"What I thought was so important isn't really that important": international perspectives on making meaning during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Adolescents' meaning making of salient emotional experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

INTRODUCTION

This mixed-method longitudinal study examined American adolescents' meaning making of salient COVID-19 pandemic events.

METHOD

Within phone interviews, adolescents (N = 124, Mage = 15.76 years; 46% Latine) narrated their most emotionally impactful pandemic experience at two time points ~30 days apart between July 2020 and March 2021. Narratives were coded for (1) content (i.e., event-type, relation to the pandemic, and the valence of the event [positive or negative]), (2) linguistic markers of subjective event processing (internal state language such as positive emotion, negative emotion, and cognition words), (3) narrative meaning-making, and (4) the outcome of adolescents' meaning-making (i.e., their "meanings made").

RESULTS

About 30% of adolescents spontaneously made meaning of their experience. Negative emotion words within narratives at time 1 positively predicted meaning making at time 2. Meaning making at time 1 predicted increased use of cognition words at time 2. Meaning making themes included: recognizing the threat of COVID-19, coping with a pandemic, and shifts in perspectives.

DISCUSSION

Salient emotional experiences that occur during adolescence are likely to be remembered and contribute to one's life story. This work provides a window into how the COVID-19 pandemic may have shaped adolescent development in the United States.

The pandemic body: the lived body during the COVID-19 pandemic

In this study, we conduct a detailed analysis of qualitative survey data focusing on adult populations in the UK, Japan and Mexico to address the following question: How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed people's lived experience of their bodies, other people's bodies and the world? We identify five themes: (i) fear and danger, (ii) bodily doubt and hypervigilance, (iii) risk and trust, (iv) adapting and enduring and (v) changes in perspective. We use two theoretical frameworks: first, Mary Douglas' anthropological work on purity, risk, danger and symbolism is applied to understand how social and cultural meanings attached to the body have changed during the pandemic. Second, we use the concept of bodily doubt developed by Havi Carel to interpret how people experience their bodies and other people's bodies differently during the pandemic. While we recognise the significant variation in people's embodied experience of the pandemic, our findings suggest there are commonalities that span different countries and cultures. Specifically, we look at responses to COVID-19 protective countermeasures such as national lockdowns and physical distancing which we suggest have reduced people's ability to put faith in their own bodies, trust other people and trust the political leadership. We conclude by proposing that the changes to our lived experience during the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted changes in perspective and a renewed focus on what people consider important in life from a social, moral, cultural and political point of view.

Between the personal and the political: life experiences during the covid-19 pandemic in Tucumán, Argentina, 2020-2022

This article analyzes feelings, experiences, practices, and actions that underlie the meanings attributed to the covid-19 pandemic. Based on a case study located in the province of Tucumán (Argentina), a mixed-methods investigation was developed, interested in capturing life experiences. Discourse analysis show the resignification of life itself, the valorization of close ties, community social capital, the State and politics. From the personal to the political, the interpretive frames people use to signify life experiences during the covid-19 pandemic exhibit differentiated feelings, experiences, practices, and actions.

'Tipping the balance' - an evaluation of COVID-19 parenting resources developed and adapted for child protection during global emergency responses

Background: Parenting was severely affected by lockdown, school closure, illness, movement restrictions and the many sudden changes wrought by the global emergence of COVID-19. Responding to the need for a rapid emergency response to support parents and caregivers, a consortium of providers developed a suite of COVID-19 parenting resources based on evidence-based parenting interventions. Launched in March 2020, these were adapted for online use, with versions in over 100 languages, and the possibility for downloading, radio, and oral provision. A rapid qualitative evaluation initiative was conducted from September 2020 to February 2021 to inform the procedure, understand the impact and to drive future provision. Methods: The evaluation collected openended responses surveys (n = 495 participants) and in-depth interviews with parents, providers, and adolescent children (n = 22) from 14 countries and one global source. Data were gathered on parenting challenges during COVID-19 and the utility of the COVID-19 parenting resources. In-depth, semi-structured interviews explored the same concepts and elaborated on challenges, utility of the resources, and recommendations for the future. Data were coded in a hierarchy from basic, organising and global theme generation.Results: The parenting resources equipped parents with information and practices transforming everyday lives, and interactions. The tips provided prompts and permissions related to children's behaviour, enabled communications, and offered ways to reduce stress, monitor behaviour and navigate discipline challenges. The timeliness of the resources as well as the clarity and ease of use were seen as advantages. Future direction and possible hurdles related to adaptations needed according to recipient, child age, local context, culture, and new challenges. Conclusions: Overall findings point to the value and utility of this unprecedented global response to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Results suggest that rapid provision of parenting resources at scale is feasible and of use and opens a pathway for providing evidence-based interventions under COVID-19 constraints.

The proximal and distal effects of mortality salience on COVID-19-related health perceptions and intentions

Health preventative measures are important in reducing transmission of COVID-19, yet death-related thoughts might hinder preventative action. Using two online samples (N = 948), we examined how mortality salience (MS) may produce health-related proximal and distal defenses relevant to COVID-19, examining health optimism and appearance self-worth as moderators. MS decreased perceived vulnerability as a proximal defense for those with high health optimism (Study 1), while those with low health optimism decreased perceived response efficacy of face masks and intention to wear a protective face mask (Study 2). Additionally, those with high appearance self-worth displayed increased intention to wear an aesthetically appealing face mask as a distal defense to MS (Study 2). Our findings demonstrate the importance of considering how mortality concerns may channel health-defeating and health-promoting behaviors in respect to COVID-19 and provide insight into how to produce sustained engagement in health preventative action to combat the pandemic.

Mental Health during COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Perceptions among Lithuanian Adolescents

BACKGROUND

Since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, humanity has had to face unprecedented change in daily routines. Therefore, the pandemic has also had an impact on mental health. Most of the literature analyzes adult experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the youth is less investigated. The purpose of this study was to reveal adolescent experiences during COVID-19.

METHODS

This qualitative study consisted of 19 adolescents from 11-17 years old. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted, and thematic analysis was applied.

RESULTS

Five themes were identified: ambivalent feelings; daily routine changes; disappointment with distance education; coping strategies; and discoveries.

CONCLUSION

The study revealed adolescents' mostly negative feelings such as sadness, anger, loneliness, or boredom. They shared about frustrating daily routine changes and shifting to a distance education mode that was quite limited in effectiveness and convenience. Nonetheless, communication with family, peers, pets, active leisure, and favorite activities helped them to cope with the difficulties during COVID-19. During this period, adolescents had more free time for themselves and personal growth, found new activities, or improved some relationships. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic had mostly negative side effects, and regardless of positive experiences, it was mainly considered by adolescents as an adversity for their mental health.

Narratives of the worst experiences associated with peritraumatic distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed method study in the USA and Italy

Background: Although symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been associated with the COVID-19 pandemic experiences, no study has explored yet the association of specific COVID-19 narratives with peritraumatic distress, the precursor of PTSD. Objective: To explore the worst experiences associated with peritraumatic distress during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Adult residents (N = 1098), from the US (n = 741) and Italy (n = 357), completed an online survey including socio-demographic data, COVID-19-related experiences, the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory and an open question on their worst experiences during the first period of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). A thematic content analysis (TCA) was conducted on the answers to the open question and a classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was used to identify the themes that best predicted the clinical levels of peritraumatic distress. Results: The main TCA themes related to participants' worst COVID-19 experiences were anxiety, threat, loss, anger, stress and constriction. Threat was the most prevalent theme and correlated with experiences such as being quarantined, being infected and a loved one receiving the diagnosis. US participants' descriptions of their worst experiences related more to life-threat and loss, while Italians reported more threat to the world, stress, social isolation, and feeling trapped. In the CART analysis, the main predictor (79.9%) was perceiving negative effects from the COVID-19 crisis. Among them, a COVID-related threat to self-experience was the most robust predictor. In its absence, being deprived of resources or experiencing high levels of anxiety were other robust predictors. Conclusions: The study provided evidence of the utility of a mixed-method approach in conceptualizing experiences associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the risk of traumatic symptoms. Its findings may inform healthcare interventions and policies for tackling the new challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. HIGHLIGHTS Clinically significant levels of peritraumatic distress symptoms were prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic.Clinically significant levels of peritraumatic distress during the COVID-19 pandemic were related to experiences of life-threat, resource deprivation, and anxiety, cross-cutting the themes articulated by the thematic content analysis of anxiety, threat, loss, anger, stress and constriction.The US and Italian participants' descriptions of their worst experiences differed in subtle but important ways, with Americans reporting more life-threat and losses compared to Italians reporting more threat to the world, stress, social isolation, and feelings of being trapped.

Characteristics of Ethical Leadership: Themes Identification Through Convergent Parallel Mixed Method Design From the Pakistan Context

The current approaches in identifying the characteristics of ethical leadership proceed mainly from a Western perspective based on virtue-driven moral philosophy (i.e., relativism) and frequently ignoring the Asian perspective of morality based on idealism. This study aimed to conduct parallel analysis in convergent design by using qualitative and quantitative methods to extract person-driven ethical leadership themes by considering the Asian context. Using the hypothetico-deductive method, 13 themes were extracted altogether, out of which 4 are new context-driven themes (i.e., altruism, encouragement, collective good, and spiritual transcendence as the emerging themes of ethical leadership in the Asian context).

Death anxiety, job satisfaction and counterproductive work behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative study of healthcare and non-healthcare professionals

Healthcare professionals are the vanguard of battling the COVID-19 pandemic and they experience major challenges associated with their jobs in the context of this pandemic. We carried out a survey of 253 healthcare professionals and 189 employees working in other domains to explore differences in how they adapted to COVID-19. Our results show that healthcare professionals perceive a higher mortality threat, lower job satisfaction and engage in fewer counterproductive work behaviors compared to respondents from other professions. Building on the tenets of the Terror Management Theory, we show that dispositional differences in death anxiety are the main drivers of perceived mortality threat in relation to COVID-19, yet this positive association is weaker for healthcare professionals, pointing to the engagement of proximal defenses specific to this work domain. Mortality threat mediates the association between death anxiety and job satisfaction only when supervisory support is low, pointing towards the crucial role of social support at work as a buffering mechanism against the deleterious effects of COVID-19 threat. Our paper presents one of the first empirical attempts to compare healthcare professionals with other workers with respect to job satisfaction and counterproductive work behaviors during the pandemic.