% non-binary gender aged 35.15 ± 13.03). Distress and clinical depression were identified with the use of a previously developed cut-off and algorithm, respectively. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics were calculated. Chi-square tests, multiple forward stepwise linear regression analyses, and Factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tested relations among variables. RESULTS: Clinical depression was detected in 13.16% with male doctors and 'non-binary genders' having the lowest rates (7.89 and 5.88% respectively) and 'non-binary gender' nurses and administrative staff had the highest (37.50%); distress was present in 15.19%. A significant percentage reported a deterioration in mental state, family dynamics, and everyday lifestyle. Persons with a history of mental disorders had higher rates of current depression (24.64% vs. 9.62%; p < 0.0001). Suicidal tendencies were at least doubled in terms of RASS scores. Approximately one-third of participants were accepting (at least to a moderate degree) a non-bizarre conspiracy. The highest Relative Risk (RR) to develop clinical depression was associated with a history of Bipolar disorder (RR = 4.23). CONCLUSIONS: The current study reported findings in health care professionals similar in magnitude and quality to those reported earlier in the general population although rates of clinical depression, suicidal tendencies, and adherence to conspiracy theories were much lower. However, the general model of factors interplay seems to be the same and this could be of practical utility since many of these factors are modifiable