COVID-19

The breakout and intensification of the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic caused dramatic changes to education across the world. Both teachers and students were not prepared for the sudden change regarding the mode of teaching and learning: onsite to offsite and offline to online. The current study seeks to identify frequent problems that first-year English major students have during their online learning process and explore their suggestions for the improvement of the situation. Data were collected from an online survey of 89 first-year English-majored students. The students’ obstacles were identified by the 30-item questionnaire, and their suggestions for positive changes were explored thanks to open-ended questions. The results show that learning environment is the students’ biggest problem due to the distraction of attention during home study. The extent of problems in six areas: (1) self-regulation, (2) technological literacy, (3) student isolation, (4) technological sufficiency, (5) learning resources, and (6) learning environments are significantly different. Among the suggestions, the students expected improvements in (1) teachers’ pedagogy, (2) students’ health, and (3) assessment scheme. Acknowledging the problems and putting forward suggestions for emergency remote teaching could contribute to the development of sustainable online teaching as a complementary mode of instruction in the new normal.

Objective:  The present study was conducted to explain the lived experience of patient’s families with Covid-19 that admitted to the hospital.Methods: The present qualitative study was based on a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The population included the patient’s families with Covid-19 admitted to the Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran during 2021-2022. After the initial investigation, 16 patient’s family’s members were selected through purposive sampling method. Data collection was done through in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed following the method proposed by Diekelman et al. (1989). As for data management, Software MAXQDA version 10 was used.Results: Thirteen participants were female and 3 were male with a mean age of 31 years. The five main themes along with their sub themes were identified: “in the turbulent of the disease”, “emotional fluctuation”, “living with perception of loneliness”, “a flash of hope” and “in search of compatibility”.Conclusion:  The families of patients with Covid-19 admitted to the hospital appear to be experiencing a number of challenges. Nurse and treatment team can provide support for patient’s family and also, they can play an effective role in preventing adverse complications.

After a brief description of what fake news is and how it has been developed historically, we have claimed that fake news as we know it is generally a social media phenomenon. Despite the fact that Iran is considered a developing country, and not still a developed one, one might think Iran is less likely to fall prey of complicated fake news industry that negatively affect prosperous and affluent countries. But the vice versa is correct. Doing an extensive survey on previous research on fake news in Iran, we have shown how fake news will hinder unprecedented facilities for freedom of expression and even will make people contemplate giving up their freedom of expression in order to avoid or get rid of fake news. A naïve view could see a bright future for unbiased and disinterested news gathering and publishing, but research has shown in a totally unregulated media sphere, it is fake news that is more radially available and more quickly becoming viral.

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, educational institutes around the world including Iran transitioned from the face-to-face method to an online modality to sustain education. Adapting to this abrupt transition was challenging for teachers, especially those working in remote and low-resource schools. To have a profounder understanding of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) in rural secondary schools, in this qualitative study, the researchers explored the technological tools, teaching platforms, and assessment strategies employed by 12 Iranian English teachers during the pandemic. The analysis of the data, collected through semi-structured interviews and e-observations, revealed that the participants mostly, but not exclusively, used SHAD application as their online platform and used different technological tools for creating pedagogic content such as screen recorder, video editors, and PowerPoint. The teachers also adopted different methods for delivering teaching including flipped method, live broadcasts, pre-recorded teaching materials, voices, and images. They used Google forms, Digi forms, and video calls for evaluating the students; nevertheless, they chiefly deployed these tools for designing traditional exam types. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Objective: “The purpose of this paper was to identify the factors affecting the dynamics of sports business after the COVID-19 pandemic and to find ways to meet the needs of having clear foresight and radical progress in this constantly changing environment.Methods This research was of a qualitative type, using the thematic analysis method. The statistical population includes managers of sports businesses, faculty members of entrepreneurial management faculties, faculty members of physical education and sports science faculties with expertise in entrepreneurship and business management, and members of the employment and entrepreneurship working group of the Ministry of Sports and Youth. We used the snowball sampling method to select the research sample. A total of 19 interviews were conducted and recorded in this study.Findings In this research, six themes were identified: management capabilities with three factors, organizational capabilities with three factors, marketing capabilities with four factors, technological capabilities with two factors, macro level challenges with four factors, and networking capabilities with three factors. Conclusions Considering the extent and importance of sports businesses, as well as the unique features of this type of business, identifying the factors that affect the dynamics can help sports businesses in organizational planning to get out of the crisis.

SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES:  Sometimes, the boundaries of ethics have been broken in online education, and COVID-19 has unconsciously provided the necessary grounds for this tension. The need to know the obstacles and practical solutions to solve this problem is the issue of this research for finding pure life. It is deemed essential to conduct a scientometric analysis in the domain of Ethics Education during the COVID-19 era to identify focal points and examine existing gaps in research. METHOD & FINDING: The research employs a descriptive-applied methodology, following the filtration process, 1000 articles were selected for analysis using Excel and VOS Viewer software to examine and present the data. The findings reveal a rising trend in the number of articles, with 2023 having the highest count (1,422). Additionally, Social Science & Medicine secured the top position with 228 articles. The position of medical sciences was significant due to the attention to ethics in the process of education and treatment. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted ethics education, according to some, it was done with a plan and interest. The pandemic has led to increased mental health concerns, anxiety, depression, and changes in teaching strategies. Overlay visualizations show the relationship between the pandemic's stages and the adoption of educational technology in ethical education. Ethics education for pure living emphasizes the integration of ethical ideas into education to promote purity, integrity, and moral well-being. Finally, some parts of Islamic education increased in this era by virtual platforms.

Background: COVID-19 transmission in team sports is common, but it's uncertain if face masks impact handball players' performance. Aim: This study investigated the effects of wearing surgical face masks during handball exercise for four weeks on athletic performance. Materials and Methods: Thirty-four adolescent handball female players and 17 trained females as the control group were selected in this study. Players were divided into two groups: the mask group (n= 17; age: 12.63±0.67 years, BMI: 20.61±1.19 kg/m2) and the unmasked group (n= 17; age: 13.45± 1.03 years, BMI: 21.08±1.46 kg/m2), who underwent 4-week training with and without face masks, respectively. Performance tests were conducted before and after the training program, which include: countermovement jump (CMJ), squat jump (SJ), 10m, 20m, and 30m sprint, medicine ball throw, and Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1 (Yo-YoIRT1). Results: After four weeks, both mask and unmasked groups showed significant improvements in CMJ, SJ, 10m, 20m, and 30m sprint, medicine ball throw, and Yo-YoIRT1 (P≤ 0.05). Conclusion: This study concludes that adolescent handball players can safely use face masks during physical activity without experiencing negative effects on their athletic performance.

Objective:  This research aimed to study mothers' lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The research methodology was qualitative, and the research type was phenomenological. The statistical population of the study consisted of mothers with student children who had high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress based on the DASS-24 questionnaire due to the experience of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021 The sampling method was purposeful and continued until theoretical saturation was reached (30 people). Collaizi's seven-step analysis method was applied to analyze the interviews. The gathering and analysis of the data were handled simultaneously. Results:  1177 codes were extracted and eventually categorized into 6 components. The findings indicate that we can study mothers' lived experiences during the spread of COVID-19 from six perspectives: constructive lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, emergence, and development of psychological issues, social issues, educational and cultural issues, family issues, and physical and systemic issues. Conclusion: The findings of the current research showed that the widespread of the COVID-19 disease had created problems in the different fields of life from the mothers' point of view, But the spread of this disease has provided them with positive experiences such as self-improvement and personal growth.

Objective:  Covid-19 outbreak changed human being interactions in all of the world, and family as smallest social unit of society had experiences in new situation. Accordingly, the present study aimed to explore the How the Covid-19 pandemic changed the quality of Iranian families’ interaction?Methods: This study examined the quality of family interactions during the COVID-19 epidemic using a qualitative grounded theory approach. The research population was families living in Tehran. The participants were 25 persons including 7 couples and 11 young adults who were selected using purposive sampling in 2021 in Tehran. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the participants. The collected data were analyzed based on Strauss and Corbin’s approach.Results: The results revealed that COVID-19 affected 5 Axial coding including; “Family interaction challenges”, “Changes in the quality of family interactions”, “Concerns about the occurrence of physical and mental problems for family members”, “the impact of changing working hours” and “economic problems on family interactions”, and the consequences of reconstructing family interactions leading to weak family ties. The COVID-19 pandemic also had consequences such as economic problems, exacerbation of external stresses such as unemployment, disregard for family relationships, and exacerbation of work-family conflict.Conclusion: This study also showed that families rebuild family interactions by turning challenges into opportunities, redefining communication boundaries, rebuilding family interactions, and redefining family roles and functions.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant effects and outcomes on primary education. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand teachers' experiences of the effects and outcomes of COVID-19 on the quality of education in elementary schools. Methodology: This qualitative study was phenomenological in nature. The research population consisted of elementary school teachers in Zanjan County, from which 24 were selected as samples through purposive sampling based on the principle of theoretical saturation. The samples were subjected to semi-structured interviews, the validity of which was confirmed through triangulation and the reliability was calculated as 0.88 using the intercoder agreement coefficient. Data analysis of the present study was conducted using thematic analysis in MAXQDA software. Findings: The results of this study indicated that understanding teachers' experiences of the effects and outcomes of COVID-19 on the quality of education in elementary schools consisted of 14 sub-themes under 2 main themes. The main theme of the virtualization of education included 9 sub-themes: deficiencies in facilities and infrastructure, lack of information and experience among teachers, decreased quality of learning, increased stress among families, behavioral and psychological problems of students, health and physical problems of students, economic problems, educational gaps, and the organization of psychological strengthening courses. The main theme of developing new policies and strategies in education and teaching included 5 sub-themes: a new approach to modern education, new policies in school development, new strategies in teacher training, new work procedures and goals, and the integration of technology in the workplace and life. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it was determined that COVID-19 opened a new window for the education system to adjust and change educational policies and develop the necessary infrastructure to improve the quality of education.

In recent years, the field of medicine in Iran has faced significant public scrutiny, influenced by two major health crises: the 2016 death of acclaimed filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami due to a medical error and the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines shifts in the emotional and discursive climate surrounding medicine and physicians on Persian Twitter before and after these events. Using relevant medical hashtags, over 131,000 tweets from 2015 to 2020 were analyzed through sentiment analysis, employing a rule-based approach with NVivo12 software. The findings reveal a sevenfold increase in tweets about medicine during Kiarostami’s death, accompanied by heightened negativity and associations of terms like "error," "negligence," and "mistake" with medicine which has resulted in the reconstruction of 'medical error.' Additionally, as a result of the association of the terms' error,' 'negligence,' and 'mistake' with 'medicine,' the obviousness of the physician's holiness and respect for medicine has deteriorated, and the association of the terms' value and credibility' with medicine has been de-naturalized. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the sentiment shifted positively, reflecting greater appreciation for the medical profession. This study highlights how public sentiment towards medicine changes in response to major health crises, emphasizing the interplay between public sphere and trust in healthcare systems. Understanding these dynamics can inform strategies to rebuild trust and address public concerns about medical practices.

This study examined the effects of virtual English instruction via the Iranian Student Education Network (SHAD) on the speaking accuracy of Iranian high school English learners with varied personality traits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants (n = 54) completed the Quick Oxford Placement Test and the Eysenck Personality Inventory before taking a speaking test based on the Vision English for Schools Series. The participants' voice-recorded responses to the speaking test were then analyzed for accurate verb usage. After completing 18 online sessions with diverse speaking tasks on SHAD, the participants retook the speaking test, and their performances were analyzed. The results indicated significant effects on the speaking accuracy of both extroverts and introverts, with introversion showing the most positive impact. Semi-structured telephonic interviews were conducted to gather participants' perceptions of virtual education. The findings highlighted the challenges and opportunities faced by Iranian high school English learners in online classes, with implications for virtual language education and materials development. 

Purpose: Despite much evidence on consumers' behaviors and veterinarians' perspectives against Covid-19, nor have the past inquiries surveyed ranchers and livestock breeders' hygiene behaviors against Covid-19, serving as the main actors in the supply chain of livestock-product. Therefore, this study intends to be notified of the hygiene behaviors of ranchers and sheep farmers to curtail the spread of Covid-19.Design/Methodology/Approach: Using the theory of planned behavior and health belief model, this study contributes to predicting sheep farmers' behaviors in Maragheh County, northwestern Iran (2021-2022). Based on the quantitative paradigm and non-experimental research design, the study benefits from the cross-sectional survey to gather the data of 207 sheep farmers using questionnaire. To analyze the data, linear regression model (LRM), analysis of variance, and univariate GLM were used.Findings: Using the Univariate General Linear Modeling (UGLM), it was found that subjective norms (SNs) ( ) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) ( ) have a significant influence on behavior, further, these factors have different variate values at three levels of production unit type, inclusive of mechanized (n = 27), semi-mechanized (n = 47), and traditional (n = 133), most value of SNs and PBC falls under the category of traditional production units. The interaction of the SNs variable (SNs × Production Unit) with the levels of the production unit is statistically significant (F = 1.87, p < 0.05; ).Original/Value: This study fulfilled the knowledge gap of the factors that contribute to forecasting hygiene behaviors of sheep farmers against Covid-19. The agenda of recommendations would have impacts on health and wellbeing of not just sheep farmers but also public people by promoting the preventive behaviors of ranchers and sheep farmers against the spread of Covid-19.