ABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns have had major negative effects on individuals' mental health and psychological well-being. Isolated at home, people may engage in recreational activities such as binge-watching (i.e., viewing multiple episodes of a TV series in 1 session) as a strategy to regulate emotional states. This is the first longitudinal study assessing changes in TV series viewing patterns during the first COVID-19 lockdown and examining whether binge-watching was associated with changes in positive and negative affect throughout this period. TV series viewing practices and motivations, binge-watching behaviors, psychopathological symptoms, and affective states were jointly assessed through a 6-week longitudinal online survey at 3 time points (i.e., T1, T2, and T3), in Belgium, France, and Switzerland. Results showed significant increases in individuals' watching habits (e.g., higher daily time spent viewing, expansion of coviewing practices). Results from the longitudinal analyses principally showed that male gender and social motives for TV series watching predicted a decrease in negative affect levels. A problematic binge-watching pattern characterized by loss of control was the single predictor of an increase in negative affect over time. These findings suggest that TV series watching patterns effectively increased during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Watching TV series for social motives emerged as a protective factor, whereas problematic binge-watching seemed to act as a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy throughout these unprecedented circumstances. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement This is the first large-scale longitudinal study specifically designed to explore the impact of TV series viewing practices on individuals' affective states during the first COVID-19 lockdown. TV series consumption patterns significantly increased over this period. Problematic binge-watching characterized by loss of control seemed to act as a maladaptive strategy to regulate emotional states, whereas watching TV series for social motives emerged as a protective factor in the lockdown context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Coronovirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the disease resulting from infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The response to the COVID-19 pandemic in many parts of the United States was to combat the spread of the virus through multiple methods, including stay-at-home orders, requirements to work from home, and children being unable to attend schools in person. Many families endured losses in income due to the stay-at-home orders. As children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often thrive on routines and predictability, this abrupt disruption in their everyday routine may have been especially stressful (Mostafavi, 2020), possibly exacerbating the distress of their caregivers during this time. Parents of children with ASD were faced with managing the stress of the pandemic without the usual support and structure previously provided by the child's school, for example. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of life (QoL) of families of children with ASD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents of children with ASD completed an online survey, which comprises the Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale (FQoL) (Hoffman et al., 2003), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9;Spitzer, 1999), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7;Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, & Lowe, 2006), as well as questions pertaining to changes in the child's behavioral and academic functioning following the transition from in-person learning. It was hypothesized that families would not report high QoL, that there would be a positive correlation between support from the school and FQoL, a positive correlation between support from the school and changes in the child's functioning, and inverse correlations between FQoL and parental anxiety and depression. Data from 249 caregivers of children with ASD were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics, bi-variate Pearson's r correlations, or one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) along with frequencies and percentages for categorical demographic variables. Results indicated that most parents reported satisfactory FQoL, neither satisfaction nor dissatisfaction with the support from the child's school, and no changes in the child's functioning. However, greater reports of anxiety and depression were associated with reports of lower FQoL. Further research in this area could offer more insight into factors contributing to satisfactory FQoL in families of children with ASD during a pandemic or other major life-disrupting event. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
We examine how the experience of time and locus of control influence organizational change in disruptive contexts. Through the cycles of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and their relaxations in Turkey, we found that organizations approached change similarly in the short term but differently in the long term. To unpack the mechanism behind these observations, we analyzed in-depth qualitative data from five organizations from March 2020 to September 2021. We reveal that the change process creates time pressure in disruptive contexts, and a time paradox emerges to the extent that the change outcomes increase the available time under time pressure. Depending on their locus of control, individuals either complement organizational change or resist it even more after triggering events that signal the lastingness of the post-disruption situation. Our framework may enhance organizational resilience to future disruptions by highlighting the requirement for change recipients to make complementary moves to regain control. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Over the past year, COVID-19 and the restrictions imposed in its wake have meant that a range of research methodologies involving social contact could no longer be pursued. Whilst this time has been challenging, this article aims to showcase how it nonetheless presents opportunities for methodological innovation that can be carried forward into the future. Drawing upon an autoethnographic dissertation that sought to conceptualize the researcher's lived experience in Scotland's lockdown as an assemblage that was situated within, and intersected with, the wider "lockdown cultural assemblage," it proceeds chronologically from how the research began to inductively drawn findings on shifts to lived experience produced by the lockdown across five interrelated dimensions to lived experience: embodiment, spatiality, temporality, a changing vocabulary of sociality, and narratological environment and broader context. In recounting this journey, it demonstrates how assemblage theory can both benefit from, as well as transform, autoethnography as its primary methodological strategy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
This study seeks to expand previous research by examining (a) the prevalence rates of posttraumatic growth (PTG) and its potential predictors (posttraumatic stress symptoms [PTSS], perceived stress, adaptive coping strategies, social support) during the first and second lockdown in the general population of Greece, and (b) the mediating role of the stress indicators (PTSS/perceived stress) in the relationship between positive reframing and PTG. A sample of 1,361 participants (1.009 in the first lockdown and 352 in the second lockdown) completed the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory and the ENRICHD Social Support Instrument (ESSI). Moderate levels of PTG were found during both lockdowns. PTG did not significantly increase during the second lockdown. PTG was associated with PTSS during the first lockdown and with perceived stress during the second one;these two stress indicators partially mediated the positive reframing-PTG relationship in the first and second lockdown, respectively. Both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies predicted PTG during the first lockdown, whereas only adaptive coping strategies predicted PTG during the second lockdown. Perceived social support, emotional during the first lockdown and instrumental during the second one, predicted PTG during the two lockdowns, respectively. The results of this study may enhance our understanding of PTG and its predictor to inform the design of interventions moving beyond growth cognitions into growth actions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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The idea of attachment theory, attachment styles, and coping strategies have been areas of interest to many since the time of John Bowlby (1969);however, the literature is limited when considering the aspect of teaching and stress. The research is limited when considering how coping strategies may change in times of stress depending on one's attachment style. It has been decades since a global issue has affected entire populations, and linking attachment style to how one copes during periods of extreme stress, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, has not occurred. This study examined whether a teacher's attachment style influences the positive and negative coping strategies used while teaching in a pre-COVID environment and whether those strategies changed with new stressors of quarantine and online teaching during the COVID lockdown. There were 147 fully completed surveys used in the data analysis. The participants were provided with informed consent prior to data collection. Participants completed a Demographic Questionnaire Form, followed by Brief COPE Questionnaire (prior to COVID-19), then Self-Report Measure of Adult Attachment, followed by the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI), and lastly, Brief COPE Questionnaire (during COVID-19 lockdown). The means and standard deviations for pre-adaptive coping, post-adaptive coping, pre-maladaptive coping, post- maladaptive coping, the ten areas of stress, and total stress were reported in the results section. An independent t-test using a one-tailed test of significance, an alpha level of .05, were used to analyze whether coping strategies changed from being more or less adaptive or more or less maladaptive for each of the three attachment styles (Secure, Anxious-Avoidant, and Avoidant). The results indicated that all three attachment styles would have no change in their use of adaptive or maladaptive coping strategies during the increased stress of COVID-19. Lastly, all three types of Attachment Styles had overall moderate stress levels for each stress category. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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Purpose: The purpose of the study was to provide a comparative analysis on the psychological and socio-cultural impacts of COVID-19 on victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) in South Africa (SA) and the USA. Design/methodology/approach: The authors collected media and scholarly articles that dealt with IPV victims during the early phase of the pandemic. This study focused solely on SA and the USA because of their unique contexts and the fact that the authors are residents of these countries. The authors observed how both presidents dealt with IPV amidst the COVID 19 pandemic, especially when stay-at-home orders were in place. Aspects relating to the psychological and socio-cultural impacts amidst the pandemic were considered. Findings: The authors found that in both countries, many black women from low socio-economic backgrounds experience IPV. Being in isolated spaces with their perpetrators prohibits victims from reporting the abuse. As the world attempts to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections, effective strategies have been suggested for victims and perpetrators. The authors found the approaches of the two governments (until the Biden Administration in 2021) to be starkly different in terms of effective strategies and the neglect and downplaying of the extent of one or both pandemics (i.e. COVID-19 and IPV). Pro-safety, equality, gender and race-conscious embracing approaches to overcome IPV are urgently needed. Originality/value: The paper focused on IPV during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides relevant information about IPV in both countries, especially when stay-at-home orders are in place. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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The disruptive biocultural force of the coronavirus highlights the value of more-than-human perspectives for examining the gendered effects and affects on our everyday lives and leisure practices. Pursuing this line of thought our article draws upon the insights of feminist new materialism as intellectual resource for considering what the coronavirus "does" as a gendered phenomenon. We turn to this body of feminist scholarship as it enables us to attune to what is happening, what remains unspoken and to pay attention to "the little things" that may be lost in a big crisis. Writing through the complexity of embodied affects (fear, loss, hope), we focus on the challenge to humanist notions of "agency" posed by these shifting timespace relations of home confinement, restricted movement and altered work-leisure routines. We explore the tensions arising from "home" as an historical site of gendered inequality and a new site of enhanced capacity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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The Corona crisis and the lockdown in the spring of 2020 had various effects on working life in Europe. In this three-wave study, we assessed the trajectories of job demands and resources of 302 employees 2 weeks before the lockdown, over 1 week after lockdown start, and 6 weeks following the beginning of the lockdown. We applied a pre-post follow-up design with 129 employees who switched to telecommuting and a control group of 173 employees who remained in their on-site workplace. Results from the repeated-measures MANCOVA indicate that, despite various general changes to job characteristics because of the Corona crisis, telecommuting changes contributed to significant changes only in communication opportunities and-before Bonferroni correction-in physical job demands. These results may imply that the most visible massive switch to telecommuting of many employees during the first phase of the Corona crisis is only one explanatory factor for general changes to job characteristics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (German) Die Corona-Krise und der Lockdown im Fruhjahr 2020 waren mit vielfachen Veranderungen im Arbeitsleben in Europa verbunden. In einer 3-Wellen-Langsschnittstudie wurden die Verlaufe von Stressoren und Ressourcen von 302 Beschaftigten zwei Wochen vor dem Lockdown, eine Woche nach Lockdownstart und sechs Wochen nach Lockdownstart erfasst. Die Studie folgte einem Pre-post- Follow-up-Design mit 129 Beschaftigten, die zu Homeoffice-Arbeit wechselten und einer Kontrollgruppe von 173 Beschaftigten, die weiter vor Ort arbeiteten. Ergebnisse einer MANCOVA mit Messwiederholung zeigen, dass trotz vielfaltiger allgemeiner Veranderungen in den Arbeitsbedingungen durch die Corona-Krise der Wechsel ins Homeoffice nur zur Veranderung von zwei Arbeitsmerkmalen beitrug (Reduktion von Kommunikationsmoglichkeiten und-vor einer Bonferroni Korrektur-physische Arbeitsplatzstressoren). Das deutet darauf hin, dass die sehr sichtbaren Wechsel ins Homeoffice in der ersten Phase der Pandemie nur ein erklarender Faktor fur vielfaltige Veranderungen in den Arbeitsbedingungen im Zuge der Corona Krise darstellt. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The overall impact and consequences of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had an unimaginable and lasting influence on everyone worldwide. Since the start of the pandemic, people around the world have been forced into isolation and lockdowns for long periods of time, which has resulted in adverse psychological consequences for many people. The purpose of this study was to explore and identify how different predictors influence depression during the COVID-19 pandemic among adult social media users. The researcher used a combination of the uses and gratifications theory and the social comparison theory as a theoretical framework for this study. An online survey was conducted with a sample of 215 valid responses from participants around the world. The results demonstrated that increased COVID-19 anxiety was associated with higher levels of depression. The results also demonstrated that positive social comparison to other people was associated with lower levels of depression. The most significant result was that increased time spent on Facebook resulted in a reduction of depression for people who had favorable views of themselves. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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Staying healthy while following social distancing protocols is of great importance to older adults due to increased risk of serious complications from COVID-19. Mild to moderate physical activity improves immune system responses to viral respiratory infections. Additionally, social engagement has cumulative health protective benefits across the lifespan. At present, active and social recreation opportunities have been drastically reduced or disbanded due to group size limitations, stay-at-home orders, and reductions in services and facilities. As a result, community dwelling older adults are homebound and need alternative exercise and social opportunities to maintain their health during this time. Leisure professionals can promote physical activity and social well-being among older adults by increasing home-based opportunities, including offering additional online leisure services, opportunities for volunteerism, and social interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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COVID containment strategies were implemented in the form of physical distancing, including total lockdowns. This made it difficult for people to adapt to the 'new normal'. Treatment or prevention of other diseases as morbid as COVID-19 (including mental health disorders) has taken a back seat when compared with treatment of SARS COV-2. This happened even though these other non-COVID illnesses continue to cause high rates of morbidity and mortality in the population. COVID has had unprecedented repercussions on the mental health of the population at large. A study in China found that in the first 2 months of 2020, patients with COVID-19 suffered from anxiety, depression and other stress-related symptoms. The fear of contracting COVID whilst visiting the doctors for non-COVID ailments took precedence, and patients were reluctant to visit their physicians, resulting in worsening of their pre-existing disorders. Lockdowns have led to loss of livelihood for many, especially daily wage workers. Afflicted with multiple waves, it was seen that the longer the lockdown, the greater the financial strain, leading to depression, anxiety and uncertainty about the future, which culminated in panic and anxiety disorders. This chapter discusses optimising patient care in psychiatry amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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Vaccinating homebound individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic presented several challenges, including time and cost of engaging this group. In Los Angeles County, the departments of Public Health and Aging and Disabilities turned to home delivered meals programs (HDMs) for help with this public health priority. A mixed-method organizational assessment of 34 HDMs was conducted during March-April 2022 to describe these efforts. Most HDMs were nonprofit (67.6%) and had <25 staff (58.8%). Overall, they served a large catchment area before and during COVID-19, providing services to an estimated total of 24,995 clients/week and delivering 19,511 meals/day. A majority (82.4%) reported engaging their clients to facilitate COVID-19 vaccinations. As of early 2022, <6% of these HDMs' homebound clients were unvaccinated. These programs' efforts to assist older individuals who were homebound during the pandemic represent a potentially underutilized model of public-nonprofit/not-for-profit partnership for improving vaccine delivery and uptake in this hard-to-reach population.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Homebound Persons , Humans , Aged , COVID-19 Vaccines/therapeutic use , Pandemics , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , MealsABSTRACT
Objective: A previous report from our group identified directionally unfavorable dietary and lifestyle behavior trends in longitudinally monitored children and adolescents with obesity early in the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The current study aimed at extending these previous observations in youths with obesity on the dietary and lifestyle behavioral consequences of the extended COVID-19 lockdown in Verona, Italy. Methods: The sample included 32 children and adolescents with obesity participating in the longitudinal OBELIX study. Diet and lifestyle information were collected pre-pandemic, 3 weeks into the national lockdown, and 9 months later when home confinement continued to be mandatory. Changes in outcomes over the study time points were evaluated for significance using repeated-measures ANOVA and post-hoc pairwise t-tests with Bonferroni corrections. Results: As previously reported, meals/day, fried potato intake, and red meat ingestion increased significantly (p < 0.001) during the initial lockdown. Sleep time and screen time increased and sports participation decreased significantly (p < 0.001) during the initial lockdown. These changes in health behaviors remained significantly different from baseline at the second lockdown assessment, with the exception sleep time returned to baseline levels. Conclusions: Unfavorable diet and lifestyle behavioral changes in response to the initial COVID-19 lockdown in children and adolescents with obesity have largely been sustained over the course of the pandemic. There is an urgent need to intervene on these behaviors to prevent further deleterious effects on long-term child health; access to weight management care is critically important for these children. In addition to intervening on these behaviors, our findings should help to inform ongoing lockdown policies.
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BACKGROUND: The prevalence of homebound older adults in the United States more than doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic with greater burden on family caregivers. Higher caregiver burden, more specifically higher treatment burden, contributes to increased rates of nursing home placement. There exist a multitude of tools to measure caregiver well-being and they vary substantially in their focus. Our primary aim was to perform a scoping literature review to identify tools used to assess the facets of caregiver well-being experienced by caregivers of persons with multiple chronic conditions (MCC) with a special focus on those caregivers of homebound adult patients. METHODS: The search was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) extension for scoping reviews. After refining search terms, searches were performed of the peer-reviewed and gray literature. RESULTS: After removal of duplicate studies, a total of 5534 total articles were screened for relevance to our study. After all screening and review were completed, 377 total articles remained for full review which included 118 different quantitative tools and 20 different qualitative tools. We identified the 15 most commonly utilized tools in patients with MCC. The Zarit Burden Interview was the most commonly used tool across all of the studies. Of the 377 total studies, only eight of them focused on the homebound population and included 13 total tools. CONCLUSIONS: Building on prior categorization of well-being tools, our work has identified several tools that can be used to measure caregiver well-being with a specific focus on those caregivers providing support to older adults with MCC. Most importantly, we have identified tools that can be used to measure caregiver well-being of family caregivers providing support to homebound older adults, an ever-growing population who are high cost and high utilizers of health care services.
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Background: Research on deaths during COVID-19 has largely focused on hospitals and nursing homes. Less is known about medically complex patients receiving care in the community. We examined care disruptions and end-of-life experiences of homebound patients receiving home-based primary care (HBPC) in New York City during the initial 2020 COVID-19 surge. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients enrolled in Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors who died between March 1-June 30, 2020. We collected patient sociodemographic and clinical data and analyzed care disruptions and end-of-life experiences using clinical notes, informed by thematic and narrative analysis. Results: Among 1300 homebound patients, 112 (9%) died during the study period. Patients who died were more likely to be older, non-Hispanic white, and have dementia than those who survived. Thirty percent of decedents had confirmed or probable COVID-19. Fifty-eight (52%) were referred to hospice and 50 enrolled. Seventy-three percent died at home. We identified multiple intersecting disruptions in family caregiving, paid caregiving, medical supplies and services, and hospice care, as well as hospital avoidance, complicating EOL experiences. The HBPC team responded by providing clinical, logistical and emotional support to patients and families. Conclusion: Despite substantial care disruptions, the majority of patients in our study died at home with support from their HBPC team as the practice worked to manage care disruptions. Our findings suggest HBPC's multi-disciplinary, team-based model may be uniquely suited to meet the needs of the most medically and socially vulnerable older adults at end of life during public health emergencies.
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When a student is homebound from school, they miss out on beneficial classroom experiences. One way to keep homebound students connected is through the use of telepresence technology. However, the existing literature has not been systematically reviewed to address important variables related to successful implementation. The authors conducted a systematic literature review on the use of telepresence technology for homebound K–12 students prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Twelve articles published between 1990 and 2020 were included. Research on telepresence technology in the classroom is variable regarding outcomes studied and methodologies. Anecdotal data revealed that the use of telepresence technology increased homebound students' academic, social engagement and comfort. Implications for practitioners include feasibility of implementation of telepresence technology for students unable to physically attend classes and guidance in team structure necessary to successfully utilise telepresence. Increased funding allocated to controlled research and necessary infrastructure is essential for successful school-based implementation of telepresence technology. © 2023 Association for Information Technology in Teacher Education.
ABSTRACT
The overall impact and consequences of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had an unimaginable and lasting influence on everyone worldwide. Since the start of the pandemic, people around the world have been forced into isolation and lockdowns for long periods of time, which has resulted in adverse psychological consequences for many people. The purpose of this study was to explore and identify how different predictors influence depression during the COVID-19 pandemic among adult social media users. The researcher used a combination of the uses and gratifications theory and the social comparison theory as a theoretical framework for this study. An online survey was conducted with a sample of 215 valid responses from participants around the world. The results demonstrated that increased COVID-19 anxiety was associated with higher levels of depression. The results also demonstrated that positive social comparison to other people was associated with lower levels of depression. The most significant result was that increased time spent on Facebook resulted in a reduction of depression for people who had favorable views of themselves. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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The focus of the present study was to better understand the psychological effects of the Covid-19 epidemic of employee furloughs. As one of the techniques for dealing with the relatively sudden and distressing effects of the pandemic, a relatively new employment status not commonly used before the crisis was implemented. Analysis of the data here showed that the decision to put employees on furlough has profound emotional effects associated with it including a negative impact on feelings of job security with withdrawal behavior as a potential outcome. Suggestions for reducing some of these negative consequences are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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Becoming homebound can be devastating for older adults in rural communities. This study aimed to identify protective or high-risk social activities associated with homebound status among the rural young old (ages 65-74) and the oldest old (ages ≥ 75). We used data from a survey of older adults in a rural community of Japan in 2014. Questions covered sociodemographic characteristics, homebound status (i.e., going out less than once a week), physical and psychological status, and social activities. Using survey data, we conducted logistic regression analysis to identify protective and high-risk social activities associated with homebound status. Of the 1,564 participants, 51.0 % were the oldest old, and the mean age was 75.2 (±7.0) years. The prevalence of homebound status was 10.5 % total: 5.2 % among the young old and 15.7 % among the oldest old and highest among the female oldest old (19.4 %). The main protective social activity for the young and the oldest old was visiting friends' houses (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 5.38, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.64-17.64 and AOR 3.49, 95 % CI 1.07-11.42, respectively). For the young old, specific high-risk social activities were advising family and friends (AOR 0.07, 95 % CI 0.01-0.62) and activities to support older adults (AOR 0.17, 95 % CI 0.03-0.84). For the oldest old, a protective social activity was participating in long-term care prevention programs (AOR 28.94, 95 % CI 1.90-441.63). To prevent rural older adults from becoming homebound, support should be provided according to protective and high-risk social activities for age groups, with particular attention to safe socialization amid the threat of COVID-19.