Background: Psychosocial responses to infectious disease outbreaks have the potential to inflict acute and longstanding mental health consequences. Early research across the globe has found wide ranging psychological responses to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding how different coping styles can be effective in mitigating mental ill health would enable better tailored psychological support. Aims: The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of psychosocial responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, including depression, anxiety and distress, as well as effective coping styles in an Australian sample. Method: A sample of 1,495 adults, residing in Australia between April 3rd and May 3rd 2020, completed an online survey which measured psychological distress (Impact of Events Scale-Revised), depression, anxiety, stress (DASS-21), as well as coping strategies (Brief COPE). Results: 47% of the respondents were experiencing some degree of psychological distress. Females experienced higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress than males. Coping strategies associated with better mental health were positive reframing, acceptance and humour. Conversely, self-blame, venting, behavioural disengagement and self-distraction were associated with poorer mental health. Conclusion: Rates of psychological symptoms amongst the Australian population are similar to those reported in other countries. Findings add to the growing literature demonstrating a gender disparity in the mental health impacts of COVID-19. Positive emotion focused coping strategies may be effective for reducing psychological symptoms. Understanding psychosocial responses including beneficial coping strategies are crucial to manage the current COVID-19 situation optimally, as well as to develop mental health response plans for future pandemics.

Objective: The aim of this study was to profile students undertaking placements at University Departments of Rural Health (UDRHs) and investigate factors affecting students' satisfaction and intention to enter rural practice. Design: Cross-sectional survey comprising 21 core questions used by all UDRHs. Setting: Eleven UDRHs across Australia that support students' placements in regional, rural and remote locations. Participants: Medical, nursing and allied health students who participated in UDRH placements between July 2014 and November 2015 and completed the questionnaire. Main outcome measures: Key dependent variables were placement satisfaction and rural practice intention. Descriptive variables were age, gender, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) background, location of placement, healthcare discipline, year of study and type and length of placement. Results: A total of 3328 students responded. The sample was predominantly female (79%), the mean age was 26.0 years and 1.8% identified as ATSI. Most placements (69%) were >2 but ≤12 weeks, 80% were in Modified Monash 3, 4 or 5 geographical locations. Public hospitals and community health made up 63% of placements. Students satisfied with their placement had 2.33 higher odds of rural practice intention. Those satisfied with Indigenous cultural training, workplace supervision, access to education resources and accommodation had higher odds of overall satisfaction and post-placement rural practice intention. Conclusions: The majority of students were highly satisfied with their placement and the support provided by rural clinicians and the UDRHs. UDRHs are well placed to provide health professional students with highly satisfactory placements that foster rural practice intention.

IntroductionHealth workforce shortages have driven the Australian and other Western governments to invest in engaging more health professional students in rural and remote placements. The aim of this qualitative study was to provide an understanding of the lived experiences of students undertaking placements in various nonmetropolitan locations across Australia. In addition to providing their suggestions to improve rural placements, the study provides insight into factors contributing to positive and negative experiences that influence students’ future rural practice intentions.MethodsResponses to open-ended survey questions from 3,204 students from multiple health professions and universities were analyzed using two independent methods applied concurrently: manual thematic analysis and computerized content analysis using Leximancer software.ResultsThe core concept identified from the thematic analysis was “ruralization of students’ horizons,” a construct representing the importance of preparing health professional students for practice in nonmetropolitan locations. Ruralization embodies three interrelated themes, “preparation and support,” “rural or remote health experience,” and “rural lifestyle and socialization,” each of which includes multiple subthemes. From the content analysis, factors that promoted students’ rural practice intentions were having a “positive” practice experience, interactions with “supportive staff,” and interactions with the “community” in general. It was apparent that “difficulties,” eg, with “accommodation,” “Internet” access, “transport,” and “financial” support, negatively impacted students’ placement experience and rural practice intentions.ConclusionsThe study findings have policy and practice implications for continuing to support students undertaking regional, rural, and remote placements and preparing them for future practice in nonmetropolitan locations. This study may, therefore, further inform ongoing strategies for improving rural placement experiences and enhancing rural health workforce recruitment, retention, and capacity building.

Over the decades, the Zabaleen, the traditional waste (garbage) collectors of Cairo, have created what is arguably one of the world's most efficient and sustainable resource-recovery and waste-recycling systems. Yet the continuation of this intricate relationship between community, environment and livelihood is jeopardized by the official privatization of municipal solid waste (MSW) services through contracts with technology-intensive multinational corporations which threatens the sustainability of the garbage collectors' communities by removing access to their chief economic asset, waste or garbage. The situation is exacerbated by an official policy of moving the Zabaleen and their MSW sorting, recovery, trading and recycling activities further out of the city, on the grounds that this will turn their neighbourhoods into cleaner and healthier living environments. The consumption of Cairo's sites of MSW collection and sorting open new socio-political spaces for conflict between multi-national companies and the Zabaleen's traditional system. This is further indicated in the way Cairo's waste materials have been subjected to new claims and conflict, as they are seen as a ‗commodity' by global capital entrepreneurs and multi-national corporations, and as a source of ‗livelihood' by the disadvantaged and marginalised Zabaleen population.

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