Psychological Predictors of Anxious Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Pakistan

Objective COVID-19 epidemic can be associated with a variety of anxious responses and safety behaviors. The present research explored the psychological implications associated with COVID-19 during the outbreak in 2020 to date. Pakistani media has given particular attention to this outbreak in the region. Methods Three hundred and forty-seven undergraduate university students from Pakistan completed a battery of questionnaires focusing fear of COVID-19, associated safety behaviors, factual knowledge of COVID-19, and other psychological pointers hypothesized to be as predictors of anxious responses to COVID-19 threat and associated safety behaviors. Results The sample appeared to be fearful of COVID-19 and this fear was related to disgust sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity-related physical concerns, body vigilance, contamination cognitions, and general distress. Results suggested that the tendency of overestimating the severity of contamination and anxiety sensitivity towards physical concerns are significant predictors of COVID-19 related fear and consequent safety behaviors. Conclusion It is suggested that people with a greater concern of contamination are likely to respond fearfully to COVID-19 and that people with higher fear of COVID-19 are likely to feel contamination concerns.     

Meaningful Living to Promote Complete Mental Health Among University Students in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Maintaining positive mental health can be challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic which undoubtedly caused devastating consequences on people’s lives. There is need to determine factors contributing to mental health of people during the pandemic. The current study aims to examine the effect of meaning in life on complete mental health, which represents the presence of positive functioning and the absence of psychopathological symptoms. The participants of the study included 392 (70.9% female) undergraduate students, ranging in age from 18 to 43 years (M?=?20.67 years, SD?=?3.66) and they have predominantly been imposed stay-at-home orders for coronavirus right after announcement of COVID-19 restrictions in Turkey. Latent variable path analyses demonstrated significant paths from meaning in life to all components of psychological distress, positive mental health, and subjective well-being. Multi-group analysis showed significant gender differences across the study variables. These findings corroborate the critical role of meaning in life in promoting complete mental health and shed further light on why people high in meaning in life tend to have better mental health than those low in meaning in life within the context of COVID-19.

     

Topic Models to Analyze Disaster-Related Newspaper Articles: Focusing on COVID-19

Major media outlets have run many articles on the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the public suffers cognitive and emotional effects related to COVID-19 from such reports, we analyzed and reviewed the topics of news reports. We searched newspaper articles with the term ‘COVID-19’ term in four Korean daily newspapers from January 20, 2020, when the first patient in Korea was found, to June 15, 2020. Topic modeling analysis was conducted through text mining using R. Five themes were found: “Changes in people’s everyday life,” “Socio-economic shock,” “Trends in infection,” “Role of the government and business,” and “Increased psychological anxiety,” which all showed sharp increases in articles from mid-February to early March and then decreased. Despite the increased psychological anxiety people suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic, this topic showed the fewest articles. “Changes in people’s everyday life” showed the most, focusing attention on stimulating lifestyle articles of general interest. Since the COVID-19 pandemic can lead to mental health problems due to severe changes and isolation in everyday life, a comprehensive response to the news focusing on the impact on the mental health of the population around the world should be made.     

新型冠状病毒肺炎防控期间认知障碍患者及其照护者精神卫生与心理社会支持专家建议

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情给公众,尤其是老年人身体和心理都造成了巨大影响。老年认知障碍患者不仅是易感人群,也容易出现心理应激反应,甚至有诱发和加重精神行为症状的风险。其照护者在疫情期间面临更大的照护负担,可能心理应激反应更明显。国内多个老年精神医学与认知障碍相关学术团体联合制定专家建议,针对疫情期间认知障碍患者和照护者可能出现的心理应激反应以及患者已有精神行为问题的波动特点,提出多学科团队进行精神卫生和心理社会干预的策略,指导疫情期间为认知障碍患者提供诊疗及照护的相关人员开展全程管理。     

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情心理危机干预中的"三安"原则

本文通过简要分析新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情给不同人群造成的身心影响,提出适用于疫情防控心理危机干预的"三安"原则,以期帮助受影响的群众顺利渡过疫情心理难关,促进身心康复。     

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情下神经外科实施急诊手术的思考与建议

目前新型冠状病毒肺炎(Corona Virus Disease 2019,COVID-19)疫情严重。作为一个新发传染性强的呼吸道感染疾病,控制传染源、切断传播途径、保护易感人群是战"疫"要遵从的三大原则。在此疫情之下,神经外科医生应掌握COVID-19的临床表现和流行病学特点,尤其是针对COVID-19合并神经外科急诊患者,避免误诊漏诊,是当前的重中之重。为疑似或确诊的COVID-19患者实施急诊神经外科手术时,必须严格遵照卫生行政主管部门或所在医疗机构的相关防护规定,密切协调手术各方,所有人员均应做好三级防护,手术必须在负压手术间进行。对于不具备上述医疗条件的单位,宜尽快将需要急诊手术的COVID-19患者转诊至有条件的医疗单位。     

Meaning in life in psychotherapy: The perspective of experienced psychotherapists

Objective: Our goal was to explore the meaning experienced psychotherapists derive from providing psychotherapy, their beliefs about the role of meaning in life (MIL) in psychotherapy, how they worked with MIL with a client who explicitly presented concerns about MIL, and how they worked with a different client for whom MIL was a secondary and more implicit concern. Method: Thirteen experienced psychotherapists were interviewed and data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research. Results: Therapists derived self-oriented meaning (e.g., feeling gratified, fulfilled, connected) and other-oriented meaning (helping others, making the world a better place) from providing psychotherapy. They believed that MIL is fundamental and underlies all human concerns, including those brought to therapy. In contrast to the clients who had implicit MIL concerns, clients who explicitly presented MIL concerns were reported to have more interpersonal problems and physical problems, but about the same amount of psychological distress and loss/grief. Therapists used insight-oriented interventions, support, action-oriented interventions, and exploratory interventions to work with MIL with both types of clients, but used more exploratory interventions with implicit than explicit MIL clients. Conclusions: MIL is a salient topic for experienced, existentially oriented psychotherapists; they work with MIL extensively with some clients in psychotherapy. We recommend that therapists receive training to work with MIL in therapy, and that they pay attention to MIL concerns when they conduct psychotherapy. We also recommend additional research on MIL in psychotherapy.     

Sleep problems among Chinese adolescents and young adults during the coronavirus-2019 pandemic

ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of insomnia symptoms among Chinese adolescents and young adults affected by the outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).MethodsThis cross-sectional study included Chinese adolescents and young adults 12–29 years of age during part of the COVID-19 epidemic period. An online survey was used to collect demographic data, and to assess recognition of COVID-19, insomnia, depression, and anxiety symptoms using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaires, respectively. The Social Support Rate Scale was used to assess social support.ResultsAmong 11,835 adolescents and young adults included in the study, the prevalence of insomnia symptoms during part of the COVID-19 epidemic period was 23.2%. Binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that female sex and residing in the city were greater risk factors for insomnia symptoms. Depression or anxiety were risk factors for insomnia symptoms; however, social support, both subjective and objective, was protective factors against insomnia symptoms. Furthermore, anxiety and depression symptoms were mediators of social support and insomnia symptoms.ConclusionsResults of this study revealed a high prevalence of sleep problems among adolescents and young adults during the COVID-19 epidemic, especially senior high school and college students, which were negatively associated with students’ projections of trends in COVID-19. The adverse impact of COVID-19 was a risk factor for insomnia symptoms; as such, the government must devote more attention to sleep disorders in this patient population while combating COVID-19.     

Cogitation on the Mental Health Service System during the COVID-19 Outbreak in China

The spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China from December 2019 to April 2020 caused serious social panic and other psychological problems among the Chinese public. Thus, reducing the public panic of and the long-term adverse psychological effects on individuals and society resulting from the epidemic became the priority task for mental health professionals in China. Based on the experiences in providing mental health services during SARS outbreak, the perspectives and strategies for targeted mental health services are reported. Furthermore, the cogitation on the problems with mental health services in China during the outbreak of COVID-19 are discussed.     

Lifestyle Changes that Impact Personal Quality of Life in the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea

ObjectiveWe investigated which factors in psychological changes positively or negatively affect the quality of life to suggest desirable directions in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsOnline survey was conducted with 1,011 adults more than 19 years old in Busan, South Korea. Quality of life was measured using the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF. Questions regarding the psychological changes were about COVID-19-related concerns, distress in complying with quarantine guidelines, and interest in seeking something to do alone. ResultsQuality of life was perceived to be below average (mean±SD, 2.86±0.53). The more economic worries there were, the lower the quality of life in psychological, social relationships and environmental domains. The more distress one experienced when maintaining their personal hygiene, the higher the quality of life related to their physical health. Likewise, the more difficult it was to maintain social distances, the higher the quality of life associated with psychological and social relationships. The more interested someone was in how to spend time alone, the higher the quality of life in all domains significantly. ConclusionWe can minimize the negative impacts of COVID-19 by maintaining economic stability, maintaining prosocial behaviors related to personal hygiene and making good use of personal time.     

A preliminary study on the anxiety and depression situation and psychological intervention of the first-line medical staff in our hospital during the COVID-19 epidemic

To assess the anxiety and depression situation and psychological intervention effect of the first-line medical staff in our hospital during the COVID-19 epidemic. A total of 384 front-line medical staff in our hospital from January 25 to March 8, 2020 were selected as subjects, which were divided into group A and group B respectively. PHQ-9 depression scale and GAD-7 self-rating anxiety scale questionnaire were used to investigate their anxiety and depression. After 1 month, all subjects were re-self-assessed for anxiety and depression, which were named as A1 and B1 group respectively. The GAD-7 anxiety scale had mild, moderate, and severe anxiety scores before group A, which were significantly higher than those in group B (P < 0.05); after psychological intervention, group A1 had significantly reduced anxiety scores (P < 0.05). And there were no markedly difference of PHQ-9 scale scores before and after psychological intervention between groups A and B, A and A1, and B and B1 (P > 0.05). The first-line medical staff in our hospital have different degree of anxiety and depression during COVID-19. Early positive psychological intervention has an effect on ameliorating the anxiety.     

Making sense of different illness realities: Restructuring of illness meaning among Swedish-born women

This study explores restructuring of illness meaning among eight Swedish-born female patients, assessed as somatizing, encountering caregivers imposing a “psychological language” of distress. Data were collected 1997–2001 from 32 interviews and analysed with a Grounded Theory approach. Two major trends were identified in the participants’ process of restructuring illness meaning: first, a trend of accepting a “psychological language” of understanding distress and then of paying attention to stress and demanding work conditions. The term “burnout” was introduced. For participants, giving meaning to illness had been a continuous and interactive process in which new meanings had been integrated within a framework of both constancy and change. Restructuring illness meaning had not been uncomplicated. Participants tried to bridge illness perspectives and treatment strategies within their daily life situations of handling distress. The social context had been important for bridging gaps in illness perspectives and in creating coherence between frames of meanings. The results support the view that Antonovsky's concept of Sense of Coherence (SOC) may have relevance when considering the process of restructuring illness meaning, and that constructing coherence between experience, expression, past and new meanings given to illness, may be significant for patients’ recovery. The results stress the importance of research exploring the interaction between individuals and social and cultural groups in multicultural milieus in order to obtain insights as to how people make sense of their clinical encounter.     

COVID-19 impact on high school student’s education and mental health: A cohort survey in China

BACKGROUNDThe ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the universal implementation of control measures are fundamentally affecting every aspect of our society and daily lives.AIMTo evaluate the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and their associated factors as well as the effects and attitudes towards online education in Chinese high school students.METHODSA total of 883 students were included. The first, second and third-year students of a high school in Lanzhou, Gansu province of China were invited to participate in this study. They were requested to involve their parents to complete the survey together. A detailed questionnaire of 65 questions was designed and divided into five sections. The survey was anonymously conducted via WeChat, a Chinese multipurpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app.RESULTSOverall, 32.94% of students experienced post-traumatic stress disorder due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The majority of students (60.82%) felt that online education was not (10.76%) or less effective (50.06%) in terms of gaining knowledge and improving practical and communications skills. Correlation analysis revealed that the class level, residential background and whether living with parents were significantly linked with the effectiveness and satisfaction of the online education system. Of the final year students, 74.2% said that the COVID-19 outbreak has negatively affected their preparation for the college entrance exam, and 68% of students felt that this outbreak increased psychological pressure for their college entrance examination preparation. In case of having COVID-19 symptoms during the exam, 50.7%, 13.3%, and 10.2% would notify the proctor, teacher and parents, respectively.CONCLUSIONWe found a high prevalence rate of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in high school students. Thus, our results call for urgent attention from both government and schools to implement effective interventions to cope with the psychological effects and the disturbance of education by COVID-19 on children.     

Is returning to work during the COVID-19 pandemic stressful? A study on immediate mental health status and psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures of Chinese workforce

This study aimed to quantify the immediate psychological effects and psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures of a workforce returning to work during the COVID-19 epidemic. Workforce returning to work was invited to complete an online questionnaire regarding their attitude toward the COVID-19 epidemic and return-to-work along with psychological parameters including the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale- 21 (DASS-21) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures include precautions at personal and organization levels. From 673 valid questionnaires, we found that 10.8% of respondents met the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after returning to work. The respondents reported a low prevalence of anxiety (3.8%), depression (3.7%), stress (1.5%) and insomnia (2.3%). There were no significant differences in the severity of psychiatric symptoms between workers/technicians and executives/managers. >95% reported psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures including good ventilation in the workplace and wore a face mask as protective. Factors that were associated with the severity of psychiatric symptoms in the workforce were marital status, presence of physical symptom, poor physical health and viewing return to work as a health hazard (p < 0.05). In contrast, personal psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures including hand hygiene and wearing face masks as well as organizational measures including significant improvement of workplace hygiene and concerns from the company were associated with less severe psychiatric symptoms (p < 0.05). Contrary to expectations, returning to work had not caused a high level of psychiatric symptoms in the workforce. The low prevalence of psychiatric symptoms could be due to confidence instilled by psychoneuroimmunity prevention measures before the resumption of work. Our findings would provide information for other countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.     

Fear of COVID-19 and Preventive Health Behavior: Mediating Role of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptomology and Psychological Distress

The COVID-19 pandemic has been implicated in several mental health challenges faced by many people. These challenges can also arise due to the fear of being infected with COVID-19 and engaging in preventative behavior. This study investigated the mediating role of post-traumatic stress symptomology and psychological distress in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and preventive health behavior. A sample of 1172 individuals (mean age = 22.9 years, 54.5% females) participated in the online survey. Correlation analysis revealed that preventive health behavior has a positive relationship with fear of COVID-19 and post-traumatic stress symptomology but a negative relationship with psychological distress. Further analysis indicated that post-traumatic stress symptomology and psychological distress mediated the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and preventive health behavior. Post-traumatic stress symptomology caused by the fear of COVID-19 could contribute to improving preventive health behavior while psychological distress caused by the fear of COVID-19 tends to hinder preventive health behavior. It is recommended that public and private agencies should assist in promoting COVID-19 targeted education. Attention should also be focused on people’s mental health status as means of preventing COVID-19.

     

心理卫生工作者参与新冠肺炎疫情现场心理危机干预意愿的质性研究

目的探讨心理卫生工作者参与新冠肺炎疫情现场心理危机干预的意愿,了解其真实感受,提高心理卫生工作者进行疫情心理干预的积极性。方法运用质性研究中现象学分析法,根据半结构式访谈提纲对绵阳市某三级甲等医院的10名心理卫生工作者进行面对面的深度访谈,运用Colaizzi分析法对资料进行整理分析。结果心理卫生工作者参与新冠肺炎疫情现场心理危机干预意愿的主题包括愿意参加危机干预的因素和阻碍参加危机干预的因素。愿意参加疫情心理危机干预的因素可归纳为:具备自我心理调节能力和对他人进行心理干预的专业能力、心理危机干预是专业职责、希望有亲身经历现场危机干预的经验;阻碍因素包括缺少疫情相关的知识和能力、家庭原因及心理恐惧。结论心理卫生工作者参加疫情心理危机干预意愿较高,但需要有针对性地开展疫情防治知识及技能培训、心理督导及建立保障体系。     

The Korean Version of Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Psychometric Validation in the Korean Population

ObjectiveCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has psychological effects such as anxiety and depression as well as direct infection in people. The Fear of COVID-19 scale is a scale that can measure anxiety related to COVID-19 in a short time. The purpose of this study was to verify the reliability and validity the Korean version of Fear of COVID-19 scale (KF-COVID-19S). MethodsThe data of total 186 normal adults and 17 patients were finally used for the statistical analysis. For internal consistency, Cronbach’s α was calculated. For concurrent and discriminant validity, the correlations with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS), Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument Brief Form (WHOQOL-BREF) were analyzed. For construct validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted. ResultsCronbach alpha was 0.88. The two-factor model (factor 1: Physical fear, factor 2: Emotional fear) showed significantly positive correlations and appeared to be “good” fitness (CFI=0.906, IFI=0.907, NFI=0.902). ConclusionThe KF-COVID-19S can be a useful scale that can measure the physical and emotional fears associated with COVID-19 in a short time. Because the psychiatric patients are a more vulnerable group to the fear, it is thought that the KF-COVID-19S will help to determine the patient’s level of anxiety and make a therapeutic plan for the underlying mental disorder.     

Experiences of living with mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: a coproduced,participatory qualitative interview study

Purpose

Research is beginning to quantify the impact of COVID-19 on people with pre-existing mental health conditions. Our paper addresses a lack of in-depth qualitative research exploring their experiences and perceptions of how life has changed at this time.

Methods

We used qualitative interviews (N = 49) to explore experiences of the pandemic for people with pre-existing mental health conditions. In a participatory, coproduced approach, researchers with lived experiences of mental health conditions conducted interviews and analysed data as part of a multi-disciplinary research team.

Results

Existing mental health difficulties were exacerbated for many people. People experienced specific psychological impacts of the pandemic, struggles with social connectedness, and inadequate access to mental health services, while some found new ways to cope and connect to the community. New remote ways to access mental health care, including digital solutions, provided continuity of care for some but presented substantial barriers for others. People from black and ethnic minority (BAME) communities experienced heightened anxiety, stigma and racism associated with the pandemic, further impacting their mental health.

Conclusion

There is a need for evidence-based solutions to achieve accessible and effective mental health care in response to the pandemic, especially remote approaches to care. Further research should explore the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on people with pre-existing mental health conditions. Particular attention should be paid to understanding inequalities of impact on mental health, especially for people from BAME communities.

     

The enemy who sealed the world: effects quarantine due to the COVID-19 on sleep quality,anxiety, and psychological distress in the Italian population

BackgroundThe 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has become a global health emergency. The extreme actions aimed to reduce virus diffusion have profoundly changed the lifestyles of the Italian population. Moreover, fear of contracting the infection has generated high levels of anxiety. This study aimed to understand the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on sleep quality, general anxiety symptomatology, and psychological distress.MethodsAn online survey collected information on socio-demographic data and additional information concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, sleep quality, sleep disorders, generalized anxiety symptoms, psychological distress, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology related to COVID-19 were assessed.ResultsThis study included 2291 respondents. The results revealed that 57.1% of participants reported poor sleep quality, 32.1% high anxiety, 41.8% high distress, and 7.6% reported PTSD symptomatology linked to COVID-19. Youth and women, those uncertain regarding possible COVID-19 infection, and greater fear of direct contact with those infected by COVID-19 had an increased risk of developing sleep disturbances, as well as higher levels of anxiety and distress. Finally, a significant relationship between sleep quality, generalized anxiety, and psychological distress with PTSD symptoms related to COVID-19 was evidenced.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be a risk factor for sleep disorders and psychological diseases in the Italian population, as previously reported in China. These results should be used as a starting point for further studies aimed to develop psychological interventions to minimize the brief and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.