Background COVID-19 forced many colleges and schools of nursing to abruptly pivot face-to-face learning to online formats. Online teaching is not new, but some faculty have not taught in a virtual environment and rapidly transitioning courses online was challenging. It is not known if teacher self-efficacy was impacted by these circumstances. Objectives We aimed to assess online teacher self-efficacy of nursing faculty who transitioned at least one-face-to face course to an online format. We hypothesized that faculty with previous online teaching experience and greater self-rated instructional support would demonstrate higher online teacher self-efficacy scores compared to faculty who had little or no online teaching experience or reported less satisfaction with instructional support. Design A cross-sectional, descriptive design was used. Setting Faculty from ten universities across the United States were recruited. Participants Nursing faculty ( N = 84) who transitioned at least one face-to-face course to an online format during COVID-19 were included in the study. Methods Participants completed the 32-item Michigan Nurse Educators Sense of Efficacy for Online Teaching (MNESEOT) instrument and a demographic questionnaire which included items about prior online teaching experience and instructional support. Results Participants scored overall teacher self-efficacy high (75th percentile). “Computer skills” were scored highest while “student engagement” scored lowest. Prior online teaching was a predictor of higher online teacher self-efficacy; however, instructional support was not a predictor of higher online teacher self-efficacy. Conclusion Nursing faculty reported a high level of online teacher self-efficacy during an abrupt pivot from face-to-face teaching to a virtual format. Pre-emptive opportunities to teach online can build self-efficacy for novice faculty. Faculty and students will benefit from improving student engagement skills, especially during isolating and overwhelming events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Promotion of healthy eating is an effective public health strategy to prevent chronic disease incidence and progression. However, food prices can impede healthy eating, especially in rural communities. The purpose of this study was to determine whether food costs are associated with nutritional quality, geographic location, and month of year. The Overall Nutritional Quality Index and cost of 92 foods were assessed four times over a 10-month period in the primary grocery stores in four Kentucky counties, two rural and two urban. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to assess differences in food costs by nutritional quality, county, and month. Among more nutritious food items, costs were lower in urban areas. This was particularly true among foods in the highest quartile of nutritional quality. Across all counties, there was a pattern of highest per-serving costs in the second quartile of nutritional quality, whereas more nutritious foods were less expensive. Strategies that help individuals improve the ability to identify and prepare less costly foods with high nutritional value may be effective in improving dietary habits, particularly in rural, impoverished food deserts.

Background Farmers’ work schedules can result in inconsistent sleep patterns which negatively impact health. Purpose To explore the relationships between sleep, obesity, and depression in working, older farmers and their spouses. Covariates included body mass index (BMI), age, and gender. Methods Sleep quality, BMI, and depression were assessed in farmers (n = 1,394) 50 years and older. Bivariate associations among all covariates (i.e., age, gender, BMI, sleep) and dependent variable (i.e., depression) were analyzed using Pearson's correlation. Multivariable associations of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD). BMI with other study variables were assessed using linear regression. Results BMI was positively associated with sleep apnea symptoms (p ≤ 0.0001) and CESD scores (p = 0.0006). Participants with difficulty falling asleep were more likely to have poor sleep quality (p ≤ 0.0001) and higher CESD scores (p ≤ 0.0001). Poor sleep quality was associated with higher CESD scores (p ≤ 0.0001). Increased age, female gender, higher BMI, sleep apnea symptoms, and poorer sleep quality were all predictive of higher depressive symptoms. Discussion Farmers have unique lifestyles that increase the risk of poor sleep. Screening for sleep pattern disruption and understanding its impact could result in lower rates of depression and obesity in this group of high‐risk individuals.

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic many nursing educators have been required to abruptly convert to an online delivery model. Faculty need resources and support to transition face to face courses into an online format. Purpose The purpose of this article is to highlight nursing faculty perceptions of the effectiveness of resources, support, and methodologies for online teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was used to collect data about nursing faculty resources, support and methodologies used to transition at least one undergraduate or graduate degree nursing course to an online format during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Eighty-four faculty who taught in ten university colleges of nursing used varied teaching methodologies in online courses, but included some consistent methods such as websites and web based tools. The student engagement strategies that faculty were most satisfied with were journal writing and projects. Most faculty reported having information technology support and access to instructional design resources. Conclusion Nursing faculty were resourceful, adaptive, and willing to use both novel and existing resources and methodologies to meet their teaching objectives and engage students. They were also, overall, satisfied with the administrative support they received from their respective institutions. Many of these resources, methodologies, and supports will continue to be used by faculty as likely more programs and courses will continue to be managed online.

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