Challenges and Opportunities Experienced by Performing Artists during COVID-19 Lockdown: Scoping Review [Preprint - medRxiv, February 2022]

Title:

Challenges and Opportunities Experienced by Performing Artists during COVID-19 Lockdown: Scoping Review

 

Authors:

Samantha K Brooks & Sonny S Patel

 

Published:

medRxiv, 24 February 2022

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.23.22271390v1

 

Note: 

This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed.

 

Abstract:

This scoping review synthesises published literature on the experiences of professional and amateur performing artists during COVID-19 and their perceptions of the challenges and opportunities faced. Six electronic databases were searched for published English-language articles containing primary data on this topic; twenty-one studies were reviewed. Themes included loss of work, financial impact, concerns about the future, psychological wellbeing, social connections, continuing creative pursuits, and inequalities. Participants reported both detrimental psychological effects of lockdown such as anxiety and sleep problems and positive effects including reduced stress and enjoyment of having more free time. Most continued creative pursuits throughout lockdown, most commonly shifting to online platforms. However, many barriers to creative pursuits were reported, including lack of technological expertise or equipment. Concerns were raised about inequality, in particular racial disparities in the financial impact of the pandemic and additional pressures faced by performers with disabilities; with insufficient funds to afford the equipment needed to shift to remote performing; and with additional caring responsibilities. It is important that performing artists have access to peer support; that education on digital technologies is incorporated into future performing arts education; and that inequities are addressed to ensure the needs of diverse communities are met.

 

Meaningfulness and Spirituality in Drumming During the COVID-19 Pandemic [Scholarly Article - International Journal of Education & the Arts, February 2022]

Title:

Meaningfulness and Spirituality in Drumming During the COVID-19 Pandemic

 

Author:

Gareth Dylan Smith

Boston University, United States of America

 

Published:

International Journal of Education & the Arts, Volume 23, Number 3, 8 February 2022

http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea23n3

 

Abstract:

This paper presents an autoethnographic account of how a drummer found meaningfulness through engagement in asynchronous, collaborative music making with friends in a period of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The author learned how to record drum kit in his garage using a rudimentary studio setup, and how to edit the recordings in a basic digital audio workstation. Using Boyce-Tillman’s (2011) framework of Spirituality, the author details how, through activity in the domains of Materials, Construction, Values, and Expression, he was able to achieve liminal, Spiritual experience that provided focus, meaning, and purpose in a challenging and unsettling time. The author argues that students could benefit if arts educators recognize and value music making and learning as more holistic, Spiritual experiences. 

 

Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa at the Onset of the COVID‐19 Pandemic [Scholarly Article by Vimal Ranchhod & Reza Che Daniels]

Title:

Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa at the Onset of the COVID‐19 Pandemic

 

Authors:

Vimal Ranchhod & Reza Che Daniels

Published:

South African Journal of Economics (SAJE), 5 February 2021

[Open access article]

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/saje.12283

 

Abstract:

This paper conducts an analysis of labour market dynamics in South Africa during the initial period of lockdown, from the end of March to the end of April 2020, using the first wave of the NIDS‐CRAM (2020) survey. Within our sample of over 6,000 adults aged 18 to 59, we found that there was a very large decrease in employment. The fraction of the sample that was conventionally classified as employed decreased from 57% in February to 48% in April. If we further exclude temporarily absent workers, which we term “furloughed” employees, this fraction decreases further to 38%. Thus, about one out of every three employed people in our sample either lost their job or did not work and received no wages during April. This has extremely large implications for poverty and welfare. We further analyse the labour market by comparing across demographic groups as defined by race, by gender, by age groups, by geographic areas and by education levels. The over‐arching finding from this analysis is that the job losses were not uniformly distributed amongst the different groups. In particular, groups who have always been more vulnerable – such as women, African/Blacks, youth and less educated groups – have been disproportionately negatively affected.

 

Higher risk of mental health deterioration during the Covid-19 lockdown among students rather than non-students. The French Confins study (medRxiv, 5 November 2020 - preprint)

Title:

Higher risk of mental health deterioration during the Covid-19 lockdown among students rather than non-students. The French Confins study

 

Authors:

Julie Arsandaux, Ilaria Montagni, Melissa Macalli, Nathalie Texier, Mathilde Pouriel, Raphael Germain, Adel Mebarki, Sherazade Kinouani, Marie Tournier, Stephane Schuck & Christophe Tzourio

Published:

medRxiv, 5 November 2020

[Keep in mind that this is a preprint and not yet peer reviewed.]

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.04.20225706v1

Abstract:

Background: Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences have raised fears of its psychological impact. The objective of this study was to estimate the effect of student status on mental health conditions during Covid-19 general lockdown among adults in France. 

 

Methods: Using cross-sectional data of the Confins cohort, we estimated the effect of student status on depressive and anxiety symptoms, suicidal thoughts and perceived stress using multivariate logistic regression analyses. Stratified models for college students and non-students were performed to identify associated population-specific factors. Results: Among the 2260 included participants, students represented 59% (n=1335 vs 925 non-students) and 78% of the total sample were female. Student status was more frequently associated with depressive symptoms (adjusted OR(aOR)=1.58; 95%CI 1.17;2.14), anxiety symptoms (aOR=1.51; 95%CI 1.10;2.07), perceived stress (n=1919, aOR=1.70, 95%CI 1.26;2.29) and frequent suicidal thoughts (n=1919, aOR=1.57, 95%CI 0.97;2.53). Lockdown conditions that could be potentially aggravating on mental health like isolation had a higher impact on students than non-students. 

 

Limitations: Participants were volunteers, which could limit generalisation of the findings. The cross-sectional design did not allow determining if lockdown impacted directly mental health or if there is another cause. However, we adjusted analyses with the history of psychiatric disorders, and factors related to lockdown conditions were associated with mental health disturbances. 

 

Conclusions: College student's mental health is of great importance in the context of the general lockdown set up during the pandemic. Follow-up and interventions should be implemented especially for those at high-risk (younger people and those with history of psychiatric disorders).

University of Nebraska - Lincoln (September 2020): A Survey on Reading Habit of Library Users during COVID-19 Lockdown

Title:

A Survey on Reading Habit of Library Users during COVID-19 Lockdown 

Authors:

Kshama Parikh, Priyanki Vyas Dr & Saurin Sharad Parikh PhD

Published:

University of Nebraska - Lincoln, September 20202

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7874&context=libphilprac

Abstract:

E-Libraries has become more relevant in present situation of COVID-19 pandemic as it has caused an international lockdown in the world and India. Causing majority of the citizens to stay at home. The survey was conducted to study the reading habits of various library users (volunteers) during this situation. Besides the reading habit, the survey also collected the data for the various activities carried out by users at home. Main finding of the survey is that the users had taken keen interest to switch over to reading eBooks and 70% of student users and 53% of faculty users are reading more e-content especially books/magazines/research papers. Besides the extensive reading habit, the survey also discloses the greater involvement of users for learning/leisure/hobby activities at home. Student users have also reported spending more quality life with family members at home. Above all, the survey disclosed the reading of books as the main activity of the users during lockdown. This finding will inspire the organizations for establishing scalable and secure elibrary Infrastructure and for focusing on acquiring more eBooks for the eLibrary and provide better services to their users during situations like that of COVID-19. 

Imperial College London - The Entire Earth Is Vibrating Less Due to COVID-19 Lockdowns, Study Reveals

Title:
The Entire Earth Is Vibrating Less Due to COVID-19 Lockdowns, Study Reveals

Author:
Michelle Starr

Published:
Science Alert, 23 July 2020
https://www.sciencealert.com/covid-lockdown-has-dramatically-reduced-humans-seismic-pollution

From the article:
We humans are a rowdy, disruptive bunch. Our very day-to-day living causes the planet to hum. Quite literally - driving and travelling, digging and construction, industry, and even sports events all contribute to a constant background hum of high-frequency seismic noise.

Now, thanks to global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is experiencing the most dramatic reduction in that anthropogenic seismic noise in recorded history.

"This quiet period is likely the longest and largest dampening of human-caused seismic noise since we started monitoring the Earth in detail using vast monitoring networks of seismometers," said seismologist Stephen Hicks of Imperial College London in the UK.

King's College London - Coronavirus: How the UK is sleeping under lockdown

Title:
Coronavirus: How the UK is sleeping under lockdown

Published:
BBC News, 4 June 2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52911395

From the article:
"More than half the UK population has struggled with sleep during the lockdown, a survey suggests."

Court rules some South African lockdown restrictions invalid [Reuters, 2 June 2020]

Title:
Court rules some South African lockdown restrictions invalid

Author:
Emma Rumney

Published:
Reuters, 2 June 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-safrica-court/south-african-high-court-says-some-lockdown-restrictions-invalid-government-says-idUSKBN2392BV

From the article:
"A South African high court declared some of the government’s coronavirus lockdown regulations unconstitutional on Tuesday but suspended the order for 14 days, leaving the rules in place for now."