The effects of social belonging and kindness on stress and well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A longitudinal experiment

Because the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has introduced significant stressors to people's lives, more research on self‐directed strategies to cope with pandemic‐related stress is needed. In the current longitudinal experiment (N = 614), we investigated the emotional benefits of two self‐directed strategies—belonging affirmation and recalling kindness—during the Delta (October 2021) and Omicron (February 2022) waves of the pandemic. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three activity conditions (belonging affirmation, recalling kindness, or control), which they performed weekly for 4 weeks. Contrary to our pre‐registered hypothesis, belonging affirmation and recalling kindness did not promote greater well‐being overall;however, belonging affirmation led to well‐being improvements indirectly via increases in positive emotions. Furthermore, the benefits of belonging affirmation were moderated by pandemic wave. That is, during the Omicron wave, but not the Delta wave, belonging affirmation led to improved life satisfaction, positive emotions, and connectedness, decreased loneliness and negative emotions, and marginally reduced perceived stress and anxiety. These results provide preliminary evidence for the well‐being benefits of belonging affirmation and suggest the importance of evaluating coping strategies throughout different stages of a long‐term stressor. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Social & Personality Psychology Compass is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Proven practices in community college distributed learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: An appreciative inquiry

This chapter explores one Canadian college's recent successes in distributed learning and technology utilization in program delivery during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following an appreciative inquiry approach, it discovers best/proven practices and dreams of what could be in shifting from traditional onsite applied learning to an integrated model of distributed learning. These practices and dreams, described with specific examples from students and faculty, are compiled into recommendations for future application. The five main recommendations are consistent delivery standards, communication and instructor availability, test/assignment flexibility, creative student engagement, and effective technology utilization. In addition, a key benefit realized by the appreciative inquiry was faculty and student engagement in identifying and implementing positive solutions for the future. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021. All rights reserved.

Health behavior adherence and emotional adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic in a US nationally representative sample: The roles of prosocial motivation and gratitude.

RATIONALE: Substantial health behavior change (e.g., social distancing, mask-wearing) is needed to slow COVID-19. Yet, adherence to these guidelines varies, and avoiding social contact may contribute to declines in emotional adjustment. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: Drawing on prior research linking social motives to health behavior and well-being, we investigated the associations among social motives (prosocial motivation, gratitude) and resilience to social distancing (health behavior adherence, emotional adjustment) in a US nationally representative sample (N = 1007) collected in April 2020. RESULTS: Prosocial motivation, but not gratitude, correlated with health behavior adherence and social distancing practice. Conversely, gratitude, but not prosocial motivation, correlated with emotional adjustment (daily accomplishments, meaning in life, thriving, psychological distress, positive and negative affect). Analyses controlled for gratitude/prosocial motivation, self-focused motivation, COVID-19 worries, work arrangement, stay-at-home order, likelihood of COVID-19 diagnosis, and demographics. CONCLUSION: Public health campaigns focusing on the benefits of health behaviors for others, rather than just oneself, may promote adherence and emotional adjustment.

Changes to management of a non-pandemic illness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case study of invasive management of acute coronary syndrome

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires significant changes to standard operating procedures for non-COVID-19 related illnesses. Balancing the benefit from standard evidence-based treatments with the risks posed by COVID-19 to patients, healthcare workers and to the population at large is difficult due to incomplete and rapidly changing information. In this article, we use management of acute coronary syndromes as a case study to show how these competing risks and benefits can be resolved, albeit incompletely. While the risks due to COVID-19 in patients with acute coronary syndromes is unclear, the benefits of standard management are well established in this condition. As an aid to decision making, we recommend systematic estimation of the risks and benefits for management of any condition where there is likely to be an increase in non-COVID-19 related mortality and morbidity due to changes in routine care.