Belief in a COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory as a Predictor of Mental Health and Well-Being of Health Care Workers in Ecuador: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

Meta-Regression on the Heterogenous Factors Contributing to the Prevalence of Mental Health Symptoms During the COVID-19 Crisis Among Healthcare Workers

Objective

This paper used meta-regression to analyze the heterogenous factors contributing to the prevalence rate of mental health symptoms of the general and frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) in China under the COVID-19 crisis.

Method

We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Medrxiv and pooled data using random-effects meta-analyses to estimate the prevalence rates, and ran meta-regression to tease out the key sources of the heterogeneity.

Results

The meta-regression results uncovered several predictors of the heterogeneity in prevalence rates among published studies, including severity (e.g., above severe vs. above moderate, p < 0.01; above moderate vs. above mild, p < 0.01), type of mental symptoms (PTSD vs. anxiety, p = 0.04), population (frontline vs. general HCWs, p < 0.01), sampling location (Wuhan vs. Non-Wuhan, p = 0.04), and study quality (p = 0.04).

Conclusion

The meta-regression findings provide evidence on the factors contributing to the prevalence rate of mental health symptoms of the general and frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) to guide future research and evidence-based medicine in several specific directions.

Systematic Review Registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=220592, identifier: CRD42020220592.

The Mental Health of Healthcare Staff Working During the COVID-19 Crisis: Their Working Hours as a Boundary Condition

Purpose

Healthcare staff operate at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 and hence face enormous physical and mental pressures. We aim to investigate healthcare staff's mental health issues and the associated predictors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this paper aims to identify some unique predictors of healthcare staff's mental health issues in Iran, the second country after China to experience a major COVID-19 crisis.

Methods

An online survey of 280 healthcare staff in all 31 provinces of Iran assessed staff's mental distress (K6), depression, and anxiety (PHQ-4) during April 5-20, 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis.

Results

Nearly a third of healthcare staff surpassed the cutoff for distress, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Females or more educated healthcare staff were more likely to experience distress. Those who were unsure whether they had COVID-19 were more likely to experience distress and depression symptoms. The number of COVID-19 cases among a healthcare worker's colleagues or friends positively predicted the worker's anxiety symptoms. Amongst healthcare staff, doctors were less likely than radiology technologists to experience distress and anxiety symptoms. Technicians and obstetrics staff experienced fewer anxiety symptoms. The age and the weekly working days of healthcare staff interacted such that age is asignificant predictor of mental health issues among younger but not older healthcare staff.

Conclusion

The identification of the predictors of mental health issues can guide healthcare organizations to screen healthcare workers who are more likely to be mentally vulnerable in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Association between Future Anxiety, Health Literacy and the Perception of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Increased anxiety related to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in society and specific professional groups has been reported by many authors. Most have applied tools enabling assessing the general traits of anxiety. Tools specifically designed for an assessment of anxiety or fear related to COVID-19 have also been developed. However, no study has assessed the future anxiety in relation to the pandemic. This concept was defined by Zaleski in the end of the 20th century as the state of apprehension, fear, worry, and concern regarding unfavourable changes in the more remote personal future. The aim of this study was an analysis to establish the level and the determinants of future anxiety in Polish society related to the COVID-19 pandemic three months after the introduction of the state of epidemic. The analysis reported in the paper is based on the data obtained through a web-based survey carried out on a representative sample of 1002 Polish adults aged 18-74 years. The hierarchical linear regression model was developed for the analysis of the determinants of future anxiety from the responses to a questionnaire consisting of five items. The independent variables selected for inclusion in the model, apart from sociodemographic characteristics, encompassed health literacy (HL) and ehealth literacy (eHL), perceived health threat related to COVID-19 (PHTC19), and a COVID-19-related conspiracy belief score (CCBS) derived from three items asking about the most popular conspiracy theories. The regression model developed in the final step showed that the future anxiety scale score (FASS) was significantly associated with gender, vocational status, HL, PHTC19, and CCBS. The FASS was lower among men than women (regression coefficient (B) (standard error, SE) = -1.28 (0.39), p = 0.001), among entrepreneurs or farmers rather than among employees of the public or private sector (B(SE) = -1.55, p = 0.010), in persons with a higher HL (B(SE) = -0.43 (0.06), p < 0.001). A higher FASS was observed in respondents with higher rather than lower PHTC19 (B(SE) = 1.49 (0.17), p < 0.001) and in those with a higher CCBS (B(SE) = 0.33 (0.07), p < 0.001). The model accounted for 15.2% of the variance of the FASS. In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic is not only a cause of increased mental symptoms, but also of increased future anxiety. Health-related measures are significantly associated with the FASS.

Searching for General Model of Conspiracy Theories and Its Implication for Public Health Policy: Analysis of the Impacts of Political, Psychological, Structural Factors on Conspiracy Beliefs about the COVID-19 Pandemic

Along with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, beliefs in conspiracy theories are spreading within and across countries. This study aims to analyze predictors of beliefs in conspiracy theories. Because previous studies have emphasized only specific political, psychological, or structural factors or variables, this study constructs an integrated analytical model that includes all three factors. We analyze data from a large-scale survey of Koreans (N = 1525) and find several results. First, political, psychological, and structural factors influence beliefs in conspiracy theories. Second, when we examine the specific influences of the variables, we find that authoritarianism, support for minority parties, religiosity, trust in SNS (social networking services), perceived risk, anxiety, negative emotions, blame attribution, the quantity of information, health status, and health after COVID-19, all positively influence beliefs in conspiracy theories. Conversely, support for President Moon Jae-In's government, Christianity, trust in the government, perceived control, analytic thinking, knowledge, the quality of information, and gender, all negatively impact these beliefs. Among the predictors, the quality of information, health status, support for President Moon Jae-In's government, perceived risk, and anxiety have the most decisive impacts on beliefs in conspiracy theories.