RESUMO
This study investigates the disruptive effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on the relationship between environmental beliefs and pro-environmental behaviors. We used a survey conducted in the four major cities of Colombia before COVID-19 arrived in December 2019 and then repeated it in October 2020, after most of the major restrictions on mobility and economic activity had been lifted. The survey captured ecocentric and anthropocentric beliefs using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and Pro Environmental Behaviors (PEBS) using 18 questions about energy and water savings, recycling, and sustainable purchasing. In the 2020 survey, we included a measure of the severity of the individual's experience of disruption, including economic, family, and health-related aspects. Controlling for demographic variables, we analyzed (1) descriptive changes in NEP and PEBS, (2) the moderating effect of the disruption on the effect of NEP on PEBS, (3) the direct effect of disruption severity on PEBS, and (4) the moderating effect of severity on the effect of NEP on PEBS in 2020. We found that disruption caused by the lockdown crisis decreased anthropocentric beliefs and slightly increased ecocentric beliefs. This disruption also modified the effects of NEP on PEBS, thereby ameliorating the capacity of NEP to activate PEBS. The severity of experience moderated most of these effects. We discuss the implications of our results for the theory of environmental beliefs and pro-environmental behaviors and offer recommendations to reverse the potential negative effect of the COVID-19 crisis on the promotion of sustainable consumption.
RESUMO
Background: In the current conditions of social isolation, imposed by COVID-19, psychological help lines have been implemented via telephone. It is of interest to know if the contribution of this counseling service is effective;and to what extent the population has assumed this as a reliable way of psychological help. Objective: to describe the experience of the telephone counseling service to people with psychological disorders associated with social isolation. Methods: a descriptive study was carried out of the telephone counseling service aimed at the population with psychological disorders, carried out by the Mella District Mental Health Center, Camaguey province, during May 2020. The reasons for the call, clinical manifestations and behavior to follow were the main variables studied. Results: the elderly population contributed the highest number of calls (40.6%), as well as the most frequent reason being the search for psychological support. Depression and anxiety were found as the main clinical manifestations;and psychological support and monitoring of this as the behaviors to follow in most cases. Conclusion: due to the impossibility of going to specialized mental health centers, due to the conditions imposed by the pandemic, telephone counseling allowed a considerable group of people to receive psychological help backed by trained professionals, in correspondence with individual needs.