ABSTRACT
A psychological evaluation is often the first step towards intervention for children displaying difficulties associated with ADHD symptoms. The degree to which impairment associated with ADHD can be diminished relies in part on the extent to which patients follow through on recommendations that are provided as part of the psychological evaluation. Currently, there is little research that examines adherence to psychological evaluation recommendations. Two pioneer studies (Dreyer et al., 2010;Mucka et al., 2017) have found support for barriers and level of parent stress in predicting non-adherence to assessment recommendations. The present study expands upon previous research by examining adherence to psychological evaluation recommendations through the Common Sense Model (CSM;Leventhal et al., 1980), which hypothesizes that individuals create cognitive representations of an illness which promote coping behavior. Thirty-five caregiver/child dyads were recruited through an ADHD evaluation clinic and caregivers completed a telephone interview focused on adherence to assessment recommendations approximately 10 to 12 weeks after the evaluation feedback session. It was predicted that caregiver perceptions of child behavior and knowledge about ADHD would be associated with adherence to psychological evaluation recommendations. Results revealed that caregivers reported an average adherence rate of 66.62% to evaluation recommendations. In line with previous research, perceived barriers to recommendations were a significant predictor of adherence to recommendations. There was also a trend for caregiver knowledge about ADHD to be associated with adherence. The most commonly reported barrier was the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to hypotheses, caregiver perceptions of stability and child control over behavior were not associated with adherence to recommendations. Results suggest that increasing knowledge of ADHD is one factor that could improve outcomes for children diagnosed with ADHD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Objective: Illness perceptions (IP) are important predictors of emotional and behavioral responses in many diseases. The current study aims to investigate the COVID-19-related IP throughout Europe. The specific goals are to understand the temporal development, identify predictors (within demographics and contact with COVID-19) and examine the impacts of IP on perceived stress and preventive behaviors. Methods: This was a time-series-cross-section study of 7,032 participants from 16 European countries using multilevel modeling from April to June 2020. IP were measured with the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Temporal patterns were observed considering the date of participation and the date recoded to account the epidemiological evolution of each country. The outcomes considered were perceived stress and COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Results: There were significant trends, over time, for several IP, suggesting a small decrease in negativity in the perception of COVID-19 in the community. Age, gender, and education level related to some, but not all, IP. Considering the self-regulation model, perceptions consistently predicted general stress and were less consistently related to preventive behaviors. Country showed no effect in the predictive model, suggesting that national differences may have little relevance for IP, in this context. Conclusion: The present study provides a comprehensive picture of COVID-19 IP in Europe in an early stage of the pandemic. The results shed light on the process of IP formation with implications for health-related outcomes and their evolution.
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Objective: Medical isolation is one of the most effective measures to slow the spread of the virus when dealing with a pandemic. Millions of people in China have undergone centralized medical isolation (CMI) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to assess the centralized medical isolation group's COVID-19 risk perception and to explore the influencing factors. Methods: A total of 400 participants (200 who had experienced CMI and 200 who had not experienced) completed a questionnaire related to COVID-19 risk perceptions. The questionnaire was designed with the Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory (CEST) and the Common Sense Model of Risk Perception (CSM). It adopted nine questions to measure risk perception in terms of Emotional feelings, Cognitive judgment, and Mental representation of unusual severity. Descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis were conducted with SPSS 26.0 software. Results: The mean risk perception score for the CMI group was 30.75, with a standard deviation of 7.503, which was significantly higher than that in the non-centralized medical isolation (NCMI) group (risk perception score was 28.2, and the standard deviation was 7.129). The results show that risk perceptions were higher for older age, risk perceptions were higher for higher education, risk perceptions were higher for those who had received the COVID-19 vaccination, and risk perceptions were higher for those who lived in a family with children. Conclusion: Risk perception is significantly higher in CMI groups than in NCMI groups. The government should draw more care to the risk perception and psychological wellbeing of the CMI group and provide extra support and assistance to the elderly and those raising younger children. In dealing with future pandemics like the COVID-19 outbreak, the government should actively guide the public to properly isolate at home and cautiously implement a CMI policy.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The primary aim of the present investigation was to explore perceptions, experiences, and decision-making relating to the COVID-19 illness as the UK entered into a phase of "living safely with COVID-19". A secondary aim was to explore how perceptions around the COVID-19 vaccine might vary by ethnicity. Participants and Methods: We adopted a qualitative approach with a diverse sample of UK-based participants. One-hundred-and-ninety-three individuals completed an online survey measuring perceptions towards COVID-19 with questions conceptualized through the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation. Results: Through deductive thematic analysis we identified one overarching theme in our data, "The transition back to normal routines", with four themes illustrating individuals' perceptions and experiences with COVID-19: 1) "Living with the uncertainty", 2) "Concern for others", 3) "The multiple consequences of COVID-19", and 4) "Sense of control", with the sub-theme of "Should I vaccinate, should I not vaccinate?". Conclusion: Findings from the present investigation provide key insights for understanding how people's perceptions of COVID-19 during this transition period might impact their decisions and behavior moving forward. Specifically, findings suggest some prevailing concerns around catching the virus, while no strong qualitative evidence for concerns over long COVID were identified in this sample, the responsibility felt by individuals towards taking their own precautionary measures in light of the easing of all national restrictions, and some potential differences in perceptions towards the vaccine between individuals from different ethnic backgrounds.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To describe and explain peoples' developing threat appraisal and representations of the novel illness COVID-19 over the first months of the pandemic. The Common-Sense Model of illness perceptions provided the theoretical framework. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study with 511 respondents and a follow-up study 4 months later on 422 respondents completing an online survey measuring demographic factors, media consumption, self-assessed health, experience with the disease, health anxiety, COVID-19 threat, worries and cognitive and emotional illness representations. RESULTS: Health anxiety, media consumption, female gender, lower self-assessed health, knowing a deceased COVID-19 patient and being infected explained variance in threat appraisal. Worries represented 2 factors: psychosocial and existential. Threat appraisal and worries explained variance in illness representations. Representations of the disease worsened and started stabilizing over time. Emotional representations were exceptionally stable and explainable by threat appraisals. CONCLUSIONS: These studies revealed the initial stages of developing representations of a new disease in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gaining insights into those representations is key to understanding, predicting and modifying behavioral and mental responses to the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine changes in COVID-19 and illness-related perceptions, gastrointestinal symptoms, coping, catastrophising, psychological distress, and QoL during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 831 adults with a gastrointestinal condition completed an online questionnaire at baseline (May-October 2020). Of those, 270 (32.5%) participants (85.2% female, mean age = 47.3 years) provided follow-up data (March-May 2021). Repeated-measures multiple analysis of variance and a cross-lagged panel model were used to test the study hypotheses. Gastrointestinal symptoms and COVID-19 perceptions at follow-up were strongly predicted by their baseline values, while illness perceptions were predicted by baseline gastrointestinal symptoms. Cross-lagged relationships indicated a reciprocal relationship between gastrointestinal symptoms and psychological distress. Moreover, gastrointestinal symptoms had substantial predictive utility, strongly predicting future gastrointestinal symptoms, and to a lesser extent, more negative illness perceptions, greater psychological distress, and greater use of adaptive coping strategies across time.
ABSTRACT
A psychological evaluation is often the first step towards intervention for children displaying difficulties associated with ADHD symptoms. The degree to which impairment associated with ADHD can be diminished relies in part on the extent to which patients follow through on recommendations that are provided as part of the psychological evaluation. Currently, there is little research that examines adherence to psychological evaluation recommendations. Two pioneer studies (Dreyer et al., 2010;Mucka et al., 2017) have found support for barriers and level of parent stress in predicting non-adherence to assessment recommendations. The present study expands upon previous research by examining adherence to psychological evaluation recommendations through the Common Sense Model (CSM;Leventhal et al., 1980), which hypothesizes that individuals create cognitive representations of an illness which promote coping behavior. Thirty-five caregiver/child dyads were recruited through an ADHD evaluation clinic and caregivers completed a telephone interview focused on adherence to assessment recommendations approximately 10 to 12 weeks after the evaluation feedback session. It was predicted that caregiver perceptions of child behavior and knowledge about ADHD would be associated with adherence to psychological evaluation recommendations. Results revealed that caregivers reported an average adherence rate of 66.62% to evaluation recommendations. In line with previous research, perceived barriers to recommendations were a significant predictor of adherence to recommendations. There was also a trend for caregiver knowledge about ADHD to be associated with adherence. The most commonly reported barrier was the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to hypotheses, caregiver perceptions of stability and child control over behavior were not associated with adherence to recommendations. Results suggest that increasing knowledge of ADHD is one factor that could improve outcomes for children diagnosed with ADHD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Background: The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has posed a major public health risk across the world. The threat of the virus and the resulting quarantine or "stay-home-orders," likely impacted physical and mental health across the US population. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological responses and behaviors during the initial stages of the COVID-19 epidemic in a US sample, applying the Common-Sense Model of illness to encourage a more comprehensive conceptualization of psychological and behavioral response to COVID-19.Methods: This study used Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a widely used data-sourcing tool, to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 and quarantine for a large sample (N = 584) of US citizens, applying the Common-Sense Model of Illness as a way of predicting cognitive and emotional representations of the virus, engagement in precautionary and self-care behaviors, and appraisals of control. Conclusions: These results suggested that US citizens felt knowledgeable about COVID-19 and confident in precautionary behaviors to control the spread of COVID-19. However, while most US citizens reported normative levels of emotional distress in response to COVID-19, about 19-30% reported scores that indicated moderate to severe distress. Greater distress predicted decreased engagement in self-care behaviors and certain precautionary behaviors. People who engaged in both precautionary and self-care behaviors felt that they were helpful. While the results of this study are preliminary and further study is needed, these results suggest that Leventhal's Common-Sense Model of Illness may be applicable to understanding the US citizen experience of COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Symptoms may persist after an acute COVID-19 infection, a phenomenon termed long-COVID. Increasing attention is now directed toward these long-term effects, as many seem to be affected. So far, long-COVID was primarily discussed from a medical perspective, leaving psychological factors on health-related outcomes understudied. Thus, the present study contributes to the current literature by examining Leventhal's common-sense model of self-regulation, investigating patients' cognitive and emotional illness perceptions and their association with different health-related outcomes in the context of long-COVID. We examined 246 long-COVID patients (89.0% female, M (age) = 45.29 +/- 12.12 years), assessing illness perceptions, fatigue, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and quality of life in a cross-sectional survey study. Linear regression analyses were applied to model the unique effects of the illness perception dimension on health-related outcomes. More than half of the sample had elevated levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and fatigue. Illness perception dimensions explained between 28% and 37% of the variance across the analyzed health-related outcomes. More symptoms, higher perceived consequences, and higher emotional representation were related to worse health-related outcomes. In general, long-COVID was poorly understood (i.e., low coherence) and perceived as difficult to control (i.e., personal & treatment control). Health professionals involved in counseling should pay close attention to both cognitive and emotional illness perceptions to address possible ways of coping with long-COVID.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Psychosocial factors likely play a substantial role in the well-being of those living with coeliac disease, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, little research has examined well-being in this cohort using an integrated socio-cognitive model. This study had two aims: (1) Examine changes in gastrointestinal symptoms, psychosocial factors, and well-being outcomes (i.e., psychological distress, quality of life [QoL]) associated with the pandemic, (2) Examine the interrelationship of these variables across timepoints using the Common Sense Model (CSM). METHODS: 1697 adults with coeliac disease (Time 1, pre-pandemic; 83.1% female, mean age = 55.8, SD = 15.0 years) and 674 follow-up participants (Time 2, pandemic; 82.8% female, mean age = 57.0, SD = 14.4 years) completed an online questionnaire. Hypotheses were tested using repeated measures MANOVA and cross-lagged panel model analyses. RESULTS: Participants reported improved QoL, and reduced gastrointestinal symptoms, negative illness perceptions and maladaptive coping from pre-pandemic to during the pandemic. There was no significant change in pain catastrophising or psychological distress. Cross-lagged effects showed gastrointestinal symptoms to predict negative illness perceptions, which in turn were predictive of poorer outcomes across all variables except pain catastrophising. Consistent with the CSM, there was a reciprocal relationship between illness perceptions and QoL over time. Maladaptive coping and pain catastrophising demonstrated limited predictive utility. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have had a small beneficial effect across several indices of well-being among adults with coeliac disease. Cross-lagged relationships highlight illness perceptions as a predictor of well-being outcomes and a potential target for psychosocial interventions.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Celiac Disease , Adaptation, Psychological , Adult , Celiac Disease/epidemiology , Cohort Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Pandemics , Quality of Life , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to use an extended common sense model (CSM) to evaluate the impact of fear of COVID-19 on quality of life (QoL) in an international inflammatory bowel disease cohort. An online study involving 319 adults (75% female, mean (SD) 14.06 (15.57) years of symptoms) completed the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale, Brief Illness Perceptions Questionnaire, Fear of Contracting COVID-19 Scale, Brief-COPE, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, and the EUROHIS-QOL. The extended CSM had an excellent fit (χ2 (9) = 17.06, p = .05, χ2/N = 1.90, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04, CFI = .99, TLI = .97, GFI = 0.99), indicating the influence of gastrointestinal symptoms on QoL was mediated by illness perceptions, fear of COVID-19, adaptive and maladaptive coping, and psychological distress. Interventions targeting the fear of COVID-19 in the context of an individual's perceptions will likely enhance QoL during the pandemic.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Inflammatory Bowel Diseases , Adult , Chronic Disease , Cross-Sectional Studies , Fear , Female , Humans , Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/psychology , Male , Quality of Life/psychologyABSTRACT
Mass vaccination is considered necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19; however, vaccination willingness was found to be especially low among young adults. Therefore, based on the extended Common Sense Model, the unique effects and the interplay of illness representations about COVID-19 and perceptions about COVID-19 vaccination in explaining COVID-19 vaccination willingness was investigated using a cross-sectional design. An online survey measuring the relevant variables was filled in by 584 participants (69.9% female) between 18 and 34 years. Correlation analyses showed that all illness representation dimensions except from timeline and both dimensions of vaccination perceptions were related to vaccination willingness. The mediation analysis revealed that less personal control, more prevention control, more concerns about COVID-19 as well as more perceived necessity of and fewer concerns about the vaccination were directly related to higher vaccination willingness. Additionally, prevention control was indirectly related to higher vaccination willingness through stronger perceptions of necessity of the vaccination. The extended Common Sense Model proved to be useful in the context of illness prevention. Campaigns to improve vaccination rates should aim at increasing the perception that COVID-19 is preventable through vaccination and the personal need of the vaccination as well as at decreasing concerns about the vaccination.
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Testing the Common-Sense Model, this random telephone survey examined the associations between illness representations of COVID-19 and behavioral intention to visit hospitals for scheduled medical consultations (BI-VHSMC), and the mediations via coping and fear of nosocomial infection among 300 Chinese adults. The prevalence of BI-VHSMC was 62.3%. Mediation analysis found that maladaptive coping (rumination and catastrophizing) and fear of nosocomial infection mediated the associations between various dimensions of illness representations of COVID-19 (e.g. consequence and controllability) and BI-VHSMC, both indirectly and serially. Illness representations, coping, and fear should be considered when planning related health promotion during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Cross Infection , Adaptation, Psychological , Adult , China , Hospitals , Humans , Intention , Pandemics/prevention & control , Referral and ConsultationABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) requires behavioral changes such as physical distancing (e.g., staying a 6-foot distance from others, avoiding mass gatherings, reducing houseguests), wearing masks, reducing trips to nonessential business establishments, and increasing hand washing. Like other health behaviors, COVID-19 related behaviors may be related to risk representations. Risk representations are the cognitive responses a person holds about illness risk such as, identity (i.e., label/characteristics of risk), cause (i.e., factors causing condition), timeline (i.e., onset/duration of risk), consequences (i.e., intrapersonal/interpersonal outcomes), behavioral efficacy (i.e., if and how the condition can be controlled/treated), and illness risk coherence (i.e., extent to which representations, behaviors, and beliefs are congruent). The current study applies the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation (CSM-SR) to evaluate how risk representations may relate to COVID-19 protective and risk behaviors. METHODS: Participants include 400 workers from Amazon's Mechanical Turk aged ≥ 18 years and US residents. Participants completed an online survey measuring risk representations (B-IPQ) and COVID-19 related behaviors, specifically, physical distancing, hand washing, and shopping frequency. RESULTS: Risk coherence, consequences, timeline, emotional representation, and behavioral efficacy were related to risk and protective behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Risk representations vary in their relationship to COVID-19 risk and protective behaviors. Implications include the importance of coherent, targeted, consistent health communication, and effective health policy in mitigating the spread of COVID-19.