Live experience of people with diabetes mellitus on self-management during COVID-19 in remote area of Indonesia

I n tro d u c tio n: People with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) are vulnerable to COVID-19. Therefore, it's important to maintain good self-management (diet, exercise, medicine, and health care visitations) during pandemics. Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's difficult for them to maintain adequate self-management. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the self-management of people with DM during the pandemic, especially in a remote area of Indonesia. M ethods: This study is qualitative and uses the phenomenology method. The data was obtained from 10 people with Diabetes Mellitus using face-to-face interviews. Data collected was analyzed thematic using Atlas.ti software and statements from participants were presented verbatim to illustrate the themes realized. Results: Participants'experience in self-management during COVID-19 was categorized into three themes and ten sub-themes. The three themes emerged from the study: psychological distress of being vulnerable to COVID-19, preferring traditional over medical treatment,andprejudgmenttowardhealthcareworkers and facilities. Conclusion: Rural residents with DM experience psychological distress, leading to poor self-management and stigma toward healthcare workers and facilities. Therefore, it is important to do comprehension care consisting of self-management, psychologicalcare,andeducationonthestigmaaround COVID-19 for people with DM. © 2022 Academia Nacional de Medicina. All rights reserved.

How culturally unique are pandemic effects? Evaluating cultural similarities and differences in effects of age, biological sex, and political beliefs on COVID impacts.

Despite being bio-epidemiological phenomena, the causes and effects of pandemics are culturally influenced in ways that go beyond national boundaries. However, they are often studied in isolated pockets, and this fact makes it difficult to parse the unique influence of specific cultural psychologies. To help fill in this gap, the present study applies existing cultural theories via linear mixed modeling to test the influence of unique cultural factors in a multi-national sample (that moves beyond Western nations) on the effects of age, biological sex, and political beliefs on pandemic outcomes that include adverse financial impacts, adverse resource impacts, adverse psychological impacts, and the health impacts of COVID. Our study spanned 19 nations (participant N = 14,133) and involved translations into 9 languages. Linear mixed models revealed similarities across cultures, with both young persons and women reporting worse outcomes from COVID across the multi-national sample. However, these effects were generally qualified by culture-specific variance, and overall more evidence emerged for effects unique to each culture than effects similar across cultures. Follow-up analyses suggested this cultural variability was consistent with models of pre-existing inequalities and socioecological stressors exacerbating the effects of the pandemic. Collectively, this evidence highlights the importance of developing culturally flexible models for understanding the cross-cultural nature of pandemic psychology beyond typical WEIRD approaches.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Estrangement of US-China Relations

This article assesses US-China relations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, the US-China trade war created an atmosphere of bitterness and mistrust in bilateral relations and also prompted the Chinese leadership to seek to enhance its "discourse power" through "wolf warrior" diplomacy. This atmosphere hampered US-China communication and cooperation during the initial phase of the pandemic. The unleashing of "wolf warrior" diplomacy as the pandemic spread round the world, especially in the United States, has exacerbated US-China relations and served to accelerate the transition of US policy toward China from constructive engagement to strategic competition.

Health anxiety model of cyberchondria, fears, obsessions, sleep quality, and negative affect during COVID-19.

The aim of the study was to explore the relationships among cyberchondria, fear of COVID-19, health anxiety, obsessions, sleep quality, and negative affect in a national community sample of Turkish participants. A sample of 8,276 volunteers, aged between 18 and 65, were recruited via an online platform. The Perceived Vulnerability about Diseases Questionnaire, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Cyberchondria Severity Scale, Short Health Anxiety Inventory, Depression Stress Anxiety Scale-21, Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were completed by participants. Data were analyzed using mixture structural equation modelling approach. Results revealed that perceived vulnerability to disease was found to be positively related with cyberchondria, poor sleep quality, health anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Negative affect was positively associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, fears of COVID-19, cyberchondria severity, and poor sleep quality. Additionally, fear of COVID-19 was positively related to health anxiety. Also, cyberchondria severity was found to be positively associated with poor sleep quality and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Mixture analysis classified participants into six latent classes: 1) Risk-Aversive Healthy Group, 2) Incautious Healthy Group, 3) Infection Obsessions Group, 4) Health Anxiety Group, 5) Negative Affect Group, and 6) General Psychopathology Group. The national survey data showed that perceived vulnerability to diseases, negative affect, fear of COVID-19, cyberchondria, health anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and sleep quality appeared to be at the center of pandemic health anxiety.