Evolution of the Perceptions about Tourist Destinations Affected by Risk Events Using a PANAS-tDL Deep Learning Model

The tourism industry has dynamized the economy of the countries by offering places, as well as related tourism experiences, products, and services. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these tourist destinations were affected by subjective perceptions of users on social networks, within stands out Twitter. To achieve an objective perception from user comments posted on Twitter in front of a tourist destination, we propose a PANAS-tDL (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule - Deep Learning) model which integrates into a single structure a neural model inspired by a Stacked neural deep learning model (SDL), as well as the PANAS-t methodology. For this process, a database of comments was available for four destinations (Colombia, Italy, Spain, USA), and its tourist's products and services, before and in the context of COVID-19 pandemic throughout the year 2020. The proposed model made it possible to generate objective perceptions of the tourist destinations and their products and services using an automatic classification of comments in each category defined by the PANAS-t methodology (11-sentiments). The results show how users' perceptions were towards the negative sentiment zone defined by this methodology, according to the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide throughout the year 2020. The proposed model also integrated an automatic process of normalisation, lemmatisation and tokenisation (Natural language process - NLP) for the objective characterization of perceptions, and due to its capacity for adaption and learning, it can be extended for the evaluation of new tourist destinations, products or services using comments from different social networks. Copyright © 2021 by Author/s and Licensed by Veritas Publications Ltd., UK.

VisualEars: How an immersive art exhibit impacts mood during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper explores the positive impact of viewing a virtual art exhibit on mood during the COVID-19 Pandemic. During global lockdowns, depression, anxiety, and the burden of other mental illnesses have increased even among prior psychiatrically healthy individuals. Art and music-based interventions have shown to be effective clinical interventions in individuals with mental illness. The VisualEars project explored whether a virtual activity involving vision and auditory stimuli could improve positive and negative affect. Eight musical pieces were selected, and 28 visual artists from around the world visualized two musical pieces. A total of 56 works of art were created and hung in eight 3D virtual rooms. Visitors were randomly selected to either view the art exhibit without music (non-immersive) or view the art exhibit while listening to music (immersive). Visitors were asked to complete a positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS) in three languages (English, French, and Farsi) pre and post their virtual visit. A total of 160 participants completed baseline PANAS, 58 of which completed the follow-up PANAS. Linear mixed-effects models found that older participants had lower negative affect scores overall (b = -0.3, p = 0.003), while male participants had lower positive affect scores overall (b = -0.27, p = 0.02). Following the virtual exhibit participants of both conditions had higher positive (b = 0.17, p = 0.03), and lower negative affect scores (b = -0.19, p = 0.007). We found that the virtual art exhibit increased positive affect and decreased negative affect in participants, suggesting an overall improvement in mood attributable to the virtual exhibit. This suggests that virtual exhibits may serve as a beneficial and accessible intervention to improve mood during a pandemic.

Psychological determinants and their relationship with activities carried out by health sciences students during confinement by COVID-19

Objectives: During lockdown by COVID-19, some individuals engaged in behaviours generating a greater sense of positivity and control. The objective was to identify relationships between affect, coping strategies, and resilience with task management, distress caused by lockdown, and difficulty observing public health restrictions. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study (May 2020) was carried out in the Complutense University of Madrid. The sample consisted of 50 first-year Health Sciences students, wich were assessed during lockdown by COVID19. The followins scales were used: the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced inventory, the ConnorDavidson Resilience Scale, and the Escala de Gestion de Actividades en Situacion de Confinamiento (Activity Management during Lockdown Scale). Results: Thirty-five students (70%) displayed a score of (3)6 on the scale measuring the distress caused by the public health restrictions. Associations with r values of =0.5 were: distress caused by the pandemic and positive affect (r=0.512);seeking new hobbies and seeking social support (r=0.567);seeking new hobbies and humour (r=0.56);reading and active problem-focused coping (r=0.5). Conclusions: Positive affect is influenced by behaviours linked to helping neighbours. Strategies allowing subjects to occupy their time more constructively were: active problem-focused coping, seeking psychosocial support, and acceptance and personal growth. The factors related to negative affect were alcohol consumption and/or drug use, humour.

Prevention of Emotional Disorders and Symptoms Under Health Conditions: A Pilot Study using the Unified Protocol in a Fertility Unit

Emotional Disorders (EDs) are common in women who undergo fertility treatments. The Unified Protocol (UP) is a transdiagnostic intervention that has demonstrated efficacy in preventing EDs under different health conditions. The aim of this pilot study is to: 1) improve emotional dysregulation for the prevention of anxiety and depressive symptoms in women undergoing intrauterine inseminations (IUI);2) assess their acceptability (e.g., satisfaction and adherence rates). Method: Five women undergoing IUI, with no clinical diagnoses, responded to measures of mood (anxiety and depression), affect, quality of life and emotional dysregulation in the pre-and post-assessments, and at the 1-, 3-and 6 month follow-ups. The UP was adapted to be applied during six face-toface group sessions lasting 2 h. The COVID-19 pandemic situation implied changing to an online format to end the program. Results: The results showed that women did not develop EDs, and no statistically significant pre-post and pre-follow-up differences were found for anxiety, depression, quality of life and emotional dysregulation (all p > .050). A tendency towards improvement in the post-assessment evaluation was noted. Satisfaction with the format and UP program was high. Conclusions: It would seem that programs focusing on therapeutic common factors like the UP could have an emotional preventive effect during IUI.

Limited negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health measures of Ghanaian university students.

BACKGROUND: Stress and mental health outcomes are negatively correlated among university students throughout the world. Reports of differences in stress perception by gender exist, but there is limited data on students from sub-Saharan African countries. This study describes the burden of perceived and financial stress; characterizes mood and degree of anxiety symptoms; examines stress coping mechanisms, including resilience and repetitive negative thinking (RNT); and explores how students at a Ghanaian university believed the COVID-19 pandemic affected these measures. METHODS: Students (n = 129) were recruited from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana from October 2020 - January 2021. Validated surveys were used. Participants were asked "Are your answers to the questions affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?" RESULTS: No differences in mean scores were observed between genders. For female students, financial stress was positively associated with RNT (p = 0.009), negative mood (p = 0.002), and anxiety (p < 0.001). Males were more likely to report decreased stress during the pandemic (p = 0.002), but there was no difference in mental health outcomes by perceived stress (PS) change category among males. Effects of the pandemic on mental health outcomes were mixed, but substantial proportions of students reported improvements or no change in financial stress, mood, anxiety, and RNT. LIMITATIONS: Students from one university particiapted in this cross-sectional survey. CONCLUSIONS: This study adds to the understanding of how higher education students are experiencing stress and are coping with the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana.

Phubber’s Emotional Activations: The Association between PANAS and Phubbing Behavior

Currently, mobile phones are widely used worldwide. Thus, phubbing rapidly became a common phenomenon in our social life. Phubbing is considered by the literature as a new form of technology-related addiction that may undermine interpersonal relationships and mental health. Our study contributed to exploring phubbers’ emotional activation as no other work has investigated it so far. Indeed, researchers have only explored phubbees’ but not phubbers’ emotional correlates. A sample of 419 Italian individuals (143 males) participated in our data collection on a voluntary basis. The results showed that phubbing is related to negative affects, but not to positive affects. Moreover, phubbing in both its components (i.e., communication disturbance, phone obsession) appeared to elicit an emotional activation similar to that of social media addiction. These findings may help in strengthening the discussion around the emotional consequences of virtual environment design, as well as the awareness about what happens at a relational level during phubbing.

Longitudinal Study of the Psychological Impact of the Contingency Response to COVID-19 in Mexico

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have implemented prevention and care measures, among which voluntary confinement stands out. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychological impact of the contingency response due to COVID-19 in Mexico, considering time and level of confinement, participation in pleasurable activities during confinement, and responses derived from the economic recovery plan of the government. The study had a longitudinal design with two evaluations involving 158 people from 17 to 76 years of age who answered the questionnaires within 9 weeks. People with high confinement levels showed significant differences in positive affect, stress, and depression;people with low confinement levels and those who continued to work showed greater affection. Those who reported not having participated in pleasant activities during their confinement showed low results, and those who reported having been more worried about the economic recovery plan had a higher score in worry and a lower score in life satisfaction. It can be concluded that although psychological support interventions should focus on people in confinement, greater efforts that contribute to improving quality of life and well-being should be directed to those who work during public health contingency responses.

Physical activity during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is linked to better mood and emotion.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may negatively impact mood and emotion. Physical activity may protect against mood disturbance and promote positive affect. This study asked if physical activity before, during, or the change in physical activity with the pandemic, impacted affect and mood during the pandemic. US adult residents (18-74 years; N = 338) were surveyed from 29 April to 3 June 2020. Physical activity before and during the pandemic was assessed with the Physical Activity Rating survey. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule measured affect and the Profile of Moods Questionnaire assessed mood. Comparisons between physically inactive and active participants by Analysis of Covariance found greater vigour in participants classed as physically active before the pandemic. Positive affect, vigour and esteem-related affect were greater in participants physically active during the pandemic. Multiple linear regression revealed relationships between the change in physical activity and mood. Change in physical activity positively associated with positive affect (b = 1.06), esteem-related affect (b = 0.33) and vigour (b = 0.53), and negatively associated with negative affect (b = -0.47), total mood disturbance (b = -2.60), tension (b = -0.31), anger (b = -0.24), fatigue (b = -0.54), depression (b = -0.50) and confusion (b = -0.23). These data demonstrate that physical activity during the pandemic, and increased physical activity relative to before the pandemic, related to better mood.

Communication outside of the home through social media during COVID-19.

This study explored, through quantitative and qualitative survey analysis (N = 307), the role of communication through social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected in April 2020 to understand how individuals engaged with their network through social media and the subsequent relationship with subjective well-being, conceptualized as loneliness, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect. Results identified that passive social media use contributed to greater loneliness and a decrease in life satisfaction. Some active use of social media contributed to an increase in positive affect. However, other active uses increased feelings of loneliness. Results also spoke to differences across platforms, with time on Twitter leading to increased feelings of loneliness. Qualitative results pointed to an increase in social media use during the pandemic while also highlighting the opportunity to digitally reconnect with old friends and family.

Age-related differences in the perception of COVID-19 emergency during the Italian outbreak.

OBJECTIVES: Older adults have been identified as a high-risk population for COVID-19, therefore it is crucial to understand how they perceived and reacted to the emergency. We examined age-related differences in emotions, cognitive attitudes, and behavioral responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Based on the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, we expected to find a positive approach in older adults, which may translate into lower compliance with restrictive measures.Methods: We analyzed data (n = 306) from a nation-wide online survey conducted between April 1st and April 16th, 2020. We compared young (18-29 years), middle-aged (30-50 years), and older (65-85 years) adults' self-reported emotions, attitudes toward the emergency, and compliance with governmental rules.Results: Older adults showed lower negative emotions than young and middle-aged adults. Also, older adults were more confident about COVID-related information received, more favorable toward the restrictive measures, and perceived lower underestimation of the emergency compared to the other age groups. However, older people anticipated a longer time for the emergency to resolve. No age-related differences in compliance with the rules emerged.Conclusion: Older people showed a positive attitude toward the emergency. This attitude was confined in the here and now and did not extend to expectations for the future. Compliance with rules was high across our sample. However, less compliant individuals were also less confident in COVID-related information received by the media and official sources, suggesting the importance of providing precise and reliable information to promote adherence to restrictive measures.

Positive and negative affect of university and college students during COVID-19 outbreak: a network-based survey.

OBJECTIVES: To understand the status of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) on university and college students, and to explore the determinants during the COVID-19 outbreak. METHODS: Our data were from network-based survey, and 17,876 participants completed the questionnaire. t test, one-way ANOVA and multiple linear regression model were performed using PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) score as the dependent variable. RESULTS: Of 17,876 participants, the mean score of PA was 25.5 ± 7.3, while NA was 19.1 ± 7.1. Multiple linear regression models showed that there are some common determinants of PA and NA, such as education, health literacy on communicable diseases, satisfaction with measures for epidemic prevention and control, risk of infection, impact of the outbreak on daily life, sleep duration and frequency of hand washing in the past 2 weeks. Besides, whether the student is a medical major and whether outing in the past 2 weeks were specific determinants of PA, and frequency of masks wearing was specific determinant of NA. CONCLUSIONS: The outbreak of COVID-19 is detrimental to university and college students' affect. During the outbreak response, we should strengthen the guidance and regulation for negative affect and pay attention to improving the positive affect of university and college students.