Exercise frequency during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal probability survey of the US population.

Regular physical activity is important for general health and reduces the risk for COVID-19 infections and for severe outcomes among infected people. However, measures to mitigate COVID-19 likely decrease population physical activity. This study aimed to examine 1) changes in exercise frequency in a representative sample of US adults during the pandemic (04/01/2020-07/21/2021), and 2) how sociodemographic characteristics, pre-COVID health-related behaviors and outcomes, and state-level stringency of COVID-19 containment measures predict exercise frequency. Self-reported exercise frequency and its individual-level predictors were determined based on 151,155 observations from 6,540 adult participants (aged ≥ 18 years) in all US states from the Understanding America Study. State-level stringency of COVID-19 control measures was examined from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker. Exercise frequency varied significantly over 28 survey waves across 475 days of follow-up (F 1,473 = 185.5, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.23-1.00), where exercise frequency decreased between April 2020 and January 2021, and then increased from January 2021 to July 2021. Those who were younger, living alone, non-White, had no college degree, lower household income, low pre-pandemic physical activity levels, obesity, diabetes, kidney disease and hypertension had lower exercise frequency. State-level stringency of COVID-19 control measures was inversely associated with exercise frequency (B = 0.002, SE = 0.001, p < 0.01) between April and December 2020 when the overall stringency level was relatively high; but the association was non-significant (B = 0.001, SE = 0.001, p > 0.05) between January and July 2021, during which the stringency index sharply declined to a low level. This longitudinal probability survey of the US population revealed significant fluctuations in exercise during COVID-19. Low exercise levels are concerning and deserve public health attention. Health inequalities from physical inactivity are likely to exacerbate because of COVID-19. Physical activity promotion in safe environments is urgently warranted, especially in at-risk population subgroups.

Cognitive crafting and work engagement: A study among remote and frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to a profound change in the organization of work in the health care sector. As frontline health care workers are essential in battling the pandemic and their work is appreciated in society, we argue that health care workers who are forced to work from home are likely to perceive their jobs as less meaningful, which in turn may negatively affect their engagement at work. Cognitive crafting, or the altering of the perceptions one has about their tasks and relationships with the aim to enhance the meaningfulness of work, may be a fruitful cognitive strategy to counter the problems remote health care workers face. PURPOSE: The primary purpose was to study the relationship between cognitive crafting, working from home (WFH), and work engagement. METHODOLOGY: We collected cross-sectional survey data between May 7 and June 2, 2020, from a single hospital in the Netherlands (n = 278). The central hypothesis was tested using multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: The relationship between cognitive crafting and work engagement was moderated by WFH, such that the relationship is more positive for health care workers who work from home permanently since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic than for frontline workers and workers who work partially from home. CONCLUSION: Our findings are consistent with previous research on cognitive crafting. We conclude that cognitive crafting is an interesting cognitive strategy to stay engaged for health care workers who are mandated into WFH. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: We advise organizations to provide remote workers virtual group trainings that promote cognitive crafting and expose them to testimonies of people who are positively affected by their work. More generally, we recommend organizations to engage in effective top-down work design and foster a climate for cognitive as well as behavioral job crafting strategies.

Extraversion Moderates the Relationship Between the Stringency of COVID-19 Protective Measures and Depressive Symptoms.

From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists are theorizing that, as compared to introverts, extraverts experience more profound negative social consequences from protective measures (e.g., travel restrictions and bans on public gatherings). As the empirical evidence for this claim is lacking, this study tested the hypothesis that extraversion moderates the relationship between the stringency of COVID-19 protective measures and depressive symptoms. Our results were based on survey data from 93,125 respondents collected in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 20-April 6, 2020) across 47 countries and publicly available data on measure stringency. Findings demonstrate that extraversion moderates the relationship between measure stringency in the early days of the pandemic and depressive symptoms. For introverts, measure stringency has a negative effect on depressive symptoms, while for extraverts, it has a positive, but non-significant effect on depressive symptoms. This study suggests that, although stringent measures generally help people to worry less and feel safer, the lifestyle associated with such measures feels more natural to introverts than to extraverts.