The Psychology of Coronavirus Behavioral Health Mindset, Vaccination Receptivity, Customer Orientation and Community Public Service.

Three studies were conducted to explore the psychological determinants of COVID-deterrent behaviors. In Study 1, using data collected and analyzed both before and after the release of COVID-19 vaccines, mask-wearing, other preventative behaviors like social distancing, and vaccination intentions were positively related to assessments of the Coronavirus Behavioral Health Mindset (CVBHM); belief in the credibility of science; progressive political orientation; less use of repressive and more use of sensitization coping; and the attribution of COVID-19 safety to effort rather than ability, powerful forces, fate, or luck. In Study 2, favorable COVID-19 vaccination intentions were related to greater willingness to work, lower emotional distress, and greater customer experience mindset. Study 3 examined the personality and motives of individuals who volunteered to help deliver COVID-19 inoculations to the local community. The vaccine-giving volunteers, especially those with prosocial motives, had high CVBHM scores, belief in the credibility of science, low use of repressive coping, greater attribution of COVID-19 protection to effort, low likelihood of voting conservative, were older, and had more education than others. The majority of public health volunteers expressed prosocial motives to help people or join a cause (60.7%), but many (39.3%) expressed the personal motives of getting the COVID-19 vaccination for themselves, conveying a public image of compassion, or structuring time. Based on the three research studies, a COVID-19 Mindset Hierarchy model is proposed to integrate the results.

Enhancing advocacy for individuals in poverty: The role of a poverty simulation training.

Psychologists have a responsibility to be advocates for the individuals they serve within public service settings, and there is a need to identify or develop training strategies to support these efforts. Low-income families are a subset of consumers who frequently require services within these settings yet also may face providers who are not optimally supportive. One factor that interferes with providers' ability to engage in empathic, well-informed, and effective advocacy is their underlying attributions about causes of poverty that overemphasize personal responsibility. The current studies examined whether a poverty simulation training would be sufficient to modify participants' poverty attributions. Undergraduate participants in Study 1 (N = 126, Mean age = 21.6, SD = 5.6) were significantly more likely to emphasize external causes of poverty following the simulation. In Study 2, social service providers (N = 98, Mean age = 38.58, SD = 11.56) reported lower internal beliefs following participation in a poverty simulation but did not shift to a predominantly external belief index. The results of these studies demonstrate that causal attributions of poverty within both student and professional samples can be modified by participation in a poverty simulation. Because these attributions have important implications for advocacy work with consumers and efforts to address poverty, the poverty simulation experience has the potential to be an effective training tool that could yield real-world impact. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).