Young adults' coping strategies against loneliness during the COVID-19-related quarantine in Greece.

COVID-19 and the related quarantine disrupted young adults' academic and professional life, daily routine and socio-emotional well-being. This cross-sectional study focused on the emotional and behavioural responses of a young adult population during the COVID-19-related quarantine in April 2020, in Greece. The study was conducted through an online survey. A total of 1559 young adults, aged 18-30 years, completed Steele's Social Responsibility Motivation Scale and the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, and answered questions about compliance with instructions, quarantine-related behaviours and coping strategies. According to the results, participants displayed a relatively high sense of social responsibility (M = 16.09, SD = 2.13) and a trend towards moderate feeling of loneliness (M = 2.65, SD = 1.62); young women reported significantly higher levels of loneliness than men. The majority complied with instructions often (46.4%) or always (44.8%). Significantly more women created a new social media account and used the social media longer than 5 h/day, compared with men. Resorting to religion, practicing sports and sharing thoughts and feelings about COVID-19 with others predicted higher levels of social responsibility; humour, practicing sports and sharing thoughts and feelings about COVID-19 with others predicted lower levels of loneliness. Conclusively, COVID-19 is expected to have a significant psychological impact on young adults. Currently, Greece is going through the second quarantine period. This study raises awareness about loneliness in young adults during the COVID-19-related quarantine and highlights the importance of developing online programmes, attractive to younger people, to nurture adaptive coping strategies against loneliness.

Young adulthood is a critical developmental period, related with significant changes in life roles. COVID-19 disrupted young adults' academic and professional life, daily routine and socio-emotional well-being. This cross-sectional study investigated social responsibility, compliance with health guidelines, loneliness, coping strategies and quarantine-related behaviours in a sample of 1559 young adults, aged 18−30 years, during the first COVID-19-related quarantine in April 2020, in Greece. According to the results, participants displayed a relatively high sense of social responsibility and complied often/always with guidelines. A trend towards moderate feeling of loneliness was observed; young women reported significantly higher levels of loneliness than men. Significantly more women created a new social media account, and used the social media for longer hours, compared with men. Humour, practicing sports and sharing thoughts and feelings about COVID-19 with others predicted lower levels of loneliness. Currently, Greece is going through the second COVID-19-related quarantine, which has no foreseeable end. This study raises awareness about loneliness in young adults, a negative emotional state that should not be overlooked during this novel public health crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic offers the opportunity to develop online programmes nurturing adaptive coping strategies to reduce loneliness in young adults.

A systematic review of questionnaires assessing the psychological impact of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a number of complications in everyday life, greatly affecting public health. Estimating its impact on mental health constitutes a priority issue. The current study aims to summarize the scales that have been specifically developed for this reason and are not adaptations of already existing scales. A comprehensive search was conducted by two reviewers during the period 28/09/2020-30/09-2020 in the following databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, ScieLo, Mendeley, Google Scholar. A quality appraisal of the identified scales was made by three reviewers using the COSMIN checklist for methodological issues and the Terwee criteria for measurement properties. Our search strategy yielded a total of 855 results. Of these, 832 articles were excluded according to exclusion criteria, 23 were assessed for eligibility and 10 were finally included. These are presented in the text with additional useful information found separately. The identified scales tended to be quite short and examine stress, anxiety or fear. All studies were cross-sectional and the majority was conducted online. Most of them had a good Cronbach value (> 0.80) and adequate fit indices. It is however noted that the evaluation of their quality may be untimely due to relevant lack of data.

The mediating role of fear of COVID-19 in the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and depression.

OBJECTIVES: Living during the COVID-19 pandemic is characterized by the emergence of great uncertainty surrounding multiple aspects of daily life. This study explored the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and depression, as well as the potential mediation effect of COVID-19-related fear. DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey from 10 April until 13 April 2020, three weeks after a national lockdown had been imposed in Greece. The convenience sample used in this study consisted of 2,827 adults. Participants voluntarily provided sociodemographic data and completed the following scales: the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS-12), the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), and the Brief Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Depression Scale. RESULTS: Participants appeared to be moderately depressed [M = 14.75, SD = 4.52]. There was a significant indirect effect of IU to depressive symptoms ((.058), CI (0.051-0.066)). FCV-19S was tested as a mediator in the relationship between IUS-12 (independent variable) and PHQ-9 (dependent variable). Partial mediation of fear of COVID-19 was supported ((.54) (.41) = 13, CI (0.051-0.066), Sobel z-value = 14.93). CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptomatology affected study participants at a moderate level. IU was shown to be a significant predictor of depressive symptomatology with higher levels of IU being associated with more severe depressive symptoms. Fear of COVID-19 partially mediated this association. The mediation effect may be explained by the uncertainty around COVID-19-related health issues, which are reflected in the FCV-19S and cause worry and/or anxiety. Uncertainty related with other factors, such as the impact on the economy and education, not assessed by the FCV-19S, may explain part of the relationship between IU and depressive symptoms that is not mediated by FCV-19S. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Intolerance of uncertainty is related to depressive symptomatology, and fear of COVID-19 explains part of the relation. Fear of COVID-19 indicates worry and anxiety related to health issues. Psychotherapeutic interventions enhancing individuals' capacity to endure uncertainty could be beneficial. Provision of simple and clear information by the authorities should be a priority issue.

Psychological and Behavioral Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece.

OBJECTIVE: Fear of COVID-19 was associated with more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms. This study aimed to explore COVID-19-related fear, depressive and anxiety symptoms, social responsibility, and behavioral responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 10 to April 13, 2020. Members of the Greek general population completed anonymously an online survey, distributed through the social media. Among the 3,700 adult respondents, 3,029 fulfilled inclusion criteria. The survey included sociodemographic questions, questions exploring potential risk factors for increased fear of COVID-19, questions about the employment of safety and checking behaviors, and questions about compliance with public health guidelines. In addition, four psychometric scales were used, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), the Brief Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) depression scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7), and Steele's Social Responsibility Motivation scale. Multivariate General Linear Models (GLM) were used to depict significant differences among dependent variables (FCV-19S, PHQ-9, GAD-7) and independent variables (potential risk factors, safety and checking behaviors, compliance with guidelines). The relationship between the FCV-19S total score and influencing factors was quantified by linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Several participants reported high levels of COVID-19-related fear (35.7%) and moderate to severe depressive symptoms (22.8%), while a significant proportion reported moderate to severe anxiety symptoms (77.4%). Women scored altogether significantly higher than men. Respondents under the age of 30 reported less fear and depressive symptoms and showed the least social responsibility. Based on GLM, a significant other's COVID-19 illness, being on psychiatric medication, employment of safety and checking behaviors, and compliance with guidelines were associated with higher COVID-19-related fear. Linear regression analysis revealed that gender, age, depressive, and anxiety symptoms modified levels of COVID-19-related fear. CONCLUSIONS: Greater behavioral responses to the pandemic, that is, excessive employment of safety/checking behaviors and greater compliance with guidelines, were shown to amplify fear, potentially due to increased contamination awareness. In addition, female gender, older age, and more severe anxiety symptoms were related with higher COVID-19-related fear. Describing and weighing carefully the psychosocial and behavioral impact of the pandemic will enable the implementation of both supportive and preventive interventions.

COVID-19: PTSD symptoms in Greek health care professionals.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the emergence of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in Greek health care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted via an online survey from April 10 until April 13, 2020. The survey included sociodemographic questions and the following psychometric tools: the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder-8 questionnaire, the Brief Patient Health Questionnaire Depression scale, the Athens Insomnia Scale, and 3 questions about negative perceptions of COVID-19. The survey was distributed through social media and comprises part of a larger survey targeting the general population. Altogether, 270 health care professionals responded to the survey. Results: Health care professionals appeared to be moderately stressed from the COVID-19 crisis, with women scoring higher on all clinical scales and the difference between women and men being statistically significant. Criteria for a probable posttraumatic stress disorder diagnosis were met by a total of 16.7% (21.7% of women; 5.1% of men). Negative emotion and threatened or physical tension are positive significant predictors of PTSS. Those suffering with higher levels of PTSS scored positively for insomnia and exhibited significantly higher peritraumatic distress. Conclusion: Health care professionals could benefit by being screened for PTSS and insomnia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Insomnia during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Greek population.

Insomnia is a major health issue associated with great psychological burden. Research of insomnia during a pandemic crisis is limited. The aim of the present study was to explore sleep difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Greek population. The three-day online survey included questions about sociodemographic characteristics, contact with COVID-19 and COVID-19-related negative attitudes, as well as the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), the Intolerance to Uncertainty scale (IUS), the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness scale (JGLS) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) Depression Scale. Altogether, 2,427 individuals participated in the study (with 2,363 of them providing all basic demographic data). Sleep problems were detected in 37.6% of the participants. Women and people in urban areas were more vulnerable to sleep problems, while younger age showed a non-significant trend. Those uncertain about having themselves, or someone close to them contracted the virus, also demonstrated elevated insomnia scores. Lastly, according to the regression analysis, higher levels of intolerance to uncertainty, COVID-19-related worry, loneliness, as well as more severe depressive symptoms, were all predictive of insomnia. Results may be used for the development of therapeutic strategies and implementation of social policies to support people with sleep difficulties.