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Aim: The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of parenting stress, self‐efficacy and COVID‐19 health risks on general stress among nurses in the Midwest, United States, during the pandemic. Background: As frontline workers amidst the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, nurses have been subject to stressors at home and at work. Method: This quantitative, cross‐sectional study included 896 nurses with at least one child below 18 years of age. Using purposive sampling, participants answered an online survey composed of demographic questions, perception of COVID‐19 health risks, measures of self‐efficacy, general stress and parenting stress. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression were conducted. Data were collected from July 13 to August 13, 2020. Results: The four predictors, along with eight demographic covariates, accounted for 40% of the variance in general stress. Parenting stress and COVID‐19 health risks were positively related to general stress, while self‐efficacy was negatively associated with general stress. Conclusions: Results highlight the negative influence of parenting stress on nurses' general stress and the importance of self‐efficacy in reducing stress. Findings suggest that support services for nurses should focus not only on work‐related stressors but also consider parenting stressors, work‐home imbalances and self‐efficacy. Summary Statement: What is already known about this topic? Nurses are experiencing acute stress during the COVID‐19 pandemic because of the close proximity in dealing with infected and dying patients.Healthcare workers who have childcare obligations are facing more responsibilities at home and are less willing to report to work during a pandemic.High self‐efficacy among nurses has been found to significantly relate to willingness to work during a pandemic and that lower self‐efficacy is related to increased fear in caring for infected patients. What is already known about this topic? This paper adds to the limited research on the effects of parenting stress on nurses. This paper shows that parenting stress does contribute to nurses' overall perceived stress.Concerns about the potential risks if nurses themselves were to become infected and worries about the potential risks to family due to the nurses' clinical roles are significantly related to their general stress.In the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, self‐efficacy can serve as a protective factor against stress for nurses working in the frontlines. The implications of this paper: The COVID‐19 pandemic has increased work stress for nurses and contributed to challenges in finding the balance between the increased demands at home and work. To help mitigate stress and support wellbeing of nurses, health care institutions and nurse managers might consider arranging educational parenting support groups, allowing more flexible work hours or self‐scheduling, extended rest days, providing free or subsidized childcare and offering professional development opportunities that enhance self‐efficacy among nurses.Challenges experienced by nurses must be addressed as sustained levels of work‐life imbalance may contribute to nursing shortages as nurses succumb to the strain of the stress created by the COVID‐19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Da Rosa P, Nicolau B, Brodeur J-M, Benigeri M, Bedos C, Rousseau M-C. Associations between school deprivation indices and oral health status. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2011; 39: 213-220. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S Despite an overall improvement in oral health status in several countries over the past decades, chronic oral diseases (COD) remain a public health problem, occurring mostly among children in the lower social strata. The use of publicly available indicators at the school level may be an optimal strategy to identify children at high risk of COD in order to organize oral health promotion and intervention in schools. Objective: To investigate whether school deprivation indices were associated with schoolchildren oral health status. This ecological study used a sample of 316 elementary public schools in the province of Quebec, Canada. Data from two sources were linked using school identifiers: (i) Two school deprivation indices (in deciles) from the Ministry of Education, a poverty index based on the low income cut-offs established by Statistics Canada and a socioeconomic environment index defined by the proportions of maternal under-schooling and of unemployed parents and (ii) Oral health outcomes from the Quebec Schoolchildren Oral Health Survey 1998-99 aggregated at the school level. These included proportions of children with dental caries and reporting oral pain. The relation between school deprivation indices and oral health outcomes was assessed with linear regression for dental caries experience and logistic regression for oral pain. The mean DMF-S (mean number of decayed, missing and filled permanent teeth surfaces) by school was 0.7 (SD = 0.5); the average proportions of children with dental caries and reporting oral pain were 25.0% and 3.0%, respectively. The poverty index was not associated with oral health outcomes. For the socioeconomic environment index, dental caries experience was 6.9% higher when comparing schools in unfavourable socioeconomic environments to the most favourable ones [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.1, 11.7%]. Furthermore, the most deprived schools, as compared to least deprived ones, were almost three times as likely to have children reporting oral pain in the previous week. The school socioeconomic environment index was associated with oral health outcomes, and should be studied for its potential usefulness in planning school-based oral health promotion and screening strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]