Community resilience and anxiety among Chinese older adults during COVID-19: The moderating role of trust in local government

Resilience and Social Support Improve Mental Health and Quality of Life in Patients with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome

Physical and mental health problems among post-COVID-19 patients are common, even a year after infection. As there is no prior study available, we investigated the impacts of resilience and social support on anxiety, depression, and quality of life among patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome. We conducted a cross-sectional study with a convenience sample. The measures included the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients, the Brief Resilience Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), and the EuroQol-5D-3L. The mean age of patients was 44.8 years. The total PHQ-4 score suggested that 32.8% of patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome experienced severe psychological distress, 32.8% experienced moderate distress, 23% experienced mild distress, and 11.5% had no distress. Moreover, 60.7% of patients had anxiety scores of ≥3 and 69.7% had depression scores of ≥3, indicating possible major anxiety or depression disorder. The mean EQ-5D-3L index value was 0.36, and the mean EQ-5D-3L VAS was 54.1. Multivariable analysis identified that resilience and social support reduced anxiety and depression among patients. Also, we found a significant positive relationship between resilience and social support, and quality of life. Our findings suggest that resilience and social support can be protective by reducing anxiety and depression and improving quality of life among patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome. Policymakers should develop and implement healthcare management programs to provide psychological support to these patients.

Exposure to Violence in Social Unrest, Resilience, and Mental Health of Older People in Hong Kong

OBJECTIVE

Older adults are prone to the negative effects of exposure to violence on their mental health. This study aimed to examine the impact of exposure to violence during social unrest and the role of resilience in the mental health of older people.

DESIGN

A total of 1,203 people aged 65 years or older were randomly selected for a telephone survey using the random digit dialing numbering method in Hong Kong.

MEASUREMENTS

A 13-item scale was developed to measure exposure to violence. The Chinese versions of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the Startle, Physiological Arousal, Anger, and Numbness scales for measuring mental health status were adopted in the survey.

RESULTS

The results showed that the more frequently older people were exposed to information, the more negative mental health status they had. However, exposure to witnessing and experiencing violence was not significantly associated with mental health status. Older adults' level of resilience had a moderating effect between exposure to information and mental health, whereas the effect of exposure to information on mental health was stronger for respondents with lower resilience.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that emotional problems caused by exposure to related information among older people should be properly addressed during massive social unrest and conflict. Their resilience capacity is an important moderating factor. Future interventions and support services should focus on enhancing the resilience of older people to better equip them with overcoming problems related to macro-social issues.

Insights from China: understanding the impact of community resilience and government trust in psychological resilience and anxiety during COVID-19

Background

COVID-19 has the potential to greatly impact an individual mental well-being. However, an individual's psychological resilience, combined with support from their community and government disaster relief efforts can aid individuals in confronting crises with a positive mindset. The purpose of this study is to investigate how individuals, across three dimensions of individual resilience perception, community resilience perception, and government trust perception, mitigate individual anxiety during COVID-19.

Methods

This study employed an online survey method that was not restricted by geographical location. Data collection took place from January 2022 to June 2022, and the valid questionnaires covered all 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China. The assessment of community resilience was conducted employing the Conjoint Community Resilience Assessment Measure-10 (CCRAM-10). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was also used to examine the relationship between community resilience, government trust, individual psychological resilience, and anxiety.

Results

The SEM results reveal that individual psychological resilience is significantly negatively correlated with anxiety (b = -0.099, p < 0.001), while there is a significant positive correlation between community resilience perception (b = 0.403, p < 0.001) and government trust (b = 0.364, p < 0.001) with individual psychological resilience. Furthermore, government trust perception enhances psychological resilience, consequently reducing anxiety (b = -0.036, p < 0.001). The results also revealed that women and increasing age had a mitigating effect on individual anxiety during COVID-19.

Conclusion

Individual's mental state is influenced on multiple dimensions during COVID-19. Not only can individual psychological resilience better cope with anxiety, but support at the community and government dimensions has a significant impact on individual psychology. These resources can enhance the resilience of both individuals and communities, helping them better cope with stress and difficulties.

Navigating Uncertainty: Experiences of Older Adults in Wuhan during the 76-Day COVID-19 Lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the world. Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, underwent a 76-day lockdown. Research has indicated that the lockdown negatively impacted the quality of life of older individuals, but little is known about their specific experiences during the confinement period. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 20 elderly residents of Wuhan, aged 65 to 85, who experienced mandatory isolation throughout the pandemic. The interviews centered around three stages of experiences: the Early Lockdown stage (the first week of lockdown after the government implemented the lockdown policy in January 2020), Infection During Lockdown stage (from February to April 2020 when participants were affected by the lockdown), and the Post-Lockdown stage (after April 2020 when the government lifted the lockdown policy). We found that older adults experienced different core themes during each lockdown stage. In the Early Lockdown stage, they felt nervousness and fear while searching for information. During the Lockdown and Infection Stage, they relied on reciprocal support and adjusted to new lifestyles. In the Post-Lockdown stage, they expressed cautions, trust, and gratitude. The finding highlights the evolving emotions and coping strategies of older adults throughout the lockdown phases. This study has yielded valuable insights into the adaptations of behavior and the importance of social interactions, specifically emphasizing the significance of healthcare among the elderly population.

Intimate partner violence in the shadow of COVID-19 and its associations with stress, function and support among the Israeli general population

The current study aimed to explore the associations between intimate partner violence (IPV), psychological distress, health and financial concerns, function and support during the COVID-19 outbreak in Israel. Data were collected from 333 Israeli adults (50.8% men and 49.2% women) via an online survey during the third lockdown in Israel. Existing scales were adapted to measure psychological distress, function, and support. Chi-square tests, t-tests, Chi-square tests Z ratios, multiple regressions and a series of process models were employed to examine the research hypotheses. The main findings show that IPV, especially verbal violence, was directly associated with higher levels of distress and lower levels of functioning, a link that could be indirectly mitigated by health and financial concerns as well as lack of family and community support. In addition, low rates of physical violence, with no gender differences and with higher levels of verbal violence reported by women, were found. Finally, women reported higher levels of concerns and psychological distress and lower levels of functioning than men. The results might help identify the needs of families and couples in order to design counselling or training programs for stress and conflict reduction. In addition, the response to the pandemic cannot be a homogeneous response. Different assistive measures must be applied to various segments of the population and groups that are already at risk and, therefore, remain more vulnerable, with targeted assistance given to all of these different groups.

Exploring People's Perception of COVID-19 Risk: A Case Study of Greater Jakarta, Indonesia

This study aims to understand people's perceptions of COVID-19 risk in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indonesian government enacted a health protocol campaign and highlighted the community as an important unit of protocol compliance. We hypothesized that people's perception of the likelihood of being infected with COVID-19 is associated with health protocol compliance at the community level and their perception of community resilience. As the number of infected persons drastically increased, the "family cluster" also became a significant issue in the pandemic response, especially in Indonesia. In this study, we explored both community and family aspects that influence people's perceptions. We conducted an online survey in March 2021 with 370 respondents residing in the Greater Jakarta area. The respondents were classified into four age groups (20s, 30s, 40s, and 50-and-over), with gender-balanced samples allocated to each group. We used a questionnaire to measure the perception of COVID-19 risk along with the Conjoint Community Resiliency Assessment Measure (CCRAM). Multiple regression analysis revealed that family factors have a much larger influence on the individual perception of the likelihood of contracting COVID-19 than community factors. The results suggest that the link between family-level efforts against COVID-19 and individual-level perceptions cannot be separated in response to the pandemic.

How and when perceived COVID-19 crisis strength impacts individuals' life satisfaction and sleep quality: A moderated mediation model

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of deaths, seriously hampering people's lives and their productivity. Drawing on social information processing theory, this research developed a moderated mediation model to investigate the influence of perceived COVID-19 crisis strength on individuals' well-being. The results from a sample of 441 suggest that individuals' perceived COVID-19 crisis strength indirectly affects their life satisfaction and sleep quality via their perceived risk of being infected. Moreover, both individuals' trust in local government and mindfulness trait can buffer the positive effect of perceived COVID-19 crisis strength on their perceived risk of being infected. At the same time, they also buffer the indirect impact of individuals' perceived COVID-19 crisis strength on life satisfaction and sleep quality through perceived risk of being infected. This research provides several practical implications for governments and individuals to mitigate the negative influences of the COVID-19 pandemic and help individuals boost life satisfaction and sleep quality.

Key Influencing Factors and Optimization Strategy of Epidemic Resilience in Urban Communities-A Case Study of Nanjing, China

COVID-19 has posed a significantly severe impact on both people’s lives and the global economic development. Increasing the community epidemic resilience will considerably improve the national public health emergency response capacity from bottom to top. This study identifies the influencing factors of community epidemic resilience through systematic literature review under the 4R framework, then obtains the relationships of influencing factors through Interpretive structural model, and finally assesses the performance of epidemic resilience using PROMETHEE II method through empirical cases in Nanjing, China. The results show that: (1) Eight factors influencing the epidemic resilience of community are identified, and the economic level plays the root role; (2) Community epidemic resilience can be improved from robustness, rapidity, redundancy and resourcefulness aspects; (3) Through the empirical analysis, the epidemic resilience ranking of community can be displayed (Community D > T > S > F); (4) Additionally, the performance and sensitivity analysis of influencing factors in each community can be demonstrated. (5) Finally, four implications are proposed, namely, allocating public resources rationally, significantly increasing the economic level, ensuring the accuracy of information delivery and conducting disaster learning.

Between division and connection: a qualitative study of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on social relationships in the United Kingdom

Background: The first national COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom between March to July 2020 resulted in sudden and unprecedented disruptions to daily life. This study sought to understand the impact of COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as social distancing and quarantine, on people’s lived experiences, focusing on social connections and relationships. Methods: Data were generated through 20 in-depth online and telephone interviews, conducted between May and July 2020, and analysed using thematic analysis informed by an ecological framework. Results: Findings show that the use of NPIs impacted social relationships and sociality at every level, disrupting participant’s sense of self; relationships with their partners, household members, neighbours, and communities; and polarising social and political views. However, experiences of personal meaning-making and reflection, and greater social connectedness, solidarity, and compassion – despite physical distance – were also common. Conclusions: Participant’s lived experiences of the first UK lockdown underscore the interconnectedness of relationships at the individual, community and societal level and point towards the important role of trust, social cohesion, and connectedness in coping with pandemic stress and adversity. Where infectious disease prevention measures rupture sociality, support for social connection at every relational level is likely to help build resilience in light of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.