Using the 5C model to understand COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy across a National and South Carolina sample.

Vaccine hesitancy is a serious threat to global health; however, significant COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy exists throughout the United States. The 5C model, which postulates five person-level determinants for vaccine hesitancy - confidence, complacency, constraints, risk calculation, and collective responsibility - provides one theoretical way of understanding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The present study examined the effects of these 5C drivers of vaccine behavior on early vaccine adoption and vaccine intentions above and beyond theoretically salient demographic characteristics and compared these associations across a National sample (n = 1634) and a statewide sample from South Carolina (n = 784) - a state with documented low levels of COVID-19 vaccination uptake. This study used quantitative and qualitative data collected in October 2020 to January 2021 from the MFour-Mobile Research Panel, a large, representative non-probability sample of adult smartphone users. Overall, the South Carolina sample reported lower COVID-19 vaccine intentions and higher levels of 5C barriers to vaccine uptake compared to the National sample. Findings further indicated that both demographic characteristics (race) and certain drivers of vaccine behavior (confidence and collective responsibility) are associated with vaccine trust and intentions across samples above and beyond other variables. Qualitative data indicated that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was driven by fears about the quick vaccine development, limited research, and potential side effects. Although there are some limitations to the cross-sectional survey data, the present study offers valuable insight into factors associated with early COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy across the United States.

Parenting stress and low-income preschool family well-being during COVID-19

The present study examines the associations between COVID-19-related stressors and family functioning 6 months into the COVID-19 pandemic among a sample of low-income caregivers and their preschool-aged children. It is hypothesized that COVID-19-related stressors, family illness, job loss, and difficulties accessing resources will be positively correlated with parenting stress, parent psychological distress, and child behavior problems. 42 caregivers (aged 16-70 yrs), recruited from a Head Start preschool program, completed an online survey about personal or family COVID-19 illness, job loss, resource loss, psychological distress, child behavior problems, and parenting stress. 14% of caregivers reported experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, and 5% reported they had received a COVID-19 diagnosis at the time of study completion. The majority of caregivers, 60%, indicated they had a family member diagnosed with COVID-19. Most caregivers reported they had consistent employment during the COVID-19 pandemic (69%), while 31% reported losing their job. Over a third of caregivers reported "extremely" to difficulties in financial loss, paying rent or bills, and accessing childcare. Results suggest that COVID-19 diagnoses and higher levels of family resource loss are correlated with parenting stress, caregiver psychological distress, and child behavior problems. Only parenting stress was associated with child behavior problems after controlling for COVID-19 diagnoses and resource loss. The present findings also suggest that resource loss may be important to consider in policies designed to aid families with young children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Measuring Grief in the Context of Traumatic Loss: A Systematic Review of Assessment Instruments.

Following traumatic loss, defined as the death of a loved one due to unexpected or violent circumstances, adults may experience a myriad of grief-related problems. Given the addition of Prolonged Grief Disorders into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders Fifth Edition, Text-Revision and influx of unexpected deaths due to the global Coronavirus pandemic, there is heightened interest in the measurement of grief-related processes. We conducted a systematic review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to identify measures of grief used in studies of adults who experienced traumatic loss. Searches yielded 164 studies that used 31 unique measures of grief-related constructs. The most commonly used instrument was the Inventory of Complicated Grief-Revised. Half of the measures assessed constructs beyond diagnosable pathological grief responses. Given the wide variation and adaptations of measures reviewed, we recommend greater testing and uniformity of measurement across the field. Future research is needed to adapt and/or design measures to evaluate new criteria for Prolonged Grief Disorder.