Background: Universal masking, with additional layered prevention strategies, was an essential tool for limiting the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and ensuring a safe return to in-person learning for kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) students and staff. Few studies have examined mask adherence in this setting and none have described types of…

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in early 2020. With it, came a range of concerns, panic, and scrambling for "quick fixes," as families learned to navigate rapid and sometimes confusing pandemic changes. Thirty million Americans were under- or uninsured at the start of the pandemic, so both preventive measures and access to…

Background: With the introduction of face mask orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the general public may have turned to their state government or health department's website to find information on face coverings. Purpose: This study seeks to evaluate the readability, suitability, and content of masking guidance on state government or state…

Background: Conceptualisations of what it means to use evidence in policymaking often appear divided between two extremes. On the one side are works presenting it as the implementation of research findings - particularly evaluations of intervention effect. In contrast stand theoretically informed works exploring the multiple meanings of evidence…

This paper is a consideration of how the method/methodology of "talanoa" and "va," can be used online by Pacific researchers to respond to the current pandemic's effect on the traditional face-to-face physical spaces used for knowledge-sharing. The following discussion examines and explores the two concepts: "talanoa"…

Objective: During January 2016-June 2017, 75 mumps outbreaks occurred in US universities, despite high vaccine coverage among students. We evaluated universities' experiences with mumps outbreaks to inform policy deliberations on use of a third dose of MMR vaccine and CDC guidance. Participants: American College Health Association members in…

The purpose of this study was to explore and attempt to understand the experiences, along with the efforts and perceptions of those efforts, of teachers who implemented flexible seating during the COVID-19 pandemic. A semi-structured interview protocol was used and aligned with the theoretical framework, constructivist learning theory.…

Background: Low adolescent HPV vaccination initiation due to parents declining vaccination remains a challenge for providers. In 2018, 65% of adolescent girls and 56% of adolescent boys in Texas initiated HPV vaccination. Gaps between HPV vaccination rates and those for Tdap (83%) and meningococcal vaccines (87%) among 13-17 year olds highlights…

Background: School-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) education can reach most adolescents, but inconsistencies exist in state-level content policies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the associations between state-level high school HIV education policies and adolescent HIV risk behaviors. Methods: This was a cross-sectional…

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, face coverings were introduced as a safety measure in certain environments in England and some research suggests that they can affect emotion recognition. Factors such as own-ethnicity bias (e.g. whether people perceiving and expressing emotions are of the same ethnicity) and social biases are also known to…

Background: Universities are at risk for COVID-19 and Fall semester begins in August 2020 for most campuses in the United States. The Southern States, including Mississippi, are experiencing a high incidence of COVID-19. Aims: The objective of this study is to model the impact of face masks and hybrid learning on the COVID-19 epidemic on…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare knowledge about human papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV vaccine, college student's beliefs toward HPV, and HPV vaccine uptake between US and international college students studying in the US. Participants: The study was conducted using a sample (N = 588) of college students from a university in the…

The Fear of COVID-19 Familial Infection (FCFI) scale examines parents' fear levels of infecting their families with COVID-19. Principle component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of parents (N = 582) revealed two factors: Fear of infecting others and Others' Fear of being infected by me.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the effects of wearing a face mask on speech acoustics and intelligibility, using an acoustic-phonetic analysis of speech. In addition, the effects of speakers' behavioral modification while wearing a mask were examined. Method: Fourteen female adults were asked to read a set of words and sentences under three…

In the United States, healthcare-associated infections are one of the top 10 causes of death. With the rising costs of treating infections in the millions of dollars range, prevention is a core issue for the nursing profession. Due to the complexity of disease transmission and the persistent nature of certain microorganisms, traditional teaching…