Community Outbreak Moderates the Association Between COVID-19-Related Behaviors and COVID-19 Fear Among Older People: A One-Year Longitudinal Study in Taiwan.

Although health behavior theories indicate that fear is effective in activating preventive behaviors, the question of whether COVID-19 severity moderates the association between fear of COVID-19 and preventive behaviors remains unclear. The present study investigated the association between the fear of COVID-19 and preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 community outbreak of two severity levels in Taiwan. Data were obtained regarding the fear of COVID-19 and practice of preventive behaviors from 139 older people (mean age = 71.73 years; 30.2% men) through in-person interviews during a mild COVID-19 outbreak period (baseline assessment). Data from 126 of the 139 participants were obtained again through a telephone interview during a severe COVID-19 outbreak period (follow-up assessment). A significant increase in the fear of COVID-19 (d = 0.39, p < 0.001) and a decrease in preventive behaviors (d = 0.63, p < 0.001) were found in the follow-up assessment. The association between fear of COVID-19 and preventive behaviors was not significant at baseline (r = -0.07, p > 0.05) but became significant at the follow-up assessment (r = 0.32, p < 0.001). The severity of a COVID-19 outbreak may alter older people's psychological status and related behaviors.

Gender Differences in the Factors Associated With the Fear of COVID-19 Among Taiwanese Older People.

Objectives: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, older people are threatened, and there may be different psychological responses toward COVID-19 between women and men. The present study explored the factors and gender differences related to the fear of COVID-19 among older women and men in Taiwan. Methods: Geriatric patients (n = 139; 42 men; mean age = 71.73 years) who visited outpatient departments were recruited. They self-reported demographic data and completed questions asking about (i) their fear of COVID-19, (ii) whether they paid attention to COVID-19 news, (iii) whether searched for COVID-19 news, (iv) whether they believed in COVID-19 news, and (v) their preventive COVID-19 behaviors. Results: Both women and men reported a low fear of COVID-19, paid close attention to COVID-19 news, and practiced good preventive COVID-19 infection behaviors. The perceived chance of COVID-19 infection was a significant factor contributing to the fear of COVID-19 among both women and men. Preventive behaviors had a positive effect in lowering the fear of COVID-19. News about COVID-19 had a negative effect in lowering the fear of the disease among women but not men. Conclusions: As the performing of preventive COVID-19 infection behaviors was associated with a lower fear of COVID-19, healthcare providers should consider strategies for improving preventive behaviors among older people to help ease their worries and fears concerning COVID-19.

Comparing Fear of COVID-19 and Preventive COVID-19 Infection Behaviors Between Iranian and Taiwanese Older People: Early Reaction May Be a Key.

This study assessed fear of the novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19), preventive COVID-19 infection behaviors, and the association between fear of COVID-19 and preventive COVID-19 infection behaviors among older people in Iran and Taiwan. Older people aged over 60 years (n = 144 for Iranians and 139 for Taiwanese) completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and two items on preventive COVID-19 infection behaviors (i.e., hand washing and mouth covering when sneezing). Iranian older people had a significantly higher level of fear of COVID-19 than did Taiwanese older people. Moreover, Iranian older people had significantly lower frequencies of preventive COVID-19 infection behaviors than did Taiwanese older people. Different timings in implementing COVID-19 infection control policies in Iran and Taiwan may explain why Iranian older people had greater fear of COVID-19 and lower preventive COVID-19 infection behaviors than did Taiwanese older people.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Chinese Teachers during COVID-19 Pandemic: Roles of Fear of COVID-19, Nomophobia, and Psychological Distress.

There are limited data concerning the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among teachers. Therefore, the present study estimated the prevalence of PTSD among mainland Chinese teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic and to construct a model with mediation and moderation effects to explain the PTSD. Data collection was conducted in schools in the Jiangxi province between October and November 2020 among k-12 schoolteachers. An online survey, including five different psychometric scales, was used to collect data. All participants were assessed for PTSD using the Chinese version of the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Hayes' PROCESS Model 8 was used to examine the potential factors explaining a higher PTSD scores. A total of 2603 teachers from k-12 schools participated. With the cutoff score at 31, the prevalence of PTSD was 12.3% but decreased to 1.0% when the cutoff score was at 49. Nomophobia moderated the effects of Fear of COVID-19 Scale on PTSD. The findings suggest that fear of COVID-19 among teachers leads to PTSD via psychological distress, highlighting the moderating effect of nomophobia in this association. Based on the study's findings, psychological interventions and educational training are needed to reduce fear among teachers at higher risk of developing PTSD.

Expanding Protection Motivation Theory to Explain Willingness of COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake among Taiwanese University Students.

Vaccination appears to be one of the effective strategies to control the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the challenge of vaccine hesitancy may lower the uptake rate and affect overall vaccine efficacy. Being a low-risk group in terms of serious consequences of infection, university students may possess low motivation to get vaccinated. Therefore, an expanded Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) incorporating perceived knowledge, adaptive response, and maladaptive response was proposed to investigate the COVID-19 vaccination intention among Taiwanese university students. University students (n = 924; 575 males; mean age = 25.29 years) completed an online survey during January to February 2021. The proposed expanded PMT model was examined using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that perceived knowledge was significantly associated with coping appraisal (standardized coefficient (ß) = 0.820; p < 0.001), and coping appraisal was significantly associated with adaptive response (ß = 0.852; p < 0.001), maladaptive response (ß = 0.300; p < 0.001) and intention (ß = 0.533; p = 0.009). Moreover, maladaptive response (ß = -0.173; p = 0.001) but not adaptive response (ß = 0.148; p = 0.482) was significantly and negatively associated with intention. The present study's results demonstrated a positive path between perceived knowledge, coping appraisal, and intention among university students. Therefore, improving knowledge among this population may increase the intention to uptake the vaccine.

Internet addiction and psychological distress among Chinese schoolchildren before and during the COVID-19 outbreak: A latent class analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The present longitudinal study examined the changes in problematic internet use (problematic smartphone use, problematic social media use, and problematic gaming) and changes in COVID-19-related psychological distress (fear of COVID-19 and worry concerning COVID-19) across three time-points (before the COVID-19 outbreak, during the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, and during the COVID-19 outbreak recovery period). METHODS: A total of 504 Chinese schoolchildren completed measures concerning problematic internet use and psychological distress across three time-points. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to classify participants into three groups of problematic internet use comprising Group 1 (lowest level), Group 2 (moderate level), and Group 3 (highest level). RESULTS: Statistical analyses showed that as problematic use of internet-related activities declined among Group 3 participants across the three time points, participants in Group 1 and Group 2 had increased problematic use of internet-related activities. Although there was no between-group difference in relation to worrying concerning COVID-19 infection, Groups 2 and 3 had significantly higher levels of fear of COVID-19 than Group 1 during the COVID-19 recovery period. Regression analysis showed that change in problematic internet use predicted fear of COVID-19 during the recovery period. CONCLUSION: The varied levels of problematic internet use among schoolchildren reflect different changing trends of additive behaviors during COVID-19 outbreak and recovery periods.

The Prevalence of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, Sleep Problems, and Psychological Distress Among COVID-19 Frontline Healthcare Workers in Taiwan.

The adverse effect of COVID-19 pandemic among individuals has been very disturbing especially among healthcare workers. This study aims to examine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, sleep problems, and psychological distress among COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers in Taiwan. Hence, a total of 500 frontline healthcare workers were recruited to participate in this cross-sectional study. They responded to measures on fear of COVID-19, depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, PTSD, perceived stigma, and self-stigma. The results indicated a prevalence rate of 15.4% for PTSD symptoms, 44.6% for insomnia, 25.6% for depressive symptoms, 30.6% for anxiety symptoms, and 23.4% for stress among the participants. There were significantly positive interrelationships between all these variables. Anxiety symptoms and fear of COVID-19 predicted PTSD whereas symptoms of anxiety, fear of COVID-19, and stress predicted insomnia. The prevalence rates of the psychological problems reveal a worrying view of mental health challenges among Taiwanese frontline healthcare workers. Anxiety symptoms and fear of COVID-19 are the common predictive factors of PTSD and sleep problems suggesting that mental healthcare services for them may help prevent future occurrence of psychological problems by allaying fears of healthcare workers. Therefore, there should be mental healthcare services for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) across countries: Measurement invariance issues.

AIM: The threats of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have caused fears worldwide. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) was recently developed to assess the fear of COVID-19. Although many studies found that the FCV-19S is psychometrically sound, it is unclear whether the FCV-19S is invariant across countries. The present study aimed to examine the measurement invariance of the FCV-19S across eleven countries. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: Using data collected from prior research on Bangladesh (N = 8,550), United Kingdom (N = 344), Brazil (N = 1,843), Taiwan (N = 539), Italy (N = 249), New Zealand (N = 317), Iran (N = 717), Cuba (N = 772), Pakistan (N = 937), Japan (N = 1,079) and France (N = 316), comprising a total 15,663 participants, the present study used the multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Rasch differential item functioning (DIF) to examine the measurement invariance of the FCV-19S across country, gender and age (children aged below 18 years, young to middle-aged adults aged between 18 and 60 years, and older people aged above 60 years). RESULTS: The unidimensional structure of the FCV-19S was confirmed. Multigroup CFA showed that FCV-19S was partially invariant across country and fully invariant across gender and age. DIF findings were consistent with the findings from multigroup CFA. Many DIF items were displayed for country, few DIF items were displayed for age, and no DIF items were displayed for gender. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of the present study, the FCV-19S is a good psychometric instrument to assess fear of COVID-19 during the pandemic period. Moreover, the use of FCV-19S is supported in at least ten countries with satisfactory psychometric properties.