This study investigates the factors influencing undergraduate students’ self-directed learning (SDL) abilities in generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven interactive learning environments. The advent of generative AI has revolutionized interactive learning environments, offering unprecedented opportunities for personalized and adaptive education. Generative AI supports teachers in delivering smart education, enhancing students’ acceptance of technology, and providing personalized, adaptive learning experiences. Nevertheless, the application of generative AI in higher education is underexplored. This study explores how these AI-driven platforms impact undergraduate students’ self-directed learning (SDL) abilities, focusing on the key factors of teacher support, learning strategies, and technology acceptance. Through a quantitative approach involving surveys of 306 undergraduates, we identified the key factors of motivation, technological familiarity, and the quality of AI interaction. The findings reveal the mediating roles of self-efficacy and learning motivation. Also, the findings confirmed that improvements in teacher support and learning strategies within generative AI-enhanced learning environments contribute to increasing students’ self-efficacy, technology acceptance, and learning motivation. This study contributes to uncovering the influencing factors that can inform the design of more effective educational technologies and strategies to enhance student autonomy and learning outcomes. Our theoretical model and research findings deepen the understanding of applying generative AI in higher education while offering important research contributions and managerial implications.

We aim to provide a systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence rates of mental health symptoms among major African populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. We include articles from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and medRxiv between 1 February 2020 and 6 February 2021, and pooled data using random-effects meta-analyses. We identify 28 studies and 32 independent samples from 12 African countries with a total of 15,071 participants. The pooled prevalence of anxiety was 37% in 27 studies, of depression was 45% in 24 studies, and of insomnia was 28% in 9 studies. The pooled prevalence rates of anxiety, depression, and insomnia in North Africa (44%, 55%, and 31%, respectively) are higher than those in Sub-Saharan Africa (31%, 30%, and 24%, respectively). We find (a) a scarcity of studies in several African countries with a high number of COVID-19 cases; (b) high heterogeneity among the studies; (c) the extent and pattern of prevalence of mental health symptoms in Africa is high and differs from elsewhere—more African adults suffer from depression rather than anxiety and insomnia during COVID 19 compared to adult populations in other countries/regions. Hence, our findings carry crucial implications and impact future research to enable evidence-based medicine in Africa.

Aims: There is a lack of evidence related to the prevalence of mental health symptoms as well as their heterogeneities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Latin America, a large area spanning the equator. The current study aims to provide meta-analytical evidence on mental health symptoms during COVID-19 among frontline healthcare workers, general healthcare workers, the general population and university students in Latin America.Methods: Bibliographical databases, such asPubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFOandmedRxiv, were systematically searched to identify pertinent studies up to August 13, 2021. Two coders performed the screening using predefined eligibility criteria. Studies were assigned quality scores using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. The double data extraction method was used to minimise data entry errors.Results: A total of 62 studies with 196 950 participants in Latin America were identified. The pooled prevalence of anxiety, depression, distress and insomnia was 35%, 35%, 32% and 35%, respectively. There was a higher prevalence of mental health symptoms in South America compared to Central America (36%v. 28%,p< 0.001), in countries speaking Portuguese (40%)v.Spanish (30%). The pooled prevalence of mental health symptoms in the general population, general healthcare workers, frontline healthcare workers and students in Latin America was 37%, 34%, 33% and 45%, respectively.Conclusions: The high yet heterogenous level of prevalence of mental health symptoms emphasises the need for appropriate identification of psychological interventions in Latin America.

Research on workplace safety has seen significant growth in academic and industry-focused literature over the past 20 years. However, the extant literature on workplace safety tends to focus on safety outcomes of physical accidents and injuries while relegating its conceptual and theoretical development to the background. Psychological safety and psychosocial safety climate in the workplace are essential to workers' health and safety. These concepts are crucial in enabling job satisfaction, work engagement, and performance productivity. Progressing the literature on this subject is necessary to keep abreast with the changing dynamics of the post-COVID challenges, such as working from home, isolation, and stress from AI, among others. A significant gap in the extant literature burrows in the lack of conceptual clarity of workplace safety from a psychological perspective and the poor understanding of its substantive effects on organizations. Hence, re-examining workplace safety's conceptual and theoretical foundations from a psychological lens offers a more nuanced understanding of its potential to contribute to employee well-being and organizational resilience, pursuing a better work-life safe and more comfortable working environment. This study: (a) synthesizes the theoretical propositions and empirical findings from 990 research articles published between 2000 and 2023 to map the existing body of knowledge about psychological safety and psychosocial safety climate, including their theoretical underpinnings and mechanisms, to offer a state-of-the-art overview of the scope of workplace occupational health and safety research from a psychological perspective; (b) applied a data-based research design adhering to PRISMA; (c) compiled descriptive synthesis and textual narrative syntheses through bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review; and (d) opens the black box of workplace safety research by presenting significant findings to inform future conceptual, theoretical, and methodological research as well as the practice of workplace safety through the lens of psychology. This study's findings further offer managerial implications to workplace safety policy-making and human resource management practices to enhance employees' psychological safety and eliminate workplace psychosocial hazards.

Aims: The Covid‐19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on the mental health of the general public and high‐risk groups worldwide. Due to its proximity and close links to China, Southeast Asia was one of the first regions to be affected by the outbreak. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the prevalence of anxiety, depression and insomnia in the general adult population and healthcare workers (HCWs) in Southeast Asia during the course of the first year of the pandemic.Methods: Several literature databases were systemically searched for articles published up to February 2021 and two reviewers independently evaluated all relevant studies using pre‐determined criteria. The prevalence rates of mental health symptoms were calculated using a random‐effect meta‐analysis model.Results: In total, 32 samples from 25 studies with 20 352 participants were included. Anxiety was assessed in all 25 studies and depression in 15 studies with pooled prevalence rates of 22% and 16%, respectively. Only two studies assessed insomnia, which was estimated at 19%. The prevalence of anxiety and depression was similar among frontline HCWs (18%), general HCWs (17%), and students (20%) while being noticeably higher in the general population (27%).Conclusions: This is the first systematic review to investigate the mental health impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic in Southeast Asia. A considerable proportion of the general population and HCWs reported mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety and depression; the pooled prevalence rater, however, remain significantly lower than those reported in other areas such as China and Europe.

Background: General population, frontline healthcare workers (HCWs), and adult students in Spain are at risk of anxiety, depression, and insomnia symptoms during the COVID-19 crisis. A meta-analysis of the individual studies on these symptoms would provide systematic evidence to aid policymakers and researchers in focusing on prevalence, risk, and best interventions. Objective: This paper aims to be the first meta-analysis and systematic review to calculate the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and insomnia symptoms in Spain’s adult population (general population, frontline healthcare workers (HCWs), and adult students) during the Covid-19 epidemic. Method: Random-effect meta-analysis was used to estimate the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Results: The meta-analysis includes 28 studies with 38 individual samples in Spain. The pooled prevalence of anxiety symptoms in 22 studies comprising a sample population of 82,024 was 20% (95% CI: 15–25%), that of depression symptoms in 22 articles with a total sample comprising 82,890 individuals was 22% (95% CI: 18–28%), and that of insomnia symptoms in three articles with a sample population of 745 was 57% (95% CI: 48–66%. Conclusions: The accumulative evidence reveals that adults in Spain suffered higher prevalence rates of mental symptoms during the COVID-19 crisis, with a significantly higher rate relative to other countries such as China. Our synthesis also reveals a relative lack of studies on frontline and general HCWs in Spain.