Psychological responses and associated factors during the initial stage of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic among the adult population in Poland - a cross-sectional study

Psychological disturbances encountered by the healthcare professionals, military professionals and general public in Sri Lanka during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global health concern, posing a greater risk of psychological vulnerabilities for frontline healthcare workers (HCWs), military professionals and the general public around the globe. These psychological issues appear to be long lasting and heighten the risk of mental health disorders. Therefore, this study aimed to identify psychological problems encountered by HCWs, military professionals, and the general public in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken with 367 participants, including frontline HCWs (n = 128), military professionals (n = 102), and the general public (n = 137). Depression and anxiety were assessed using the Peradeniya Depression Scale (PDS) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7), respectively.

RESULTS

Mean (± SD) age of the participants was 35.0 (± 10.6) years. A reasonable proportion of participants experienced depressive symptoms (39.25%, n = 144) and severe anxiety (12.8%, n = 47). Military professionals showed depressive symptoms (73.50%, n = 75) and severe anxiety (32.4%, n = 33) predominantly. Multivariate binary logistic regression revealed that only the level of education and professional engagement affected depressive symptoms and severe anxiety (p < 0.01). Having a high level of education was a protective factor for depressive symptoms (Adjusted OR = 0.34) compared to lower-level education, while being a HCW (Adjusted OR = 4.40) and military professional (Adjusted OR = 5.43) were identified as risk factors for depressive symptoms compared to the general public. Similarly, having a high level of education was a protective factor for severe anxiety (Adjusted OR = 0.29) compared to lower-level education, while being a HCW (Adjusted OR = 3.90) and military professional (Adjusted OR = 4.52) were identified as risk factors for severe anxiety compared to the general public.

CONCLUSION

The current study revealed a greater level of anxiety and depressive symptoms among frontline HCWs and military professionals in Sri Lanka during the pandemic of COVID-19 compared to the general public. Therefore, providing psychological first aid for them to better deal with mental problems and an emergency preparedness plan to deal with sudden outbreaks of infectious situations are important.

Emotion regulation strategies and mental health symptoms during COVID-19: the mediating role of insomnia

OBJECTIVES

COVID-19 has become a major source of stress for people around the world. Stressful life events play a role in the pathogenesis of sleep disorders such as insomnia which is considered a risk factor for anxiety and depression. Emotion regulation is an important factor linked with sleep and mental health problems. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to examine whether insomnia could constitute a mediation mechanism that explains the relationship between emotion regulation strategies (rumination, reappraisal, suppression) and stress-induced mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The cross-sectional study was conducted among young (M±SD 24.8±2.24) individuals (N = 281, 85.4% women) during the time of the third wave of infections in Poland. Data were collected by means of selfreport questionnaires, including the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; Athens Insomnia Scale; Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. The direct and indirect effects of emotion regulation strategies on depression, anxiety, and stress were calculated using a bootstrap estimation technique.

RESULTS

All analyzed indirect effects were significant. The results show that insomnia mediates the relationships between all 3 emotion regulation strategies and stress, anxiety and depression.

CONCLUSIONS

The presented results shed the light on the role of insomnia on the relationships between emotion regulation strategies and emotional states experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the present study suggests that educational and therapeutic interventions aimed at improving emotion regulation might be useful for improving symptoms of insomnia and, through it, symptoms of affective disorders. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2023;36(1):151-59.

Animal-vehicle collisions during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 in the Krakow metropolitan region, Poland

The interrelations between human activity and animal populations are of increasing interest due to the emergence of the novel COVID-19 and the consequent pandemic across the world. Anthropogenic impacts of the pandemic on animals in urban-suburban environments are largely unknown. In this study, the temporal and spatial patterns of urban animal response to the COVID-19 lockdown were assessed using animal-vehicle collisions (AVC) data. We collected AVC data over two 6-month periods in 2019 and 2020 (January to June) from the largest metropolis in southern Poland, which included lockdown months. Furthermore, we used traffic data to understand the impact of lockdown on AVC in the urban area. Our analysis of 1063 AVC incidents revealed that COVID-19 related lockdown decreased AVC rates in suburban areas. However, in the urban area, even though traffic volume had significantly reduced, AVC did not decrease significantly, suggesting that lockdown did not influence the collision rates in the urban area. Our results suggest that there is a need to focus on understanding the effects of changes in traffic volume on both human behaviour and wildlife space use on the resulting impacts on AVC in the urban area.

Quality of Life Among People with Positive COVID-19 Experience in Semarang, Indonesia

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many ways of life, especially among people who experience the infection. The pandemic negatively affected the physical, social, and psychological functioning of individuals and societies, worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the extent to which key factors may influence the QoL of people with COVID-19 in Semarang, Indonesia. The online cross-sectional study recruited 107 participants. Adults (≥ 17 years of age) with positive COVID-19 infection history were targeted. Quality of life was measured with the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. The questions explain how respondents attribute to each aspect of their life and how problematic or satisfactory they perceive them for their overall quality of life. Results showed that the highest mean score was found for the social domain (14.112.89), and the lowest mean score was observed for the environment domain (13.272.01). The presence of comorbidities had a statistically significant difference in the environment domain (p-value:0.006). During the COVID-19 pandemic, people had less satisfaction with their environment. The presence of anxiety often promotes changes in the perception of QoL for all domains among respondents (p-value: <0.0001). Investing such resources in these groups may be an efficient option to maximize positive public health impacts in this resource-poor environment.