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Maintaining a scientific community while social distancing.

ABSTRACT: The "Aging Science Talks: Science for the Community" daily online seminar series was established in reaction to the cancellation of a myriad of regional, national, and international meetings focused on the biology of aging due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inability to attend scientific meetings has far-reaching implications for our field, as we lose the ability to 1) disseminate both published and non-published data through talks and posters; 2) network and establish new collaborations to produce innovative science in the aging field; and 3) continue the career development of early career researchers (ECRs). Through these virtual seminars, we hope to offset the negative effects of these canceled meetings. We established the program rapidly using a "lean" approach, making use of existing technologies broadly available at academic institutions. Here, we provide an initial description of how this program was developed and implemented. We discuss advantages and limitations of this approach, including "real-time" participation and the creation of an on/off-line community of inquiry (CoI). In the future, we hope to formally evaluate the success of this program in building engagement, creating a community, and enhancing the development of ECRs, and to capture metrics associated with the continued progress of science. Our approach to building a CoI may be applied across multiple scientific disciplines during this time of uncertainty, and may offer a valuable example of how to continue to advance science during pandemics or similar events.

SUBMITTER: Lamming DW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7290191 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Maintaining a scientific community while social distancing.

Lamming Dudley W DW Carter Christy S CS

Translational medicine of aging 20200612

The "Aging Science Talks: Science for the Community" daily online seminar series was established in reaction to the cancellation of a myriad of regional, national, and international meetings focused on the biology of aging due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inability to attend scientific meetings has far-reaching implications for our field, as we lose the ability to 1) disseminate both published and non-published data through talks and posters; 2) network and establish new collaborations to produ ...[more]

PMID: 32835151

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Project description:COVID-19 has affected many areas of daily life, including communication and learning. Social distancing is essential to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In these situations, teaching communication skills is essential for helping individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) reach their full potential. To provide communication education while maintaining social distancing, we developed a communication training system using a tele-operated robot. In this system, we prepared a PC and a robot for each participant. The participants were grouped in pairs and communicated with each other through the tele-operated robot. The objective of this study was to test whether this system can maintain motivation for training in individuals with ASD and whether our system was useful for improving communication skills. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the taking a class by teachers alone (TCT) group or robot-mediated communication exercise (RMC) group. Participants in the TCT group took a class about communication skills from their teacher. Participants in the RMC group, in addition to taking a class by teacher, were grouped in pairs and communicated with each other through the tele-operated robot once a week over 4 weeks (for a total of five sessions). In total, twenty individuals with ASD participated in the study. One-way ANOVA revealed that there were significantly greater improvements in being good at describing their thoughts to others, which was self-rated (F = 6.583; p = 0.019), and good at listening to the thoughts or feelings of others, which was rated by themselves (F = 5.635; p = 0.029) and their teacher (F = 5.333; p = 0.033). As expected, the motivation for training using this system was maintained during a session. Overall, this study revealed that our system was useful for improving communication skills (e.g., listening to the thoughts or feelings of others). Teaching communication skills under pandemic conditions is important, and this study demonstrated the feasibility of communication training using tele-operated robots.

Project description:This article describes patterns of compliance with social distancing measures among the Spanish population during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It identifies several factors associated with higher or lower compliance with recommended measures of social distancing. This research is part of a 67-country study, titled the International COVID-19 study on Social & Moral Psychology, in which we use a Spanish dataset. Participants were residents in Spain aged 18 or above. The sample comprises 1,090 respondents, weighted to be representative of the Spanish population. Frequencies, correlations, bivariate analysis, and six models based on hierarchical multiple regressions were applied. The main finding is that most Spaniards are compliant with established guidelines of social distance during the pandemic (State of Alarm, before May 2020). Variables associated more with lower levels of compliance with these standards were explored. Six hierarchical multiple regression models found that compliance with social distance measures has a multifactorial explanation (R 2 between 20.4 and 49.1%). Sociodemographic factors, personal hygiene patterns, and the interaction between personal hygiene patterns and the support for political measures related to the coronavirus brought significant effects on the regression models. Less compliance was also associated with beliefs in some specific conspiracy theories with regard to COVID-19 or general conspiracy mentality (Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire, CMQ), consumption patterns of traditional mass media (television, paper newspapers, magazines, and radio) and modern means to get informed (online digital newspapers, blogs, and social networks), political ideology, vote, trust in institutions, and political identification. Among the future lines of action in preventing the possible outbreak of the virus, we suggest measures to reinforce trust in official information, mainly linked to reducing the influence of disinformation and conspiracy theories parallel to the pandemic.

Project description:IntroductionGovernments and public health authorities across many jurisdictions implemented social (physical) distancing measures to contain the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Adherence to these measures is variable and likely influenced by various factors. This study aimed to 1) identify the individual sociodemographic, COVID-19 and social distancing related, and psychological determinants of social distancing adherence, and 2) explore regional differences in social distancing adherence in the United States (U.S.) and English-speaking Canada based on each region's discrepant response to social distancing restrictions.MethodsA web-based repeated cross-sectional survey was conducted in 4,942 English-speaking participants from the four most populous U.S. states, specifically New York, California, Texas, and Florida, and Canada (www.covid19-database.com). The study was conducted at two timepoints, from May 1 to 5, 2020 (n = 1,019, Canadian participants only) and from July 6 to 10, 2020 (n = 3,923). Separate univariate models were computed for individual sociodemographic, COVID-19 and social distancing related, and psychological determinants of social distancing adherence. To determine the total variance explained, a univariate analysis including all of the determinants was performed. Regional differences in social distancing were compared between the four U.S. states and Canada, and between the U.S. as a whole and Canada.ResultsAdherence to social distancing was higher in May (mean = 4.4/5.0±0.7) compared to July (mean = 4.3/5.0±0.7) [t (4940) = 6.96, p < 0.001], likely a reflection of relaxing restrictions. There were no regional differences in adherence. Sociodemographic, COVID-19 and social distancing related, and psychological determinants explained 10, 36, and 23% of the variance of social distancing adherence, respectively. Higher perceived seriousness of COVID-19 [β (SE) = 0.39 (0.01), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.22], lower risk propensity [β (SE) = -0.15 (0.01), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.06], germ aversion [β (SE) = 0.12 (0.01), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.03], age [β (SE) = 0.01 (0.00), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.02], and greater social support [β (SE) = 0.03 (0.00), p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.02] had the largest effects on social distancing adherence.ConclusionPublic service initiatives to emphasize the serious consequences of infection and targeted interventions toward certain sociodemographic groups, such as younger adults and vulnerable individuals in greater need of social support, may help enhance the public's adherence to social distancing measures during subsequent waves of COVID-19 and future pandemics.

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Maintaining a scientific community while social distancing.

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Maintaining a scientific community while social distancing.

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