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Background: Exposure to early life stress (ELS) is alarmingly prevalent, and has been linked to the high rates of depression documented in adolescence. Researchers have theorized that ELS may increase adolescents’ vulnerability or reactivity to the effects of subsequent stressors, placing them at higher risk for developing symptoms of depression. Methods: We tested this formulation in a longitudinal study by assessing levels of stress and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of adolescents from the San Francisco Bay Area (N=100; 43 male; ages 13-20 years) who had been characterized 4-7 years earlier (M=5.27, SD=0.75 years) with respect to exposure to ELS and symptoms of depression. Results: As expected, severity of ELS predicted levels of depressive symptoms during the pandemic (r(98)=0.25, p=.012), which were higher in females than in males (t(98)=-3.36, p=.001). Importantly, the association between ELS and depression was mediated by adolescents’ reported levels of stress, even after controlling for demographic and other COVID-19-related variables. Conclusions: These findings underscore the importance of monitoring the mental health of vulnerable children and adolescents during this pandemic and targeting perceived stress and isolation in high-risk youth.

Early Life Stress Predicts Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress

With the COVID-19 outbreak, the population was suddenly forced to “stay at home”. Although research suggests that social isolation affects mental health, reactions may vary depending on individuals. This study aimed to identify personality profiles, and examine whether these profiles were associated with affective and cognitive outcomes. Participants filled in an online questionnaire during the lockdown in France (N = 430). Based on measures of individuals’ preference for solitude, extraversion, emotional stability and openness, a latent profile analysis revealed three profiles: “Affiliation”, “Emotionally Stable Lonely” and “Emotionally Unstable Lonely”. Results showed that individuals with an “Emotionally Unstable Lonely” profile expressed higher stress and anxiety, and performed better on a divergent creative thinking task. By contrast, those with an “Emotionally Stable Lonely” profile expressed a lower level of loneliness, and performed better on a convergent creative thinking task. These findings reveal the importance of personality profiles in psychological reactions during lockdowns.

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Stay at Home! When Personality Profiles Influence Psychological Adjustment and Creativity during the COVID-19 Outbreak

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Along with the Coronavirus pandemic, another crisis has manifested itself in the form of mass fear and panic phenomena, fueled by incomplete and often inaccurate information. There is therefore a tremendous need to address and better understand COVID-19's informational crisis and gauge public sentiment, so that appropriate messaging and policy decisions can be implemented. In this research article, we identify public sentiment associated with the pandemic using Coronavirus specific Tweets and R statistical software, along with its sentiment analysis packages. We demonstrate insights into the progress of fear-sentiment over time as COVID-19 approached peak levels in the United States, using descriptive textual analytics supported by necessary textual data visualizations. Furthermore, we provide a methodological overview of two essential machine learning (ML) classification methods, in the context of textual analytics, and compare their effectiveness in classifying Coronavirus Tweets of varying lengths. We observe a strong classification accuracy of 91\% for short Tweets, with the Na\"ive Bayes method. We also observe that the logistic regression classification method provides a reasonable accuracy of 74\% with shorter Tweets, and both methods showed relatively weaker performance for longer Tweets. This research provides insights into Coronavirus fear sentiment progression, and outlines associated methods, implications, limitations and opportunities

COVID-19 Public Sentiment Insights and Machine Learning for Tweets Classification

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The Coronavirus pandemic has created complex challenges and adverse circumstances. This research identifies public sentiment amidst problematic socioeconomic consequences of the lockdown, and explores ensuing four potential sentiment associated scenarios. The severity and brutality of COVID-19 have led to the development of extreme feelings, and emotional and mental healthcare challenges. This research focuses on emotional consequences - the presence of extreme fear, confusion and volatile sentiments, mixed along with trust and anticipation. It is necessary to gauge dominant public sentiment trends for effective decisions and policies. This study analyzes public sentiment using Twitter Data, time-aligned to the COVID-19 reopening debate, to identify dominant sentiment trends associated with the push to 'reopen' the economy. Present research uses textual analytics methodologies to analyze public sentiment support for two potential divergent scenarios - an early opening and a delayed opening, and consequences of each. Present research concludes on the basis of exploratory textual analytics and textual data visualization, that Tweets data from American Twitter users shows more positive sentiment support, than negative, for reopening the US economy. This research develops a novel sentiment polarity based four scenarios framework, which will remain useful for future crisis analysis, well beyond COVID-19. With additional validation, this research stream could present valuable time sensitive opportunities for state governments, the federal government, corporations and societal leaders to guide local and regional communities, and the nation into a successful new normal future.

Feeling Positive About Reopening? New Normal Scenarios from COVID-19 Reopen Sentiment Analytics

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We integrate insights from cross-cultural research with inquiry in social psychology to develop a theoretically grounded and culturally derived explanation of the cross-national variance in COVID-19 infections. Specifically, we draw on Hofstede's (1984) and Schwartz' (1999) cultural value frameworks to elucidate how dimensions resulting from these explain differences in individual’s behavior in response to social distancing and social restriction guidelines, thereby mitigating the infection rate of COVID-19 cross-nationally. Our analysis, based on cross-national data, and after controlling for differences in government effectiveness, GDP per capita and population density, suggest that while individualism, indulgence, autonomy, and egalitarianism positively predicted COVID-19 cases across nations, power distance negatively predicted the number of COVID-19 cases cross nationally.

COVID-19 A Cultural Analysis to Understand Variance in Infection Rate across Nations

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The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the everyday life of many individuals across the globe. The school closures across the majority of the United States have presented administrators, educators, and behavior analysts with the unprecedented task of deciding how best to teach and support our students, especially those accessing special education services. The current paper describes the steps our program took, in light of school closures, to advocate for and ultimately create and implement a model that allows special education students to access the behavior analytic educational supports they had received on campus (e.g., BCBA and paraprofessional support) in a novel and remote manner. We share details regarding the advocacy and collaboration process as well as the distance special education support model itself in hopes that similar processes and models can be implemented across geographical locations to assist special education students in accessing their educational and behavioral supports in a meaningful way throughout current and future school closures.

A Model of Distance Special Education Support Services Amidst COVID-19

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Background. Earlier reports have shown that anxiety over the novel coronavirus may predict mental functioning during the pandemic. The objective of this study was to assess the links between persistent thinking about COVID-19, anxiety over SARS-CoV-2 and trauma effects. For the purpose of this study, the Polish adaptation of the Obsession with COVID-19 Scale (OCS) was implemented. Participants and procedure. The study involved 356 individuals aged 18–78 (58% females). In addition to OCS, the participants completed the following questionnaires: the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale and the Short Form of the Changes in Outlook Questionnaire. Results. OCS was characterized by satisfactory psychometric properties (α = .82). Regression analysis indicated that persistent thinking about COVID-19 was associated with increased coronavirus anxiety and negative trauma effects. In addition, anxiety served as a partial mediator in the link between persistent thinking about COVID-19 and negative trauma effects. Conclusions. The data obtained suggest that persistent thinking about the pandemic may be dysfunctional for mental health during the spread of the infectious disease.

Thinking Too Much About the Novel Coronavirus. The Link Between Persistent Thinking About COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 Anxiety and Trauma Effects

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In absence of effective pharmaceutical treatments, the individual’s compliance with a series of behavioral recommendations provided by the public health authorities play a critical role in the control and prevention of SARS-CoV2 infection. However, we still do not know much about the rate and determinants of adoption of the recommended health behaviors. This paper examines the compliance with the main behavioral recommendations, and compares sociocultural, psychosocial and social cognitive explanations for its variation in the French population. Based on the current literature, these 3 categories of factors were identified as potential determinants of individual differences in the health preventive behaviors. The data used for these analyses are drawn from 2 cross-sectional studies (N ≥ 2,000) conducted after the lockdown and before the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic in France. The participants were drawn from a larger internet consumer panel where recruitment was stratified to generate a socio-demographically representative sample of the French adult population. Overall, the results show a very high rate of compliance with the behavioral recommendations among the participants. A series of linear regression analyses were then performed to assess the potential explanatory power of these approaches in complying with these recommendations by successively including sociocultural factors, psychosocial factors, social cognitive factors, and then all factors, in the model. Only the inclusion of the cognitive variables substantially increased the explained variance of the self-reported adoption of preventive behaviors, providing better support for the social cognitive than the sociocultural and psychosocial explanations.

Determinants of preventive behaviors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in France: comparing the sociocultural, psychosocial and social cognitive explanations.

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Objectives. This research examined how conspiracy mentality may affect compliance with preventive health measures necessary to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, and the underlying motivations to comply. Design and Method. We conducted two cross-sectional studies (Study 1 N = 762, Study 2 N = 229) on a French population, measuring conspiracy mentality, compliance with preventive health measures, and perceived risks related to COVID-19. We also measured motivations to comply with preventive measures in Study 2. Results. We show that people high in conspiracy mentality are likely to engage in non-normative prevention behaviours (Study 1), but are less willing to comply with extreme preventive behaviours that are government-driven (Study 2). However, we demonstrate that a perceived risk to oneself (risk of death) and a motivation to protect oneself can act as a suppressor: conspiracy mentality is linked with an increase in the perception of risk to oneself, which in turn, is associated with normative compliance. We also find that perceived risk of death explains the relationship between conspiracy mentality and non-normative prevention behaviours. Conclusions. Our studies showcase how people high in conspiracy theorizing may (dis)engage with prevention behaviours, but that perceived risk and motivation to protect oneself could increase these individuals’ compliance.

Looking out for Myself: Exploring the Relationship Between Conspiracy Mentality, Perceived Personal Risk and COVID-19 Prevention Measures

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The COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study was designed and implemented as a rapid survey of the psychosocial impacts of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), known as COVID-19 in residents across the United Kingdom. This study utilised a longitudinal design to collect online survey based data. The aim of this paper was to, describe (1) the rationale behind the study and the corresponding selection of constructs to be assessed; (2) the study design and methodology; (3) the resultant sociodemographic characteristics of the full sample (4) how the baseline survey data compares to the UK adult population (using data from the Census) on a variety of sociodemographic variables; (5) the ongoing efforts for weekly and monthly longitudinal assessments of the baseline cohort and (6) outline future research directions. We believe the study is in a unique position to make a significant contribution to the growing body of literature to help understand the psychological impact of this pandemic and inform future clinical and research directions that the UK will implement in response to COVID19.

Understanding the longitudinal psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom; a methodological overview of The COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study

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In this commentary, I argue that the mental health impact of COVID-19 will show substantial variation across individuals, contexts, and time. Further, one key contributor to this variation will be the proximal and long-term impact of COVID-19 on the social environment. In addition to the mental health costs of the pandemic, it is likely that a subset of people will experience improved social and mental health functioning.

Heterogeneous Mental Health Consequences of COVID-19: Costs and Benefits

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The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a pandemic affecting health and wellbeing globally. In addition to the physical health, economic, and social implications, the psychological impacts of this pandemic are increasingly being reported in the scientific literature. This narrative review reflected on scholarly articles on the epidemiology of mental health problems in COVID-19. The current literature suggests that people affected by COVID-19 may have a high burden of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety disorders, stress, panic attack, irrational anger, impulsivity, somatization disorder, sleep disorders, emotional disturbance, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and suicidal behavior. Moreover, several factors associated with mental health problems in COVID-19 are found, which include age, gender, marital status, education, occupation, income, place of living, close contact with people with COVID-19, comorbid physical and mental health problems, exposure to COVID-19 related news and social media, coping styles, stigma, psychosocial support, health communication, confidence in health services, personal protective measures, risk of contracting COVID-19, and perceived likelihood of survival. Furthermore, the epidemiological distribution of mental health problems and associated factors were heterogeneous among the general public, COVID-19 patients, and healthcare providers. The current evidence suggests that a psychiatric epidemic is cooccurring with the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitates the attention of the global health community. Future epidemiological studies should emphasize on psychopathological variations and temporality of mental health problems in different populations. Nonetheless, multipronged interventions should be developed and adopted to address the existing psychosocial challenges and promote mental health amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Epidemiology of mental health problems in COVID-19: a review

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The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health crisis. Many governments around the world have responded by implementing lockdown measures of different degrees of intensity. To be effective, such measures must rely on citizens’ compliance and collaboration. In the present study (N = 1896), we examined predictors of compliance with social distancing norms, and intentions to disclose the disease to authorities and acquaintances/friends, in the US, Italy and South Korea. We investigated the role of cultural orientations of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism, trust in the government’s action, and self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt related to the disease. Across countries, vertical collectivism predicted stronger shame whereas horizontal collectivism predicted stronger trust in the government’s action. Only in the US, vertical collectivism was associated with stronger trust. Subsequently, shame predicted lower compliance and intentions to disclose the disease, guilt was associated with stronger intentions to disclose the disease to the authorities, and trust was associated with stronger compliance and intentions to disclose the disease to authorities. Unlike Italy and South Korea, the association between trust on compliance was not statistically significant in the US, Implications of the findings, and directions for future research are discussed.

Explaining Compliance with Social Distancing Norms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Roles of Cultural Orientations, Trust and Self-Conscious Emotions in the US, Italy, and South Korea

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In 2019, the environment began to rival the economy among priority issues for the UK public. The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to shift this balance in either direction, because the crisis is not only causing serious economic damage but is also highlighting the usefulness of expert warnings. The current work examines the current balance between public prioritisation of environment and economy in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. A YouGov-recruited nationally representative sample of 1654 UK adults were presented with two political speeches, one linking COVID-19 to climate and prioritising environment as part of planned economic recovery, and another speech separating the issues and stating that environmental prioritisation is now unaffordable. Most participants (62%) were positive towards the environmental prioritisation speech, and it was more popular than the other speech. The same results were even found in Conservative voters. Preferring the environmental prioritisation speech was associated with more education but not with socioeconomic status (using social grade as an indicator). Voting history and socioeconomic status were therefore less predictive of speech preference than expected based on previous research. Together, these results suggest that understanding of potential impacts on individual well-being is becoming a more important motivator of environmental concern in the UK. These findings suggest that foregrounding environmental concerns is politically realistic in post-COVID-19 economic policy, consistent with suggestions from economists and environmental scientists that an environmental focus is feasible and necessary.

Even Conservative voters prefer the environment to be at the heart of post-COVID-19 economic reconstruction in the UK

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Background: COVID-19 is imposing threat both on physical and mental health since its outbreak. Bangladesh adopted lockdown strategy with potential consequences on day to day life, mental and physical health and this study aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and wellbeing among Bangladeshi students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between 9th and 23th April 2020 among 505 college and university students. Data was collected by using online questionnaire including DASS 21 and IES. Descriptive analysis and bivariate linear regression were performed to examine the association of variables. Results: 28.5 % of the respondents had stress, 33.3% anxiety, 46.92% depression from mild to extremely severe, according to DASS 21 and 69.31% had event-specific distress from mild to severe in terms of severity according to IES. Perceiving physical symptoms as COVID-19 was significantly associated with DASS stress subscale (B=3.71, 95% CI: 1.01 to 6.40), DASS anxiety subscale (B= 3.95, 95% CI: 1.95 to 5.96), DASS depression subscale (B=3.82, 95% CI: 0.97 to 6.67) and IES scale (B=7.52, 95% CI: 3.58 to 11.45). Additionally, fear of infection, financial uncertainty, inadequate food supply, absence of physical exercise and limited or no recreational activity had significant association with stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic symptoms. Conclusion: This COVID-19 outbreak imposes psychological consequences on people to a great extent which requires attention from the concerned authorities to cope with this situation mentally. The perception about the outbreak can also play a big role in psychological impact.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health & wellbeing among home-quarantined Bangladeshi students: A cross-sectional pilot study

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Many novel diseases are of zoonotic origin, likely including COVID-19. Describing diseases as originating from diverse exotic animals can increase risk perceptions and protective avoidance behaviors, but may also activate stereotypes, increasing discriminatory behaviors and disease stigma. Data from the first several weeks of the US COVID-19 pandemic tested how communications about zoonotic disease origins affect people’s risk perceptions, health behaviors, and stigma. Participants (N = 677) who read news articles describing exotic animals (e.g., snakes) as sources of COVID-19 viewed the virus as riskier and reported stronger intentions to engage in preventative behaviors (e.g., handwashing), relative to those who read about a familiar source (pigs). Reading exotic origin descriptions was associated with stronger intentions to avoid Asian individuals and animal products, both of which contributed to greater stigma for COVID-19. Results have implications for public health communicators who aim to increase risk perceptions without activating stigma or prejudice.

The double bind of communicating about zoonotic origins: Describing exotic animal sources of COVID-19 increases both healthy and discriminatory avoidance behaviors

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The worldwide population prevalence of autism is about 1%. The current panorama that we are experiencing with the COVID-19 pandemic, makes it difficult for many people to understand and assimilate everything what is happening. In persons with autism, this difficulty can become extreme, both in children and adults. However, there are some

Child and Adult Autism Spectrum Disorder in COVID-19 Pandemic

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Background: The World Health Organization declared the Corona Virus Disease 19 (Covid-19) a pandemic in March 2020. Psychological impact of Covid-19 can be consisent and should be prevented with adequate measures. Methods: We performed a literature mini review searching for studies in PubMed focusing on the psychological/psychiatric impact of Covid-19. Results: The selection process yielded 34 papers focusing on the relation between Covid-19 and mental health: 9 correspondence, 8 letters to the editor, 7 commentaries, 3 editorials, 4 original studies, 2 brief reports, and 1 a rapid review. The majority of the articles were performed in China. They focused on the general population and particular categories considered more fragile, e.g., psychiatric patients, older adults, international migrant workers, homeless people. Authors are unanimous in believing that Covid-19 will likely increase the risk of mental health problems and worsen existing psychiatric disorders/symptoms in patients, exposed subjects, and staff. Together with the negative emotionality related to the unpredictability of the situation, uncertainty concerning the risk, excessive fear, fear of death, loneliness, guilt, stigma, denial, anger, frustration, boredome, some symptoms might appear such as insomnia until patophobia (specifically, coronaphobia), depressive and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal risk. Limitations: Literature is rapidly increasing and present results are only partial. Conclusions: Mental health care should not be overlooked in this moment. The experience of China should be of help for all the countries facing with Covid-19, among them Italy.

Psychological/psychiatric impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak: lessons learnt from China and call for timely crisis interventions in Italy

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OBJECTIVE: To explore public attitudes to the proposed COVID-19 contact tracing app in the United Kingdom. DESIGN: Qualitative study consisting of five focus groups carried out between 1st-4th May, 2020 (39-42 days after the official start of the UK lockdown). SETTING: Online video-conferencing PARTICIPANTS: 22 participants, all UK residents aged 18 years and older, representing a range of different genders, ages, ethnicities and locations. RESULTS: Participants were split roughly equally in number across three groups: will use the app; will not be using the app; and undecided as to whether they will use the app. Analysis revealed five main themes: (1) Lack of information and misconceptions surrounding COVID-19 contact tracing apps; (2) concerns over privacy; (3) concerns over stigma; (4) concerns over uptake; and (5) contact tracing as the ‘greater good’. These themes were found across the sample and the three groups. However, concerns over privacy, uptake and stigma were particularly significant amongst those state they will not be using the app and the view that the app is for the “greater good” was particularly significant amongst those who stated they will be using the app. One of the most common misconceptions about the app was that it could allow users to specifically identify and map COVID-19 cases amongst their contacts and in their vicinity. CONCLUSIONS: We offer four recommendations: (1) To offset the fact that many people may not be accessing, or might be avoiding, news coverage on COVID-19, authorities must communicate to the public via a range of methods including but not limited to: social media ads, postal information, text messaging and other emergency alert systems. (2) Communications should emphasise that the app cannot enable the user to identify which of their contacts has reported COVID-19 symptoms or tested positive. (3) Communication should emphasise collective responsibility (‘the greater good’) to promote social norms around use of the app (4) Communication should provide a slogan that maximises clarity of message, for example: ‘Download the app, protect the NHS, save lives’. See less

Public attitudes towards COVID-19 contact tracing apps: a UK-based focus group study

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COVID-19 has emerged as one of the deadliest and most disruptive global pandemics in recent human history. Drawing from political science and psychological theory, we examine the effects of daily confirmed cases in a country on citizens’ support for the nation’s leader through first 120 days of 2020. Using two unique datasets which comprises daily

The Rise of COVID-19 is Associated with Support for World Leaders

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Background: Due to the global spread of COVID-19, oncology departments across the world rapidly adapted their cancer care protocols, balancing the risk of delaying cancer treatments and risk of COVID-19 exposure. Little attention was given to the psychological impact of COVID-19 and associated changes on cancer patients. We wanted to understand

What was the impact of COVID-19 on Adolescent and Young Adult cancer care and their wellbeing? Results from a cross-sectional online survey conducted in the early stages of the pandemic

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Reports to date have shown that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may have a negative impact on individuals’ mental health. The purpose of this study was to assess the relation between ego-resiliency, social support, coronavirus anxiety and trauma effects. The study employed the Polish adaptation of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale

The Link Between Ego-resiliency, Social Support, SARS-CoV-2 Anxiety and Trauma Effects. Polish Adaptation of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale

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Sharing of misinformation can be catastrophic, especially during times of national importance. Typically studied in political context, sharing of fake news has been positively linked with conservative political ideology. However, such sweeping generalizations run the risk of increasing already rampant political polarization. We offer a more nuanced account by proposing that sharing of fake news is largely driven by low conscientious conservatives. At high levels of conscientiousness there is no difference between liberals and conservatives. Using Covid-19 as a backdrop, we find support for our hypotheses across six studies (five pre-registered; one conceptual replication), with 3,195 participants and 73,108 unique participant-news observations. We find desire for chaos as the psychological mechanism driving the effect. Furthermore, fact-checker interventions were inadequate to deter the spread of fake news. This underscores the challenges associated with tackling fake news, especially during a crisis like Covid-19 where misinformation threatens to exacerbate the pandemic even further.

Of Pandemics, Politics, and Personality: The Role of Conscientiousness and Political Ideology in Sharing of Fake News

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Across multiple experiments, we found that Americans misestimated the growth of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and that these estimates were in turn related to people’s forecasts of the duration of social distancing orders, and their own future adherence to these orders. We also investigated how mode of data presentation influences forecasting of

How well do ordinary Americans forecast the growth of COVID-19?

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There is scant evidence on the psychological impact of national quarantine and its psychosocial predictors. This research aimed at investigating the psychological impact of national quarantine in Italy, and the psychosocial factors that are supposed to influence this impact. A convenient sample of 1569 people living in Italy responded to an online

Mental Health and Its Psychosocial Predictors during National Quarantine in Italy against the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19)

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Social norms can be an effective way to promote public health and encourage healthy behaviors among individuals. The global COVID-19 pandemic has prompted health officials to call for new behavioral norms to help prevent the disease’s spread, for example “social distancing” measures. Yet whether people actually intend to engage in these behaviors

Intentions to comply with COVID-19 preventive behaviors are associated with personal beliefs, independent of perceived social norms

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Trait research on health has primarily focused on chronic diseases, and those findings may not generalize to acute infectious diseases. In the current study, I analyze the correlations between personality traits and attitudes toward COVID-19. Data were collected at the onset of the U.S. epidemic, when COVID-19 was salient to the public.

HEXACO Traits, Big Five Traits, and COVID-19

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In the frontline of the pandemic stand healthcare workers and public service providers, occupations which have proven to be associated with increased mental health problems during pandemic crises. The objective of current study was to determine the level and predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression symptoms among

Level and Predictors of PTSD Symptoms Among Health Workers and Public Service Providers During the COVID-19 Outbreak

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Resilient ethics and ethics of resilience are introduced as aspects relevant for disaster management. In this view, this short communication highlights both the aspects of ethics and resilience, and the human cognitive biases that lead to unexpected behaviors in a context such as that of the current Covid-19 pandemic. The role of educative

Contributing to Disaster Management as an Individual Member of a Collectivity: Resilient Ethics and Ethics of Resilience

In the coronavirus “infodemic”, people are exposed to both official recommendations and to potentially dangerous pseudoscientific advice claimed to protect against COVID-19. We examined whether irrational beliefs predict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines as well as susceptibility to such misinformation. Irrational beliefs were indexed by cognitive

Irrational beliefs differentially predict adherence to guidelines and pseudoscientific practices during the COVID-19 pandemic

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Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services have been provided primarily in the fields of healthcare and education across various settings using in-person service delivery model. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the necessity of and demand for ABA services using telehealth have increased. The purpose of the present paper was to cross-examine the ethical

Comparison of Telehealth Related Ethics and Guidelines and a Checklist for Ethical Decision-making in Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic

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COVID-19 has imposed mandatory lockdowns in many countries including India. However, since the lockdown has been imposed, attention is being focused on its economic repercussions and on providing food and shelter to poor and migrants. But the pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities and created challenges at other fronts too. More specifically,

COVID-19, LOCKDOWN AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN HOMES

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Manning and Fink (2020) report that country level mean 2D:4D is associated with COVID-19 case fatality ratio and percentage of male deaths. We discuss here a range of methodological and statistical issues with Manning and Fink's work that offer a different interpretation of their claims. See more

Misunderstanding COVID-19 and digit ratio: Methodological and statistical issues in Manning and Fink (2020)

COVID -19 epidemic can be associated with variety of anxious responses and safety behaviors. Present research explored the psychological implications associated with covid-19 during the outbreak in 2020 till date. Pakistani media has given particular attention to this outbreak in the region. Three hundred and forty-seven undergraduate university

PSYCHOLOGICAL PREDICTORS OF ANXIETY IN RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: EVIDENCE FROM PAKISTAN

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Attitudes toward COVID-19 among Young Adults: Role of Psychological Distress

Young adults’ attitudes toward COVID-19 are vital for their adherence to control measures taken by the government to break the chain of contamination. This study aims to measure differences in attitudes to this pandemic across various demographic groups of young adults living inside and outside of Dhaka. The predictors of optimistic attitudes toward COVID-19 also have been investigated. The study is cross-sectional in nature using data from the members of Secondary and Intermediate Level Students’ Welfare Association (SILSWA). Participants (n = 700) self-reported their attitudes toward controlling and defeating the pandemic. ANOVA and a two-sample t-test were utilized to find the differences in the mean attitude across demographic groups. Predictors of attitudes toward COVID-19 were searched using multivariate logistic regression. Psychologically distressed participants showed more negative attitudes toward winning over COVID-19 than participants with good mental health both inside and outside of Dhaka. Participants inhabiting in Dhaka demonstrated less optimism for controlling and beating the pandemic. Less psychological distress [AOR=0.51; 95 per cent CI: 0.35, 0.76; p=0.001] found to be the significant predictors of an optimistic attitude of young adults. Dissemination of précised and accurate information regarding COVID-19 coupled with mental health intervention based on necessity can improve the attitudes of young adults.

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Most countries have implemented nationwide lockdown policies aimed to decelerate the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Epidemiologists have recently discussed scenarios according to which these policies would need to be extended and/or intensified. To illuminate how the general public might react to such scenarios, we assessed Germans’ endorsement of and compliance with five specific scenarios. Results show that, in general, length of lockdown plays a more important role than intensity. Although half of the respondents reject any further extensions or intensifications, 20% would endorse long-term strategies if necessary. Simulations predicting the effects of different lockdown scenarios should take the public’s endorsement of and compliance with these scenarios into account.

Public Acceptance of Potential Covid-19 Lockdown Scenarios

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The COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study aims to assess and monitor the psychological and social impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the general population, using longitudinal surveys and mixed-methods studies in multiple countries. The first strand of the study, an internet-based panel survey, was launched in the UK in March 2020 during the earliest stages of the pandemic in that country (hereafter referred to as C19PRC-UKW1). This paper describes (1) the development, design and content for C19PRC-UKW1, which was informed by the extant evidence base on the psychosocial impact of previous global outbreaks of similar severe acute respiratory syndromes (e.g. SARS, H1N1, MERS); (2) the specific socio-economic and political context of the C19PRC-UKW1; (3) the recruitment of a large sample of UK adults aged 18 years and older (n=2025) via an internet-based panel survey; (4) the representativeness of the C19PRC-UKW1 sample compared to the UK adult population in terms of important sociodemographic characteristics (e.g. age, sex, household income, etc.); and (5) future plans for C19PRC Study including follow-up survey waves in the UK, supplementary non-survey based study strands linking from the C19PRC-UKW1 and the roll-out of the study to other countries.

Monitoring the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the general population: an overview of the context, design and conduct of the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study

Pisano, L., Galimi, D., & Cerniglia, L. (2020, April 13). A qualitative report on exploratory data on the possible emotional/behavioral correlates of Covid-19 lockdown in 4-10 years children in Italy. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/stwbn

This preliminary, exploratory and qualitative report aimed at at raising public debate on the topic of psychological consequences of Covid-19 lockdown in children. Results are exploratory and conclusions are speculative and must be confirmed through further rigorous studies. Our preliminary data suggests that during the first month of quarantine, the pandemic had an important effect on children's emotions and behavior. One in four children (26.48%) showed the regressive symptom of the demand for physical proximity to their parents during the night and almost one in five (18.17%) manifested fears that they never had before. Half of the children (53.53%) showed increased irritability, intolerance to rules, whims and excessive demands, and one in five presented mood changes (21.17%) and sleep problems including difficulty falling asleep, agitation, and frequent waking up (19.99%). One in three (34.26%) displayed nervousness about the topic of pandemic when it was mentioned at home or on TV. Almost one in three (31.38%) seemed calmer and one in two (49.57%) seemed wiser and more thoughtful. Almost all (92.57%) seemed able to adapt to the pandemic restrictions; even though one in two (43.26%) seemed more listless to the activities they were used to perform before the pandemic including playing, studying, and gaming.

A qualitative report on exploratory data on the possible emotional/behavioral correlates of Covid-19 lockdown in 4-10 years children in Italy.

10.31234/osf.io/gdhkt

Mental health problems are common in pregnancy, typically affecting between 10-25% of pregnant individuals. Elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety can negatively impact both the pregnant individual and developing fetus. The current COVID-19 pandemic is a unique stressor with potentially wide-ranging consequences for pregnancy and beyond. We assessed symptoms of anxiety and depression among pregnant individuals during the current COVID-19 pandemic and determined factors that were associated with psychological distress. 1987 pregnant participants were surveyed across Canada in April 2020. The assessment included questions about COVID-19-related stress and standardized measures of depression, anxiety, pregnancy-related anxiety, sleep and social support. We found substantially elevated psychological distress compared to similar pre-pandemic pregnancy cohorts, with 37% reporting clinically relevant symptoms of depression, 57% reporting clinically relevant symptoms of anxiety, and 68% reporting elevated pregnancy-related anxiety. Higher levels of social support and longer sleep duration were associated with lower psychological symptoms across domains. This study shows concerningly elevated levels of psychological distress among pregnant individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic, that may have long-term impacts on their children. Potential intervention targets are needed in addition to improving protective factors related to increased social support and sleep -- these should be urgently considered to mitigate long-term negative outcomes

Elevated depression and anxiety among pregnant individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract This report presents a rapid review of the evidence on reflective practice in crisis situations. In the light of the current Covid-19 pandemic we asked the question “What lessons can we learn about the value of reflective practice that may be of service to our health professionals on the front line”. A search of Scopus (with no date restrictions was made. A total of 56 papers were identified. After review of titles and abstract 34 papers were rejected as not being relevant. The remaining 22 papers were reviewed and their findings synthesised. Most of the papers (n=9) were reflections on relevant experiences. Five were commentaries, six reported the findings from qualitative studies and two reported findings from cross sectional surveys. The findings and recommendations can be presented in terms of strategies that can be employed when preparing for a crisis, when in the midst of a crisis and following conclusion of a crisis. There are two key recommendations identified from the review: 1. There are things we can do now: The importance right now of ensuring that staff have both time and a safe space in which they can reflect on their experiences either with fellow staff or via peer- facilitated reflections. That way those staff who wish to, could be supported to reflect on and process their after a difficult shift. 2. There are things we can think about in the mid to longer term: the importance of organisations learning from the pandemic. Post pandemic, perhaps developing simulations, but also formally engaging in structured reflective practice to ensure practical skills are honed and lessons learned and b) paying attention to the organisational culture and ensuring that reflective practice is embedded as ‘business as usual’ Underpinning these two points are a range of issues organisations should bear in mind. These include: • Supportive and encouraging organisational culture that recognises the importance of embedding reflective practice in everyday work • Leaders should themselves be involved in the process of reflection as participants • Staff need time and space to reflect on their experiences

Brown, M., & Sacco, D. F. (2020, May 6). Testing the Motivational Tradeoffs in Pathogen Avoidance and Status Acquisition. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/y8ct6

10.31234/osf.io/y8ct6

In the service of reducing disease transmission through interpersonal contact, humans have evolved a behavioral immune system that facilitates identification and avoidance of environmental pathogens. One behavioral strategy in response to pathogenic threat is the adoption of interpersonal reticence. However, reticence may impede status acquisition, a process that necessarily fosters distinctiveness from the rest of the group that affords increased access to resources. The current program of research tested whether activation of pathogen-avoidant motives through priming fosters reticence related to status, namely disinterest in pursuing a group leadership position (Study 1) or disinterest in accepting a group leadership position when led to believe one has been selected by others (Study 2). Results indicated that those high in germ aversion were particularly interested in pursuing leadership as a form of status, with disease salience unexpectedly heightening status motives among those low in germ aversion. Furthermore, those high in perceived infectability reported reluctance in accepting high-status positions, although disease salience heightened interest in accepting a leadership role. We contextualize these findings by identifying the dispositional and situational factors that foster individuals to invoke a motivational tradeoff between status and pathogen-avoidant motives.