Bereavement in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic: Psychometric analysis of the Pandemic Grief Scale-Urdu Version (PGS-UV).

With nearly 4 million deaths worldwide, COVID-19 has resulted in a great loss of life. For many of the bereaved, the grieving process has been especially difficult due to COVID-19 spatial distancing procedures and the traumatic circumstances of this particular form of loss. Consequently, a large number of the world's bereaved are experiencing dysfunctional levels of grief. To assess such grief, the Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS) was created to identify those affected who may benefit from professional support. This study aimed to psychometrically analyze the properties of the Urdu version of the scale, among a sample of 272 Pakistanis who lost a loved one to COVID-19 from March to June 2021. Results revealed that the scale was found to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing dysfunctional pandemic grief for both men and women. However, unique gender differences were found. Additional research should further confirm the psychometric properties of the PGS on other culturally diverse samples.

Coronaphobia among healthcare professionals in Mexico: A psychometric analysis.

The present study examined the validity of the coronaphobia phenomenon with healthcare professionals using a psychometric approach. Using SurveyMonkey, an adapted version of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale-Healthcare version (CAS-HC) was administered to 231 adult healthcare professionals in Mexico. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that dysfunctional coronavirus anxiety symptoms cohered into a reliable, single factor structure of coronaphobia. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the classification features of the CAS-HC were strong, but supported a less stringent cut-score for this population. Construct validity was supported by the positive correlations between the CAS-HC and measures of depression and generalized anxiety, while known groups validity was found with high CAS-HC scores exhibited by those working in emergency rooms, triage, and intensive care units. The findings collectively support the coronaphobia construct with healthcare professionals, and the finding that over one third of the participants in the study scored in the clinical range on this measure points to the critical importance of assessing and alleviating this form of distress in this vulnerable but indispensable workforce.

Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder Symptoms Predict Grief Interview Emotions.

This study examined persistent complex bereavement disorder (PCBD) symptoms' ability to predict emotional reactions of 69 bereaved adults who participated in grief interviews. The results supported the predictive validity of PCBD symptoms for both self-report and behavioral observation measures of sadness but with only one behavioral measure of happiness. Furthermore, PCBD symptoms uniquely predicted sadness in all but one measure of that emotion while accounting for symptoms of depression, posttraumatic stress, and separation anxiety. Because interviews are the primary method of psychological evaluation for clinicians, these findings collectively support the validity of the PCBD construct.

Incremental validity of coronaphobia: Coronavirus anxiety explains depression, generalized anxiety, and death anxiety.

The adverse psychological effects of COVID-19 have increased globally. Moreover, the psychological toll may be worsening for this health crisis due to the growing numbers of mass deaths and unemployment levels. Coronaphobia, a relatively new pandemic-related construct, has been shown to be strongly related to functional impairment and psychological distress. However, the extent to which coronaphobia is uniquely accountable for the psychological distress experienced during the COVID-19 crisis has not been systematically investigated. The current study examined this question of incremental validity using online data from 453 adult MTurk workers in the U.S. The results of a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that coronaphobia explained additional variance in depression, generalized anxiety, and death anxiety, above sociodemographics, COVID-19 factors, and the vulnerability factors of neuroticism, health anxiety, and reassurance-seeking behaviors. These findings suggest that health professionals should be aware of coronaphobia as this expression of pandemic-related stress has reliably demonstrated incremental validity in accounting for major indicators of psychological distress.

Clinically significant fear and anxiety of COVID-19: A psychometric examination of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale.

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) using an online survey of 398 adult Amazon MTurk workers in the U.S. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the CAS measures a reliable (α = 0.92), unidimensional construct with a structure that was shown to be invariant across gender, race, and age. Construct validity was demonstrated with correlations between CAS scores and demographics, coronavirus diagnosis, history of anxiety, coronavirus fear, functional impairment, alcohol/drug coping, religious coping, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, as well as social attitudes (e.g., satisfaction with President Trump). The CAS also demonstrated solid discrimination ability for functional impairment (AUC =0.88), while the original cut score of ≥9 (76% sensitivity and 90% specificity) showed the strongest diagnostic effectiveness among scores. Overall, these findings are largely consistent with the results of the first CAS investigation and support the validity of this mental health screener for COVID-19 related research and practice.

Modeling pandemic depression and anxiety: The mediational role of core beliefs and meaning making.

Background: The aim of this research was to examine core belief violation and disrupted meaning making as primary cognitive processes regulating mental health during the pandemic. The study tested the hypothesis that both these cognitive processes function as mediating mechanisms, accounting for the adverse mental health effects of multiple pandemic stressors. Methods: A survey design (N = 2380) assessed demographic variables associated with poor pandemic mental health (gender, age, ethnicity, education), direct COVID stressors (diagnosis, death), indirect COVID stressors (unemployment, increased living costs, childcare loss), core belief violation, meaning made of the pandemic, coronavirus anxiety (CA), depression, and general anxiety. RESULTS: Core belief violation and disrupted meaning making explained the severity of depression, general anxiety, and CA to a significantly greater degree than did demographics, direct COVID stressors, and indirect COVID stressors combined. In addition, core belief violation and disrupted meaning making significantly mediated the impact of direct and indirect COVID stressors on all mental health outcomes. Specifically, each stressor was associated with increased core belief violation and decreased meaning making of the pandemic, in turn, those whose core beliefs were violated and those who made less meaning of the pandemic experienced greater depression, general anxiety, and CA. Limitations: The use of a cross-sectional design prohibited assessment of alternative causal orders. Conclusions: This study describes the first unifying model of pandemic mental health, establishing violation of core beliefs and the inability to make meaning of the pandemic as targets for clinical intervention in the context diverse pandemic stressors.