Notes from the Field: The Construction of a Logistical Model for Sports-Related Injury Risk Assessment. A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study

Handball is a high-intensity contact sports activity characterized by repetitive movements, leading to sport-specific muscle patterns. However, at some stage, this pattern may turn into imbalance, predisposing athletes for injuries. The complexity of muscular interactions often makes it difficult to see a whole picture of an athlete’s postural disorders and assess them within the framework of his stereotyped movements. We attempted to find an association between the muscle pattern and the number of injuries in a limited group of handball players by constructing a static logistical model. The constructed decision table of the static logistical model included seven conditional attributes of the muscle imbalance as preconditions for injury development and one decision attribute representing the number of experienced injuries of 25 university handball players. The findings displayed a sport-specific pattern of muscle alignment in athletes without or only one injury. However, all players with repetitive injuries had unilateral m. gluteus maximus weakness. In the latter case, impaired core body musculature can lead to increased share forces and stress for the gluteus maximus muscle leading to weakness of this crucial dynamic stabilizer. The logistical model allowed defining muscle imbalance associated with sports-related injuries in a limited group of athletes.

Evaluating the Factors (Stress, Anxiety and Depression) Affecting the Mental Health Condition of Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study aimed to determine the depression, anxiety and stress levels that have negatively impacted nurses’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample group of 826 nurses working in Turkey were asked to fill in an online questionnaire in order to evaluate their psychological responses and the related factors that have adversely affected their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 696 nurses (84.3%) showed symptoms of depression, 644 (78%) reported anxiety and 543 (65.74%) reported stress. This study also highlighted that the most concerning factor for the nurses was the risk of transmitting the COVID-19 infection to their household members (89.2%). The most important problems faced by the nurses during COVID-19 included equipment shortages (50.7%), administrative problems (38.5%) and issues such as accommodation and nutrition (27.4%). These were found to have a statistically significant correlation with the nurses’ levels of depression, anxiety and stress. The fear of losing a household member, the inability to their household’s social needs and the fear of death were among the factors that concerned nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly affecting their levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Taking the necessary measures to deal with the aforementioned problems and fears is important to protect the health, productivity and efficiency of nurses during the pandemic period.

COVID-19, Anxiety, and Hopelessness: Quality of Life Among Healthcare Workers in Turkey

The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of intense anxiety and hopelessness experienced by healthcare workers during the pandemic on their quality of life. This cross-sectional, online questionnaire-based study was conducted between August 31, 2020 and October 31, 2020, with 729 healthcare workers in Turkey. The study showed that hopelessness, the weekly working time, fatigue, and the workload of healthcare workers negatively affected their quality of life, those who found the pandemic measures inadequate had a lower quality of life and higher hopelessness levels, and those who needed knowledge on various issues to improve their skills had lower quality of life and higher levels of anxiety and hopelessness. Increasing the measures to make healthcare workers feel competent and ready during the COVID-19 pandemic and meet their information needs to improve their skills will reduce their anxiety and hopelessness and improve their quality of life. Identifying the factors affecting anxiety, hopelessness, and quality of life will help achieve sustainable success in the delivery of health services and promote employee health and safety.

Psychometric Assessment of the Persian Version of Compassion Scale for Adolescents

The compassion scale for adolescents is a 20-item self-report measure consisting of three dimensions, namely, compassion toward other people, compassion toward oneself, and compassion toward other living things. This scale evaluates compassion in adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years old. The purpose of the current study is to assess the psychometric properties of the compassion scale among Iranian adolescents in junior high school and senior high school students. The number of students who voluntarily took part in this research was 302. The relationships between the compassion scale, mindfulness, emotion regulation, and well-being were explored to assess the convergent validity. Furthermore, the relationship between the compassion scale and anxiety was investigated to assess the divergent validity. The results of confirmatory factor analysis supported the three factors of the compassion scale among Iranian junior and senior high school students same as the original version. The results show that the compassion scale appears to be a reliable and valid measure for Iranian adolescents.

A Natural-Language-Processing-Based Procedure for Generating Distractors for Multiple-Choice Questions

One of the most challenging aspects of writing multiple-choice test questions is identifying plausible incorrect response options—i.e., distractors. To help with this task, a procedure is introduced that can mine existing item banks for potential distractors by considering the similarities between a new item’s stem and answer and the stems and response options for items in the bank. This approach uses natural language processing to measure similarity and requires a substantial pool of items for constructing the generating model. The procedure is demonstrated with data from the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE®). For about half the items in the study, at least one of the top three system-produced candidates matched a human-produced distractor exactly; and for about one quarter of the items, two of the top three candidates matched human-produced distractors. A study was conducted in which a sample of system-produced candidates were shown to 10 experienced item writers. Overall, participants thought about 81% of the candidates were on topic and 56% would help human item writers with the task of writing distractors.

A Systematic Review of the Protective Effect of Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection on Repeat Infection

We systematically reviewed studies to estimate the risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection among those previously infected with SARS-CoV-2. For this systematic review, we searched scientific publications on PubMed and MedRxiv, a pre-print server, through August 18, 2021. Eligible studies were retrieved on August 18, 2021. The following search term was used on PubMed: (((“Cohort Studies”[Majr]) AND (“COVID-19”[Mesh] OR “SARS-CoV-2”[Mesh])) OR “Reinfection”[Majr]) OR “Reinfection”[Mesh]. The following search term was used on MedRxiv: “Cohort Studies” AND “COVID-19” OR “SARS-CoV-2” AND “Reinfection”. The search terms were broad to encompass all applicable studies. There were no restrictions on the date of publication. Studies that did not describe cohorts with estimates of the risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection among those with previous infection were excluded. Studies that included vaccinated participants were either excluded or limited to sub-groups of non-vaccinated individuals. To identify relevant studies with appropriate control groups, we developed the following criteria for studies to be included in the systematic analysis: (1) baseline polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, (2) a uninfected comparison group, (3) longitudinal follow-up, (4) a cohort of human participants, i.e. not a case report or case series, and (5) outcome determined by PCR. The review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. We assessed for selection, information, and analysis bias, per PRISMA guidelines. We identified 1,392 reports. Of those, 10 studies were eligible for our systematic review. The weighted average risk reduction against reinfection was 90.4% with a standard deviation of 7.7% ( p-value: <0.01). Protection against SARS-CoV-2 reinfection was observed for up to 10 months. Studies had potential information, selection, and analysis biases. The protective effect of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection on re-infection is high and similar to the protective effect of vaccination. More research is needed to characterize the duration of protection and the impact of different SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Multiple Factors Affecting Health-Related Quality of Life in Women With Chronic Multisite Musculoskeletal Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study in Ankara, Turkey

Although chronic multi-site musculoskeletal pain is known to cause decreased physical function and impair work and social life, there is insufficient research about its impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in women. The aim of this study was to investigate multiple factors affecting HRQoL in women with chronic multi-site musculoskeletal pain. This study included 227 women with two or more musculoskeletal areas which were painful during the last 3 months. The HRQoL and musculoskeletal system symptoms were evaluated with the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) and the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), respectively. Physical activity level, social functionality and depressive symptoms were assessed with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ- SF), Social Functioning Scale (SFS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), respectively. Significant predictors for the total score on the NHP were found to be the number of children (p < 0.001), social engagement/withdrawal scale (p:0.094), the number of regions with musculoskeletal pain during the last year (p:0.002) and last 7 days (p:0.036), depressive symptoms (p < 0.001), current employment status (p:0.084), and the presence of chronic disease (p < 0.001). The results of this study demonstrated that both sociodemographic characteristics, and social and psychological factors may affect the HRQoL in women with chronic multi-site musculoskeletal pain.

Romanian Short Version of the Burnout Assessment Tool: Psychometric Properties

The Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) represents a new measure of burnout that addresses the shortcomings of previous instruments. This study investigates the psychometric properties of the Romanian short version of the BAT. The sample consisted of 648 employees that completed the short version of the BAT. Of this sample, 117 employees also completed measures for other well-being indicators, job demands, job resources, personality, and organizational outcomes. According to our findings, there are strong correlations between the four core (exhaustion, emotional impairment, cognitive impairment, and mental distance) and two secondary (psychological distress and psychosomatic complaints) burnout symptoms. The scales presented appropriate reliability indicators. Results also support the convergent, discriminant, and construct validities. The Item Response Theory analysis showed a good coverage of the latent trait and the confirmatory factor analyses revealed appropriate fit indices. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Well-Being and Professional Efficacy Among Health Care Professionals: The Role of Resilience Through the Mediation of Ethical Vision of Patient Care and the Moderation of Managerial Support

Drawing on the Conservation of Resources theory, this study analyzes whether resilience could be related to healthcare providers’ wellbeing and professional self-efficacy, both directly and indirectly, as mediated by ethical vision of patient care and moderated by managerial support in dealing with ethical issues. Overall, 315 Italian healthcare professionals employed in neuro-rehabilitation medicine or palliative care specialties participated in this multi-centered cross-sectional study. The following variables were investigated: resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale), wellbeing (Maugeri Stress Index–Reduced), professional self-efficacy (Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey), ethical vision of patient care and managerial support in dealing with ethical issues (Italian version of the Hospital Ethical Climate Survey). Overall, resilience was positively associated with healthcare providers’ wellbeing and professional self-efficacy, directly and indirectly, as mediated by ethical vision of patient care. Highly resilient healthcare professionals who perceived the presence of a positive ethical vision of patient care in their workplace were more likely to experience greater wellbeing when managerial support in dealing with ethical issues was high (vs. low). Thus, these findings provide suggestions for tailored interventions sustaining healthcare professionals along their daily activity characterized by high-demanding and challenging situations.

Interdisciplinary Health Care Evaluation Instruments: A Review of Psychometric Evidence

Teamwork among health care professionals has been found to improve patient outcomes and reduce burnout. Surveys from individual team members are often used to measure the effectiveness of teamwork performance, as they provide an efficient way to capture various constructs of teamwork. This allows evaluators to better understand team functioning, areas of strength, and to identify potential areas for improvement. However, the majority of published surveys are yet to be validated. We conducted a review of psychometric evidence to identify instruments frequently used in practice and identified in the literature. The databases searched included MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. After excluding duplicates and irrelevant articles, 15 articles met the inclusion criteria for full assessment. Seven surveys were validated and most frequently identified in the literature. This review aims to facilitate the selection of instruments that are most appropriate for research and clinical practice. More research is required to develop surveys that better reflect the current reality of teamwork in our evolving health system, including a greater consideration for patient as team members. Additionally, more research is needed to encompass an increasing development of team assessment tools.