ULB, UCLouvain, Université de Montréal
" OBJ: 1) Observe interprofessional and interorganisational collaboration "in the making" in crisis situation: how professional groups organize and collaborate (within and between professional groups) in different organizational contexts (liberal practice, primary care delivery services, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.) especially for vulnerable groups. 2) Analyse the role of regulatory bodies governmental agencies, professional associations) in managing healthcare professions and interprofessional collaboration in crisis situations 3)Improving future care and the resilience of health systems METH: Collection and analysis of documents (instructions, tools, etc.), qualitative interviews, in situ observations. Developing Grounded theory "
Funding: Research team is part of BeHive - Interdisciplinary primary care Chair, funded by the King Baudouin Foundation (Fund Dr. Daniel De Coninck)
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ULiège
" The objective of this study is to better understand children's experiences and understanding of this coronavirus crisis. Our purpose is to approach this experience through a drawing. According to Romano (2010), the child's drawing shows the state of his defence mechanisms and the achievement of his elaboration capacities. Several studies have highlighted the stress felt, or even the symptoms of acute stress and post-traumatic stress, in cases of confinement (Qiu et al., 2020; Brooks et al., 2020). Within this framework, we aim to study children's perceptions of the coronavirus and what it means for them. The guideline is intended to be relatively broad in order to allow the child to let go of his or her imagination and give us access to his or her experiences. In previous research, children were asked to draw their perceptions of the September 11, 2001 attacks. What emerges from this study is that most of the children draw elements characteristic of this event, namely...

Read more: Adélaïde Blavier, Professor - Alicia Gallo, Researcher

ULiège
" As the coronavirus epidemic progresses throughout the country, it imposes exceptional sanitary measures on undertakers in order to slow down its spread. In the event of a patient's death, the federal government has issued strict instructions to funeral staff for the care of the body of a patient who died as a result of a coronavirus infection. The body of the deceased must automatically be placed in a double biodegradable body bag before being transferred to the mortuary (The Royal Federation of Funeral Directors of Belgium a.s.b.l., 2020). It is then impossible for families to proceed with the placing. The body must be placed in a single coffin without delay. The coffin will be closed definitively without the possibility of an act of thanatopraxy. In view of these important changes in the care of the deceased, it is likely that funeral workers will develop difficulties or disorders in connection with the performance of their work. It is therefore necessary to investigate...

Read more: Adélaïde Blavier, Professor - Laetitia Di Piazza, PhD Student- Researcher

ULiège
" The objective of this study is to better understand the situation of families during this period of confinement and to analyze the relationship between the parents' and children's reactions. More specifically, the goal is to learn about the anxiety factors and stress management techniques used by parents and children during this particular period and their influence on their sense of parental competence. Several studies have highlighted the stress felt, and even the symptoms of acute stress and post-traumatic stress, in cases of confinement (Qiu et al., 2020; Brooks et al., 2020). Moreover, in previous studies, we have already demonstrated links between the stress felt by parents and that developed by children through intergenerational transmission in the case of traumatic situations (Gallo et al., 2019). In this framework, we wish to study the links between the stress felt by the parent and that felt by the child in the current confinement situation that we are familiar...

Read more: Adélaïde Blavier, Professor - Stéphanie Chartier, PhD Student- Researcher

ULB

Sphère publique, sphère privée : Impact du port du masque sur la reconnaissance des personnes et de l'expression émotionnelle de leur visage. " Le déconfinement approche. Bientôt la population belge sillonnera à nouveau les rues, les transports et l'ensemble de l'espace public mais munie de masques. Quels retentissements sur la capacité des personnes à en reconnaître d'autres sur base de leur visage et à en extraire l'expression émotionnelle ? Sera-t-on toujours capable de juger, de manière efficace, de l'intention d'autrui à notre égard même si cette dernière porte un masque ? A tous les âges ? Ou, au contraire, a-t-on raison d'avoir la suspicion que le port du masque pourrait nous empêcher de reconnaître quelqu'un sur base de son visage et d'en lire les émotions de manière efficace ? "
Publication References: de Heering, A., & Rossion, B. (2008). Prolonged Visual Experience in Adulthood Modulates Holistic Face Perception. PlosOne, 3(5): e2317. de Heering, A., &amp...

Read more: Adélaïde de Heering, Post-doctoral Fellow

ULB - Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
"The study is conducted within the framework of an international project on communication (production and reception of scientific, media, political discourse) on COVID-19. It aims to outline the role of semiotics in understanding the meaning of the social and cultural changeover the citizen is experiencing with the pandemic. A special attention is paid to the relationship between sign systems and axiologies.
Funding: Journal Degres ReSic (Research Center of ULB)."
Publication References: Special Issue of the journal DEGRES to be published in the summer 2020
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Institut de Recherche Santé et Société (IRSS), UCLouvain
" In this period of confinement, the daily life of any parent who has to combine professional life and coordination of family life at home requires a whole reorganization. This reality is more intense when a parent accompanies a child with a serious illness or with a disability. The beginning of confinement rhymed with the end of the respite periods for these numerous families, since most of the institutions active in "Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles" cannot currently fully fulfill their mission or offer their home help services as they usually do. We hear it through the media, these parents are calling for help. A small group of pediatric professionals, experienced in respite care, is at the initiative of this approach: Répit-Solidaire, a platform intended for parents of sick or disabled children in French-speaking Belgium. It comes in the form of a website and a Facebook group. The main objectives are to provide information on...

Read more: Anne-Catherine Dubois, Infirmière pédiatrique et Doctorante en Santé Publique - Maëlle Boland,...

ULB 
" L'une des décisions majeures actées par le gouvernement fédéral en début de crise sanitaire a été l'annulation de toutes les activités récréatives, culturelles, folkloriques, privées ou publiques, pour une période indéterminée. Afin d'étudier la situation du secteur culturel à court, moyen et long termes, la filière de Gestion culturelle de l'Université libre de Bruxelles est à l'initiative d'une enquête auprès d'un ensemble d'intermédiaires de la culture (tous secteurs artistiques confondus), actifs en Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, et avec lesquels elle a pour habitude de collaborer depuis de longues années. L'objectif de l'enquête est de collecter des données auprès de ces opérateurs, non seulement afin de faire remonter de l'information du terrain, mais plus important encore, de mener une réflexion critique à plus long terme sur les répercussions, les enjeux et les opportunités que cette crise va avoir sur le secteur culturel qui s'annonce d'ores et déjà comme l'un des plus...

Read more: Anne-Sophie Radermecker, Doctor - Emilie Garcia-Guillen, Research Assistant

UNamur - FNRS
" Professors and researches from the Department of Mathematics and the naXys research institute of complex systems at UNamur gathered their skills and expertise in mathematical modeling, dynamic systems, statistics, control theory and numerical optimization to develop prediction and unlockdown monitoring models of the Covid-19 epidemic. They set up a consortium in mathematical modeling of the Covid-19 epidemic bringing together all the universities of the Wallonia Brussels Federation, in synergy with its equivalent in Flanders. "
Contact: Annick Sartenaer (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Alexandre Mauroy (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Nicolas Franco (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Sébastien Clesse (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Morgane Dumont (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

UCLouvain
" The Covid-19 outbreak has exposed the world's population to challenging and long-lasting emotional conditions. While investigations of responses to tragic one-off events exist, studies on the evolution of collective emotions during a pandemic are missing. Collecting the time-sensitive data about the population's collective emotional state could improve the planning of mental health interventions and risk-communication. In a first phase, we analyzed the digital traces of emotional expressions on Twitter in the five weeks after the outbreak in 8.3 billion tweets in six different languages from 18 countries. Next, we keep monitoring the evolution of emotional responses with particular attention to lexical indicators of solidarity according to the different phases of the pandemic's evolution, the resumption of activities, and economic and social difficulties in these 18 countries. "
Funding: This is a collaboration with the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (Austria). (These...

Read more: Bernard Rimé

ULB
"Our objectives are: • To study maternal and neonate COVID-19 information in the Belgian-Obstetric Surveillance System database: clinical presentation and natural history of disease, pregnancy-related basic information, pregnancy outcomes, birth characteristics, infant morbidity and mortality. • To study the core socio-demographic information to potentially identify groups at higher risk of complications • Build a more informative dataset thanks to data mining of public databases This study will enable us to understand the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women and their offspring in Belgium, and in the world via the contribution to the INOSS multicenter study. It might allow us to define an at-risk population among pregnant women and their offspring, and tailor epidemiologic and clinical interventions for these more vulnerable individuals."
Funding: Pending (FNRS)
Publication References: "1. The International Network of Obstetric Survey Systems study of uterine rupture: a...

Read more: Caroline Daelemans, Professor

ULB
" COVerT Our aim is to delineate more accurately the prevalence of the infection in the pregnant population and study vertical transmission in the cord blood of babies born to mothers with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Determination of prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in mothers by combined universal screening: presence of antibodies (IgG and IgM or IgA) in their blood and/or a positive RT-PCR in the nasopharyngeal swab. We intend to detect evidence of vertical transmission by the identification of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgM or IgA in cord blood samples. If there is evidence of vertical transmission, the analysis of the consequences depending on infection timing during pregnancy will enable us to guide management more precisely. "
Funding: pending FNRS
Publication References: "1. Delforge ML, Costa E, Brancart F, Goldman D, Montesinos I, Zaytouni S, Marchant A, Donner C Presence of cytomegalovirus in urine and blood of pregnant women with primary infection might be associated...

Read more: Caroline Daelemans, Professor

ULB
" Lockdowns around the world have resulted in factories shutting, less commercial activity and fewer cars on the road and planes in the sky - reducing emissions to unprecedented low levels. Satellite data for monitoring atmospheric changes can track the drop in pollutants and make a first guess on that of climate gases. It is the largest ever 'global air pollution experiment'. "
Funding: ERC-advanced IASI-FT project
Publication References: https://iasi-ft.eu/covid-19/ https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/magazine/erc-researchers-explore-lockdown-life
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UCLouvain
" Confinement constitutes a particular life event involving multiple adaptations in daily life. The purposes of this study are (1) to analyze how adults manage these modifications concerning the possible practice of physical activities, (2) to better understand the changes in the practice of physical activities as a lifelong health behavior in adults. The principal models used are the Health action process approach model (Schwarzer, 2008), health literacy and the social support theory. 272 adults completed a questionnaire about their PA before and during confinement. Respondents who agreed to be contacted will complete a post-containment survey to evaluate the persistence of the modifications in term of adoption of APS as a health behavior "
Funding: In process
Contact: IACCHOS (Girsef) - FSM Cécile Delens Place Pierre de Coubertin, 1 bte L8.10.01 - 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UClouvain
" Development and validation of questionnaires assessing mental health problems (e.g. social anxiety) as well as transdiagnostic processes involved in psychopathology (e.g., repetitive thinking, perfectionism). Conducting online cross-sectional and longitudinal survey exploring mental health and its psychological determinants. Conducting experimental studies exploring the role of emotion regulation in several psychological problems (e., anxiety, depression, eating disorder, alcohol use disorder). "
Publication References: Douilliez, C., Baeyens, C., & Philippot, P. (2008). Validation d'une version francophone de l'Echelle de Peur de l'Evaluation Négative (FNE) et de l'Echelle d'Evitement et de Détresse Sociale (SAD). Revue Francophone de Clinique Comportementale et Cognitive, 13, 1-11.
Heeren, A., Douilliez, C., Peschard, V., Debrauwere, L., & Philippot, P. (2011). Cross-cultural consistency of the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire: Adaptation and validation in...

Read more: Céline Douilliez, Professor