Effects of COVID-19 safety protocols on health workers' quality of life; the mediating role of mental health and physical health; a retrospective study.

This study conducts an empirical retrospective examination of the effect of COVID-19 protocols on Health workers' quality of life during the pandemic. Data from a survey respondent of 330 health workers were analyzed through structural equation modeling. Results indicated COVID-19 protocols specifically hand hygiene, personal protective equipments, and physical distancing had a significant effect on the quality of life of health workers during the COVID-19 era. However, the results did not follow the expected literature trend. Analysis indicated a direct significant positive relationship between hand hygiene and quality of life and also highlighted a negative relationship between physical distancing and protective equipments and quality of life. Detailed analysis in an attempt to explain this development highlighted the significant role physical and mental health play in the relationship between COVID-19 safety protocols and quality of life. The findings of the study suggest implications and suggestions for future research.

Drivers of food security in West Africa: Insight from heterogeneous panel data analysis on income-level classification.

This paper investigates the factors driving food security in West African countries. Specifically, it examines the impact of natural resource rents, institutional quality, and climate change on food security while controlling for industrialization and economic growth. Our research is motivated by the urgent need for swift policy action to address the escalating food crisis in the region and prevent any potential catastrophic consequences. Second-generation econometric techniques are utilized for accurate and reliable outcomes based on yearly datasets from West African countries from 2000 to 2020, and the countries are sub-grouped into low-income and lower-middle-income. The findings unveil the panel as heterogeneous and cross-sectionally based, and all the study variables are first differenced stationary and co-integrated in the long run. Hence, the Augmented Mean Group and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group estimators are utilized to explore the relationships between the variables, and the findings reveal that natural resource rents, climate change, and industrialization are detrimental to food security across the sub-groups. However, the outcomes affirm institutional quality and economic growth as beneficial drivers of food security across the sub-groups. Therefore, this study recommends that authorities of both low-income and lower-middle-income countries make substantial investments in sustainable natural resource utilization and also work towards enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of their institutions, as well as investing in environmental research to explore climate change mitigation possibilities that could enhance food security in West Africa.

Revisiting the impact of trade openness on environmental sustainability in Belt and Road countries: a heterogeneous panel approach.

The nations participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are particularly vulnerable to the challenges posed by climate change due to their extensive trading activities. The need to protect the environment and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change in these countries is of utmost importance. Therefore, this study contributes to the scientific understanding of this issue by examining the relationship between trade openness and environmental sustainability in 89 BRI countries from 1990 to 2020. Additionally, control variables, including economic growth, energy consumption, urbanization, industrialization, and foreign direct investment, are considered to address omitted variable bias issues. The study utilizes the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) regression estimators, and the findings reveal that trade openness improves environmental sustainability. However, economic growth, energy consumption, urbanization, and industrialization degrade environmental sustainability. Interestingly, the results affirm foreign direct investment as a trivial determinant of environmental sustainability. Regarding causal relationships, reciprocal causalities are observed between trade openness and carbon emissions, energy consumption and carbon emissions, and urbanization and carbon emissions. Furthermore, one-way causalities exist from economic growth to carbon emissions and from carbon emissions to foreign direct investment. Nevertheless, no causal relationship is identified between industrialization and carbon emissions. Based on these significant findings, it is recommended that China, as a prominent player in the BRI, takes further steps to enhance and promote energy-efficient practices in BRI countries. One practical approach is the establishment of energy efficiency standards for the goods and services traded with these countries.

Exploring the Dynamic Nexus Among Economic Growth, Industrialization, Medical Technology, and Healthcare Expenditure: A PMG-ARDL Panel Data Analysis on Income-Level Classification Along West African Economies.

This article explored the dynamic nexus among economic growth, industrialization, medical technology, and healthcare expenditure in West Africa while using urbanization and aged population as control variables. West African countries were sub-sectioned into low-income (LI) and lower-middle-income (LMI) countries. Panel data extracted from the World Development Indicators (WDI) from 2000 to 2019 were used for the study. More modern econometric techniques that are vigorous to cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity were employed in the analytical process in order to provide accurate and trustworthy results. The homogeneity test and cross-sectional dependency test confirmed the studied panels to be heterogeneous and cross-sectionally dependent, respectively. Moreover, the CADF and CIPS unit root tests showed that the variables were not integrated in the same order. This, thus, leads to the employment of the PMG-ARDL estimation approach, which unveiled economic growth and urbanization as trivial determinants of healthcare expenditure in the LI and LMI panels. However, the results affirmed industrialization as a major determinant of healthcare expenditure in the LI and LMI panels. Additionally, medical technology was confirmed to decrease healthcare expenditure in the LMI panel, whereas in the LI panel, an insignificant impact was witnessed. Also, the aged population was found to intensify healthcare expenditure in both the LI and LMI panels. Lastly, on the causal connection between the series, the outcome revealed a mixture of causal paths among the variables in all the panels. Policy recommendations have therefore been proposed based on the study's findings.

Teamwork quality and health workers burnout nexus: a new insight from canonical correlation analysis.

BACKGROUND: Burnout is evidenced to have  adverse effect on the well-being of health workers. Although several risk factors of burnout have been found, only a hand full of studies have examined the role of teamwork quality. This study therefore sought to explore the relationship between the sub-dimensions of burnout and teamwork quality. METHOD: This is an empirical study involving health workers who have practising certificate from the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. Relying on the study's target population, a sample of 939 healthworkers complied to partake in the survey. Data were obtained from the administration of a well-structured electronic questionnaire containing the Maslach Burnout Inventory together with Healthy and Resilient Organization (HERO) scales correspondingly. The scales were then analysed using the canonical correlation approach (CCA). RESULTS: The results unveiled a statistically significant correlation between teamwork quality and health worker burnout indicating that teamwork quality and burnout are canonically correlated. Further, examination on the relationship existing between the dimensions of teamwork quality and burnout unveiled that with the exception of personal accomplishment and teamwork dedication, teamwork quality sub-scales (teamwork vigour and teamwork absorption) were negatively related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization as sub-scales of burnout, respectively. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that, surge in teamwork quality leads to reduced emotional exhaustion and reduced depersonalization while simultaneously increasing professional accomplishment. Therefore, this study presents a solid foundation for decreasing burnout syndrome in healthcare that can be implemented by successfully increasing levels of teamwork quality.

Does energy consumption, economic growth, urbanization, and population growth influence carbon emissions in the BRICS? Evidence from panel models robust to cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity.

This paper examined the nexus between economic growth, energy consumption, urbanization, population growth, and carbon emissions in the BRICS economies from 1990 to 2019. In order to yield valid and reliable outcomes, modern econometric techniques that are vigorous to cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity were employed. From the findings, the studied panel was heterogeneous and cross-sectionally dependent. Also, all the series were first differenced stationary and co-integrated in the long run. The Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) estimators were employed to estimate the elastic effects of the predictors on the explained variable, and from the output of both estimators, energy consumption worsened environmental quality via high carbon emissions. Also, the AMG estimator affirmed economic growth to be a significantly positive determinant of carbon emissions. However, both estimators confirmed urbanization and population growth as trivial predictors of the emissivities of carbon. On the causal connections amidst the series, there was bidirectional causality between economic growth and carbon emissions, between energy consumption and economic growth, between economic growth and population growth, between energy consumption and urbanization, and between economic growth and urbanization. Lastly, a causation from urbanization to carbon emissions was unfolded. Policy implications are further discussed.