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Kyröläinen AJ, Kuperman V. Emotional State of Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from the Cognitive and Social Well-Being (CoSoWELL) Corpus. Exp Aging Res 2024; 50:482-505. [PMID: 37270799 DOI: 10.1080/0361073x.2023.2219188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES In view of the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists face a challenge to document the pandemic-related change in emotional well-being of individuals and groups and evaluate the emotional response to this fallout over time. METHODSP We contribute to this goal by analyzing the new CoSoWELL corpus (version 2.0), an 1.8 million-word collection of narratives written by over 1,300 older adults (55+ y.o.) in eight sessions before, during and after the global lockdown. In the narratives, we examined a range of linguistic variables traditionally associated with emotional well-being and observed signs of distress, i.e., lower positivity and heightened levels of fear, anger, and disgust. RESULTS In most variables, we observed a characteristic timeline of change, i.e., a delayed (by 4 months) and abrupt drop in optimism and increase in negative emotions that reached its peak about 7 months after the lockdown and returned to pre-pandemic levels one year after. Our examination of risk factors showed that higher levels of self-reported loneliness came with elevated levels of negative emotions but did not change the timeline of emotional response to the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS We discuss implications of the findings for theories of emotion regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Victor Kuperman
- Linguistics and Languages, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada
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2
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Das Swain V, Ye J, Ramesh SK, Mondal A, Abowd GD, De Choudhury M. Leveraging Social Media to Predict COVID-19-Induced Disruptions to Mental Well-Being Among University Students: Modeling Study. JMIR Form Res 2024; 8:e52316. [PMID: 38916951 PMCID: PMC11234067 DOI: 10.2196/52316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Revised: 02/29/2024] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 06/26/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Large-scale crisis events such as COVID-19 often have secondary impacts on individuals' mental well-being. University students are particularly vulnerable to such impacts. Traditional survey-based methods to identify those in need of support do not scale over large populations and they do not provide timely insights. We pursue an alternative approach through social media data and machine learning. Our models aim to complement surveys and provide early, precise, and objective predictions of students disrupted by COVID-19. OBJECTIVE This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of language on private social media as an indicator of crisis-induced disruption to mental well-being. METHODS We modeled 4124 Facebook posts provided by 43 undergraduate students, spanning over 2 years. We extracted temporal trends in the psycholinguistic attributes of their posts and comments. These trends were used as features to predict how COVID-19 disrupted their mental well-being. RESULTS The social media-enabled model had an F1-score of 0.79, which was a 39% improvement over a model trained on the self-reported mental state of the participant. The features we used showed promise in predicting other mental states such as anxiety, depression, social, isolation, and suicidal behavior (F1-scores varied between 0.85 and 0.93). We also found that selecting the windows of time 7 months after the COVID-19-induced lockdown presented better results, therefore, paving the way for data minimization. CONCLUSIONS We predicted COVID-19-induced disruptions to mental well-being by developing a machine learning model that leveraged language on private social media. The language in these posts described psycholinguistic trends in students' online behavior. These longitudinal trends helped predict mental well-being disruption better than models trained on correlated mental health questionnaires. Our work inspires further research into the potential applications of early, precise, and automatic warnings for individuals concerned about their mental health in times of crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vedant Das Swain
- Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Jingjing Ye
- College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Siva Karthik Ramesh
- College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Abhirup Mondal
- College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Gregory D Abowd
- College of Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Munmun De Choudhury
- Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
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3
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Baumann SE, Kameg BN, Wiltrout CT, Murdoch D, Pelcher L, Burke JG. Visualizing Mental Health Through the Lens of Pittsburgh Youth: A Collaborative Filmmaking Study During COVID-19. Health Promot Pract 2024; 25:368-382. [PMID: 36546679 PMCID: PMC9791059 DOI: 10.1177/15248399221141688] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Youth mental health has been significantly impacted by COVID-19, with concerns of rising anxiety-related and depressive symptoms and reduced quality of life. This study provides a nuanced understanding of mental health stressors and supports in the lives of youth during the pandemic. Using Collaborative Filmmaking, an embodied, visual, and participatory research method, participants in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were trained to create, analyze, and screen films about mental health. The films elucidated numerous stressors impacting youth mental health, including educational stressors (e.g., academic pressure and relationships with teachers), personal and social stressors (e.g., social and cultural expectations), and current events (e.g., the election and the political system). Supports included individual level supports (e.g., hobbies, self-care, spending time outdoors), and interpersonal level supports (e.g., family and socializing). Several themes were discussed as both stressors and supports, such as family, COVID-19, and social media. Overall, educational stressors are major contributors to adverse mental health symptoms among youth, which have been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Youth discussions of the importance of self-care and engaging in healthy hobbies demonstrated strong awareness about maintaining mental health, though structural-level recommendations are still needed to improve youth mental health. Screening the Collaborative Films with the public illuminated several additional opportunities for action, including structural and social actions (e.g., changing policies and social norms around mental health). Given the structural nature of the stressors mentioned by participants, systemic changes as well as policy level action and programming are needed to address the intersectional nature of current mental health concerns among youth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara E. Baumann
- University of Pittsburgh School of
Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Brayden N. Kameg
- University of Pittsburgh School of
Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | | | | | - Lindsay Pelcher
- University of Pittsburgh School of
Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Jessica G. Burke
- University of Pittsburgh School of
Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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Saha K, Jaidka K, Kim J, Suh J. Editorial: Digital mental health and wellbeing under crisis. Front Digit Health 2024; 6:1404444. [PMID: 38742146 PMCID: PMC11089231 DOI: 10.3389/fdgth.2024.1404444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Koustuv Saha
- Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States
| | - Kokil Jaidka
- Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Jennifer Kim
- School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Jina Suh
- Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, United States
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Kercher A, Rahman J, Pedersen M. The COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists' professional quality of life and mental health. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1339869. [PMID: 38725949 PMCID: PMC11079217 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1339869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Psychologists are at known risk of work-related stress, secondary trauma, and burnout. The COVID-19 pandemic increased stress and anxiety for communities worldwide and corresponded with an increased demand for mental health services. Our study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on psychologists' professional quality of life, psychological symptoms, and work-related stress in Aotearoa, New Zealand (NZ). Method Ninety-nine registered psychologists were recruited via NZ professional psychology organizations, representing 3% of the total workforce. Survey data collected included symptoms of compassion fatigue and satisfaction, psychological symptoms, COVID-19-related stress and resilience, and professional and personal circumstances during the third year of the pandemic, 2022. Results Seventy percent reported that their work stress had increased, and 60% reported that their caseload intensity had increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychologists reported receiving little to no additional personal or professional support, while 55% reported increased personal responsibilities during the pandemic (for example, closed childcare and schools during lockdowns). High rates of compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary traumatic stress) and low resilience were reported. We observed that psychological distress was higher than the community averages before the pandemic and comparable with frontline healthcare professionals. Compassion fatigue was associated with COVID-related stress, psychological distress, years in practice, and more frequent supervision, but not with working with at-risk clients, levels of personal support, or having children at home. Despite these difficulties, high Compassion Satisfaction scores were also reported, with over 90% indicating they had no intention of leaving the profession in the foreseeable future. Conclusion Psychologists' compassion fatigue appears to have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, as have their symptoms of psychological distress. Increased workplace and clinical demands, telehealth difficulties, stress relating to the pandemic, inadequate support, and increased personal responsibilities were reported by psychologists. Mental health workforces are not immune to the personal and professional impacts of crises and are at risk of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. We hope that increased awareness and understanding of psychologists' own difficulties during COVID-19 can be used to better tackle future crises and support mental health professionals.
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Sharma T, Farea A, Perera N, Emmert-Streib F. Exploring COVID-related relationship extraction: Contrasting data sources and analyzing misinformation. Heliyon 2024; 10:e26973. [PMID: 38455555 PMCID: PMC10918203 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic presented an unparalleled challenge to global healthcare systems. A central issue revolves around the urgent need to swiftly amass critical biological and medical knowledge concerning the disease, its treatment, and containment. Remarkably, text data remains an underutilized resource in this context. In this paper, we delve into the extraction of COVID-related relations using transformer-based language models, including Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) and DistilBERT. Our analysis scrutinizes the performance of five language models, comparing information from both PubMed and Reddit, and assessing their ability to make novel predictions, including the detection of "misinformation." Key findings reveal that, despite inherent differences, both PubMed and Reddit data contain remarkably similar information, suggesting that Reddit can serve as a valuable resource for rapidly acquiring information during times of crisis. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that language models can unveil previously unseen entities and relations, a crucial aspect in identifying instances of misinformation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanvi Sharma
- Predictive Society and Data Analytics Lab, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Amer Farea
- Predictive Society and Data Analytics Lab, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Nadeesha Perera
- Predictive Society and Data Analytics Lab, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Frank Emmert-Streib
- Predictive Society and Data Analytics Lab, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
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Beierle F, Pryss R, Aizawa A. Sentiments about Mental Health on Twitter-Before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Healthcare (Basel) 2023; 11:2893. [PMID: 37958038 PMCID: PMC10647444 DOI: 10.3390/healthcare11212893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Revised: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the novel coronavirus had an impact not only on public health but also on the mental health of the population. Public sentiment on mental health and depression is often captured only in small, survey-based studies, while work based on Twitter data often only looks at the period during the pandemic and does not make comparisons with the pre-pandemic situation. We collected tweets that included the hashtags #MentalHealth and #Depression from before and during the pandemic (8.5 months each). We used LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) for topic modeling and LIWC, VADER, and NRC for sentiment analysis. We used three machine-learning classifiers to seek evidence regarding an automatically detectable change in tweets before vs. during the pandemic: (1) based on TF-IDF values, (2) based on the values from the sentiment libraries, (3) based on tweet content (deep-learning BERT classifier). Topic modeling revealed that Twitter users who explicitly used the hashtags #Depression and especially #MentalHealth did so to raise awareness. We observed an overall positive sentiment, and in tough times such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, tweets with #MentalHealth were often associated with gratitude. Among the three classification approaches, the BERT classifier showed the best performance, with an accuracy of 81% for #MentalHealth and 79% for #Depression. Although the data may have come from users familiar with mental health, these findings can help gauge public sentiment on the topic. The combination of (1) sentiment analysis, (2) topic modeling, and (3) tweet classification with machine learning proved useful in gaining comprehensive insight into public sentiment and could be applied to other data sources and topics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felix Beierle
- National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo 101-8430, Japan;
- Institute of Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry (ICE-B), University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany;
| | - Rüdiger Pryss
- Institute of Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry (ICE-B), University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany;
| | - Akiko Aizawa
- National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo 101-8430, Japan;
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Fraser M, Nzemenoh B, Jackson S, Chaikijurajai T, Halmosi R, Toth K, Khan WJ, Alexy T. Substance Use-Associated Mortality among Heart Donors after the COVID-19 National Emergency Increased but Did Not Affect Peri-Transplant Outcomes. J Cardiovasc Dev Dis 2023; 10:jcdd10050222. [PMID: 37233189 DOI: 10.3390/jcdd10050222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Revised: 05/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent social isolation prompted a surge in mental health disorders and substance use in the general population and, therefore, in potential organ donors. We aimed to evaluate if this led to a change in donor characteristics, including the mechanism and circumstance of death, and how this may have affected clinical outcomes following heart transplantation. METHODS We identified all heart donors from the SRTR database between 18 October 2018 and 31 December 2021, excluding those who donated immediately after the US national emergency declaration. Donors were stratified into pre-COVID-19 (Pre-Cov; through 12 March 2020) and post-COVID-19 national emergency declaration cohorts (Post-Cov; 1 August 2020 through 31 December 2021) based on the heart procurement date. Relevant demographics, cause of death, and substance use history were collected in addition to graft cold ischemic time, the incidence of primary graft dysfunction (PGD), and recipient survival at 30 days post-transplant. RESULTS A total of 10,314 heart donors were identified; 4941 were stratified into the Pre-Cov and 5373 into the Post-Cov cohorts. There was no difference in demographics, but illicit drug use was significantly higher in the Post-Cov group, leading to an increased incidence of death from drug intoxication. Fatal gunshot wounds were also more common. Despite these changes, the incidence of PGD remained similar (p = 0.371), and there was no difference in 30 days recipient survival (p = 0.545). CONCLUSION Our findings confirm that COVID-19 had a major impact on mental health and psychosocial life with an associated increase in illicit substance use and fatal intoxication rates in heart transplant donors. These changes did not alter peri-operative mortality following heart transplantation. Future studies are needed to ensure that long-term outcomes remain unaffected.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meg Fraser
- Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Bellony Nzemenoh
- Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Scott Jackson
- Analytics Consulting Services, MHealth Fairview, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | | | - Robert Halmosi
- Division of Cardiology, 1st Department of Medicine, Medical School, University of Pecs, 7624 Pecs, Hungary
| | - Kalman Toth
- Division of Cardiology, 1st Department of Medicine, Medical School, University of Pecs, 7624 Pecs, Hungary
| | - Wahab J Khan
- Department of Medicine, Avera Health, Sioux Falls, SD 57105, USA
| | - Tamas Alexy
- Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
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9
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Phipps JE, Whipps MDM, D'Souza I, LaSalle JM, Simmons LA. Pregnant in a Pandemic: Mental Wellbeing and Associated Healthy Behaviors Among Pregnant People in California During COVID-19. Matern Child Health J 2023:10.1007/s10995-023-03657-w. [PMID: 37029891 PMCID: PMC10083068 DOI: 10.1007/s10995-023-03657-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 04/09/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Pregnancy is a time of increased vulnerability to mental health disorders. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the incidence of depression and anxiety. Thus, we aimed to assess mental health and associated healthy behaviors of pregnant people in California during the pandemic in order to contextualize prenatal well-being during the first pandemic of the twenty-first century. METHODS We conducted an online cross-sectional study of 433 pregnant people from June 6 through July 29, 2020. We explored 3 hypotheses: (1) mental health would be worse during the pandemic than in general pregnant samples to date; (2) first-time pregnant people would have worse mental health; and (3) healthy behaviors would be positively related to mental health. RESULTS Many of our participants (22%) reported clinically significant depressive symptoms and 31% reported clinically significant anxiety symptoms. Multiparous pregnant people were more likely to express worries about their own health and wellbeing and the process of childbirth than were primiparous pregnant people. Additionally, as pregnancy advanced, sleep and nutrition worsened, while physical activity increased. Lastly, anxious-depressive symptomology was significantly predictive of participant sleep behaviors, nutrition, and physical activity during the past week. DISCUSSION Pregnant people had worse mental health during the pandemic, and this was associated with worse health-promoting behaviors. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated risks are likely to persist due to low vaccination rates and the emergence of variants with high infection rates, care that promotes mental and physical well-being for the pregnant population should be a public health priority.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer E Phipps
- Department of Human Ecology, Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
| | - Mackenzie D M Whipps
- Department of Human Ecology, Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Indira D'Souza
- Department of Human Ecology, Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Janine M LaSalle
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Leigh Ann Simmons
- Department of Human Ecology, Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
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Yoo N, Jang SH. Perceived household financial decline and physical/mental health among adolescents during the COVID-19 crisis: Focusing on gender differences. Prev Med Rep 2023; 32:102119. [PMID: 36718194 PMCID: PMC9872569 DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Revised: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
COVID-19 has worsened adolescents' mental and physical health. Several studies have reported that the effect may be greater in girls; however, relevant socio-ecological factors have not been examined. This study aimed to examine the factors associated with physical and mental health status among adolescents and the moderating role of gender on the relationship between physical and mental health status and perceived household financial decline. We analyzed the cross-sectional 2020 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBS) collected between August and November 2020 in South Korea. It included 54,809 adolescents (28,269 males and 26,540 females), on average aged 15.1. We conducted ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions to examine the factors associated with physical and mental health outcomes. Gender differences were observed in associated factors. Then, we tested the moderating effect of gender by including an interaction term between gender and perceived household financial decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Perceived household financial decline due to COVID-19 negatively affected both groups. Perceiving moderate and severe financial decline due to COVID-19 is negatively associated with self-rated health among female adolescents than male counterparts. Female adolescents were also more vulnerable to mental health outcomes (i.e., distress, anxiety, and loneliness) when they perceived severe or moderate household financial decline due to COVID-19 compared to their male peers. Our findings suggest that female adolescents are more vulnerable to household financial shocks due to COVID-19, especially in households that have experienced a severe decline. We suggest the need for gender-sensitive policy interventions for adolescent mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nari Yoo
- Silver School of Social Work, New York University, 1 Washington Square N, New York, NY, United States
| | - Sou Hyun Jang
- Department of Sociology, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Anam-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea
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Weger R, Lossio-Ventura JA, Rose-McCandlish M, Shaw JS, Sinclair S, Pereira F, Chung JY, Atlas LY. Trends in Language Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Relationship Between Language Use and Mental Health: Text Analysis Based on Free Responses From a Longitudinal Study. JMIR Ment Health 2023; 10:e40899. [PMID: 36525362 PMCID: PMC9994427 DOI: 10.2196/40899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Revised: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions have been a major stressor that has exacerbated mental health worldwide. Qualitative data play a unique role in documenting mental states through both language features and content. Text analysis methods can provide insights into the associations between language use and mental health and reveal relevant themes that emerge organically in open-ended responses. OBJECTIVE The aim of this web-based longitudinal study on mental health during the early COVID-19 pandemic was to use text analysis methods to analyze free responses to the question, "Is there anything else you would like to tell us that might be important that we did not ask about?" Our goals were to determine whether individuals who responded to the item differed from nonresponders, to determine whether there were associations between language use and psychological status, and to characterize the content of responses and how responses changed over time. METHODS A total of 3655 individuals enrolled in the study were asked to complete self-reported measures of mental health and COVID-19 pandemic-related questions every 2 weeks for 6 months. Of these 3655 participants, 2497 (68.32%) provided at least 1 free response (9741 total responses). We used various text analysis methods to measure the links between language use and mental health and to characterize response themes over the first year of the pandemic. RESULTS Response likelihood was influenced by demographic factors and health status: those who were male, Asian, Black, or Hispanic were less likely to respond, and the odds of responding increased with age and education as well as with a history of physical health conditions. Although mental health treatment history did not influence the overall likelihood of responding, it was associated with more negative sentiment, negative word use, and higher use of first-person singular pronouns. Responses were dynamically influenced by psychological status such that distress and loneliness were positively associated with an individual's likelihood to respond at a given time point and were associated with more negativity. Finally, the responses were negative in valence overall and exhibited fluctuations linked with external events. The responses covered a variety of topics, with the most common being mental health and emotion, social or physical distancing, and policy and government. CONCLUSIONS Our results identify trends in language use during the first year of the pandemic and suggest that both the content of responses and overall sentiments are linked to mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Weger
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | | | - Margaret Rose-McCandlish
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Jacob S Shaw
- National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Stephen Sinclair
- National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Francisco Pereira
- National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Joyce Y Chung
- National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Lauren Yvette Atlas
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.,National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.,National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, United States
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12
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Quar TK, Rashid MFN, Rosdi MYM, Ishak WS, Chong FY. Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Individuals With Hearing Loss and Audiology Practice in a Developing Country. Am J Audiol 2023; 32:59-69. [PMID: 36446036 DOI: 10.1044/2022_aja-22-00033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the challenges faced by individuals with hearing loss at a time when many nations were attempting to move from the COVID-19 pandemic to endemic. DESIGN A cross-sectional survey was conducted on Malaysian adults with hearing loss to determine the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on hearing aid management, communication difficulties, psychosocial challenges, and access to audiological services. STUDY SAMPLE One hundred forty-six individuals aged 18 years old and above with hearing loss were recruited from hearing health care centers to participate in the survey. RESULTS Many of the participants (54.2%) reported significant difficulties communicating with people wearing face masks. For hearing aid management, repairing (36.3%) and fine-tuning devices (30.2%) were considered more challenging than obtaining a battery (21.3%). The COVID-19 pandemic had a serious psychosocial impact on a small portion of the individuals surveyed. Remote services were rarely offered by the audiologists, and most participants preferred in-person treatment. However, the majority perceived that creating awareness and training on telehealth was important. CONCLUSIONS Effective management for people with hearing loss needs to consider the challenges faced by them, as the world prepares to live with the coronavirus. Clinical protocols should consider providing a service that is helpful for the clients as well as safe and sustainable in future pandemics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tian Kar Quar
- Audiology Programme, Center for Rehabilitation & Special Needs Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi
| | | | - Muhd Yusran Mohd Rosdi
- Audiology Programme, Center for Rehabilitation & Special Needs Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi
| | - Wan Syafira Ishak
- Audiology Programme, Center for Healthy Ageing and Wellness, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi
| | - Foong Yen Chong
- Audiology Programme, Center for Rehabilitation & Special Needs Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi
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Gu D, Li M, Yang X, Gu Y, Zhao Y, Liang C, Liu H. An analysis of cognitive change in online mental health communities: A textual data analysis based on post replies of support seekers. Inf Process Manag 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ipm.2022.103192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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Rochford B, Pendse S, Kumar N, De Choudhury M. Leveraging Symptom Search Data to Understand Disparities in US Mental Health Care: Demographic Analysis of Search Engine Trace Data. JMIR Ment Health 2023; 10:e43253. [PMID: 36716082 PMCID: PMC9926343 DOI: 10.2196/43253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In the United States, 1 out of every 3 people lives in a mental health professional shortage area. Shortage areas tend to be rural, have higher levels of poverty, and have poor mental health outcomes. Previous work has demonstrated that these poor outcomes may arise from interactions between a lack of resources and lack of recognition of mental illness by medical professionals. OBJECTIVE We aimed to understand the differences in how people in shortage and nonshortage areas search for information about mental health on the web. METHODS We analyzed search engine log data related to health from 2017-2021 and examined the differences in mental health search behavior between shortage and nonshortage areas. We analyzed several axes of difference, including shortage versus nonshortage comparisons, urban versus rural comparisons, and temporal comparisons. RESULTS We found specific differences in search behavior between shortage and nonshortage areas. In shortage areas, broader and more general mental health symptom categories, namely anxiety (mean 2.03%, SD 0.44%), depression (mean 1.15%, SD 0.27%), fatigue (mean 1.21%, SD 0.28%), and headache (mean 1.03%, SD 0.23%), were searched significantly more often (Q<.0003). In contrast, specific symptom categories and mental health disorders such as binge eating (mean 0.02%, SD 0.02%), psychosis (mean 0.37%, SD 0.06%), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (mean 0.77%, SD 0.10%) were searched significantly more often (Q<.0009) in nonshortage areas. Although suicide rates are consistently known to be higher in shortage and rural areas, we see that the rates of suicide-related searching are lower in shortage areas (mean 0.05%, SD 0.04%) than in nonshortage areas (mean 0.10%, SD 0.03%; Q<.0003), more so when a shortage area is rural (mean 0.024%, SD 0.029%; Q<2 × 10-12). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates differences in how people from geographically marginalized groups search on the web for mental health. One main implication of this work is the influence that search engine ranking algorithms and interface design might have on the kinds of resources that individuals use when in distress. Our results support the idea that search engine algorithm designers should be conscientious of the role that structural factors play in expressions of distress and they should attempt to design search engine algorithms and interfaces to close gaps in care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Rochford
- School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Sachin Pendse
- School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Neha Kumar
- School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Munmun De Choudhury
- School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States
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15
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Popovici AF, Vaida S. Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Coping Mechanism During Covid-19 Pandemic. STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEȘ-BOLYAI PSYCHOLOGIA-PAEDAGOGIA 2022. [DOI: 10.24193/subbpsyped.2022.2.03] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
"The current pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus has caught the entire world by surprise, on all aspects of life, from economic and work-related ones to education and online communication. Psychological health issues are not an exception to this rule, as people have been forced to either stay indoors during lockdown periods, or completely change their habits for longer periods of time. In this study, we investigated the effects of the pandemic on a sample of 241 adults, on several concepts. The study is relevant for understanding the factors that can contribute to maintaining a balance in life, especially in times of hardship. Keywords: anxiety, coping, Covid-19, depression, stress. "
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16
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Fakieh B, Happonen A. Exploring the Social Trend Indications of Utilizing E-Commerce during and after COVID-19's Hit. Behav Sci (Basel) 2022; 13:5. [PMID: 36661577 PMCID: PMC9854872 DOI: 10.3390/bs13010005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
COVID-19 is a major global crisis affecter, changing global norms and societal behavioral models. Many companies have faced existential crises, but on the other hand, businesses that were and are helping others to boost digitalization, ICT and software solutions deployment, remote communications integration, e-commerce & e-services, and so on, have boosted their businesses, as people shifted online during the global lockdown and international travel restrictions. Our work explores the trend of e-commerce and e-services utilization during the ease of restrictions and the social distancing period to forecast the trend continuation patterns after the pandemic. An online survey was conducted and targeted individuals in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, resulting in 155 participants. The data were analyzed from four perspectives: demographics, COVID-19 health impact, trend analysis, and regression analysis. The results indicate heavy utilization of e-commerce and e-services during the global movement restrictions and travel bans. This trend has, however, significantly reduced during the ease of restrictions and social distancing period. Utilizing e-commerce and e-services in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, based on the research data, is positively correlated to the outbreak conditions. On the other hand, current data still does not give clear indications, and this pattern is going to be mostly, partly, or not at all permanent now as societies are returning to mostly a free movement of people and marginally restricted social distancing times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bahjat Fakieh
- Information Systems Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ari Happonen
- Software Engineering Department, LUT School of Engineering Science, LUT University, 53850 Lappeenranta, Finland
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17
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Massell J, Lieb R, Meyer A, Mayor E. Fluctuations of psychological states on Twitter before and during COVID-19. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0278018. [PMID: 36516149 PMCID: PMC9750014 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has been repeatedly associated with poor mental health. Previous studies have mostly focused on short time frames such as around the first lockdown periods, and the majority of research is based on self-report questionnaires. Less is known about the fluctuations of psychological states over longer time frames across the pandemic. Twitter timelines of 4,735 users from London and New York were investigated to shed light on potential fluctuations of several psychological states and constructs related to the pandemic. Moving averages are presented for the years 2020 and 2019. Further, mixed negative binomial regression models were fitted to estimate monthly word counts for the time before and during the pandemic. Several psychological states and constructs fluctuated heavily on Twitter during 2020 but not during 2019. Substantial increases in levels of sadness, anxiety, anger, and concerns about home and health were observed around the first lockdown periods in both cities. The levels of most constructs decreased after the initial spike, but negative emotions such as sadness, anxiety, and anger remained elevated throughout 2020 compared to the year prior to the pandemic. Tweets from both cities showed remarkably similar temporal patterns, and there are similarities to reactions found on Twitter following other previous traumatic events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Massell
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Roselind Lieb
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Meyer
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Eric Mayor
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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18
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Taheri MR, Mortazavi SB, Asilian H, Ahmadi O. Evaluation of human error in workers of an Iranian copper mine during the COVID-19 pandemic using the CREAM. Work 2022; 73:1109-1115. [PMID: 36093672 DOI: 10.3233/wor-211430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The outbreak of COVID-19 has adversely affected both global economy and public health around the world. These effects have also been observed in many workplaces, including mines. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to examine the human error of copper miners during the pandemic. METHOD This descriptive-analytical, cross-sectional study was performed on 192 workers of a copper mine in Iran. For this, occupation tasks were firstly analyzed using the Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA), and then the human error in different subunits was assessed using the basic Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM). The prevalence of COVID-19 among miners was determined by assessing positive PCR test records. RESULTS The probability of human error in the operational subunits including mining, crushing, processing, and support subunits was estimated to be 0.0056, 0.056, 0.0315, and 0.0177, respectively. All three operational units were found to be in the scrambling control mode. The support unit was determined to be in the tactical control mode. Approximately 50% of all workers had been infected with COVID-19, with the highest prevalence in support units. CONCLUSION The results suggest that during the COVID-19 pandemic, copper miners are at higher risk of human error induced by poor working conditions. Therefore, it is recommended to employ some management strategies such as promotion of safety, health monitoring, and adopting supportive measures to control occupational stresses and therefore the probability of human error in the mine's operational units.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Reza Taheri
- Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Seyyed Bagher Mortazavi
- Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Hasan Asilian
- Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Omran Ahmadi
- Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
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19
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Tušl M, Thelen A, Marcus K, Peters A, Shalaeva E, Scheckel B, Sykora M, Elayan S, Naslund JA, Shankardass K, Mooney SJ, Fadda M, Gruebner O. Opportunities and challenges of using social media big data to assess mental health consequences of the COVID-19 crisis and future major events. DISCOVER MENTAL HEALTH 2022; 2:14. [PMID: 35789666 PMCID: PMC9243703 DOI: 10.1007/s44192-022-00017-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 06/17/2022] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe present commentary discusses how social media big data could be used in mental health research to assess the impact of major global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We first provide a brief overview of the COVID-19 situation and the challenges associated with the assessment of its global impact on mental health using conventional methods. We then propose social media big data as a possible unconventional data source, provide illustrative examples of previous studies, and discuss the advantages and challenges associated with their use for mental health research. We conclude that social media big data represent a valuable resource for mental health research, however, several methodological limitations and ethical concerns need to be addressed to ensure safe use.
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20
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Rosenström T, Tuisku K, Suvisaari J, Pukkala E, Junttila K, Haravuori H, Elovainio M, Haapa T, Jylhä P, Laukkala T. Healthcare workers' heterogeneous mental-health responses to prolonging COVID-19 pandemic: a full year of monthly follow up in Finland. BMC Psychiatry 2022; 22:724. [PMID: 36402992 PMCID: PMC9675158 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-022-04389-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic strained healthcare workers but the individual challenges varied in relation to actual work and changes in work. We investigated changes in healthcare workers' mental health under prolonging COVID-19 pandemic conditions, and heterogeneity in the mental-health trajectories. METHODS A monthly survey over a full year was conducted for employees of the HUS Helsinki University Hospital (n = 4804) between 4th June 2020 to 28th May 2021. Pandemic-related potentially traumatic events (PTEs), work characteristics (e.g., contact to COVID-19 patients), local COVID-19 incidence, and demographic covariates were used to predict Mental Health Index-5 (MHI-5) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) in generalized multilevel and latent-class mixed model regressions. RESULTS Local COVID-19 log-incidence (odds ratio, OR = 1.21, with 95% CI = 1.10-1.60), directly caring for COVID-19 patients (OR = 1.33, CI = 1.10-1.60) and PTEs (OR = 4.57, CI = 3.85-5.43) were all independently associated with psychological distress, when (additionally) adjusting for age, sex, profession, and calendar time. Effects of COVID-19 incidence on mental health were dissociable from calendar time (i.e., evolved in time) whereas those on sleep were not. Latent mental-health trajectories were characterized by a large class of "stable mental health" (62% of employees) and minority classes for "early shock, improving" (14%) and "early resilience, deteriorating" mental health (24%). The minority classes, especially "early shock, improving", were more likely to live alone and be exposed to PTEs than the others. CONCLUSIONS Healthcare workers faced changing and heterogeneous mental-health challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic prolonged. Adversity and mental ill-being may have accumulated in some employees, and factors like living arrangements may have played a role. Knowledge on employees' demographic and socioeconomic background, as well as further research on the factors affecting employees' resilience, may help in maintaining healthy and efficient workforce in the face of a prolonging pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Rosenström
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Katinka Tuisku
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Acute Psychiatry and Consultations, HUS Helsinki University Hospital, 00029, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jaana Suvisaari
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Mental Health Team, 00271, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Eero Pukkala
- Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, 33100, Tampere, Finland
| | - Kristiina Junttila
- Nursing Research Center, HUS Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, 00029, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Henna Haravuori
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Mental Health Team, 00271, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Marko Elovainio
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Health Services Research, 00271, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Toni Haapa
- Nursing Research Center, HUS Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, 00029, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Pekka Jylhä
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Acute Psychiatry and Consultations, HUS Helsinki University Hospital, 00029, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tanja Laukkala
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Acute Psychiatry and Consultations, HUS Helsinki University Hospital, 00029, Helsinki, Finland
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21
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Future behaviours decision-making regarding travel avoidance during COVID-19 outbreaks. Sci Rep 2022; 12:19780. [PMID: 36396687 PMCID: PMC9671889 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24323-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Human behavioural changes are poorly understood, and this limitation has been a serious obstacle to epidemic forecasting. It is generally understood that people change their respective behaviours to reduce the risk of infection in response to the status of an epidemic or government interventions. We must first identify the factors that lead to such decision-making to predict these changes. However, due to an absence of a method to observe decision-making for future behaviour, understanding the behavioural responses to disease is limited. Here, we show that accommodation reservation data could reveal the decision-making process that underpins behavioural changes, travel avoidance, for reducing the risk of COVID-19 infections. We found that the motivation to avoid travel with respect to only short-term future behaviours dynamically varied and was associated with the outbreak status and/or the interventions of the government. Our developed method can quantitatively measure and predict a large-scale population's behaviour to determine the future risk of COVID-19 infections. These findings enable us to better understand behavioural changes in response to disease spread, and thus, contribute to the development of reliable long-term forecasting of disease spread.
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22
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Richmond J, Sanderson M, Shrubsole MJ, Holowatyj AN, Schlundt DG, Aldrich MC. Psychosocial impact of COVID-19 among adults in the southeastern United States. Prev Med 2022; 163:107191. [PMID: 35964774 PMCID: PMC9367170 DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Limited research has explored the mental health impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S., especially among Black and low-income Americans who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. To address this gap in the literature, we investigated factors associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. From October to December 2020, over 4400 participants in the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS) completed a survey about the impact of the pandemic. The SCCS primarily enrolled adults with low income in 12 southeastern states. We used polytomous unconditional logistic regression to investigate factors associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. About 28% of respondents reported mild or moderate/severe depressive symptoms and 30% reported mild or moderate/severe anxiety symptoms. Respondents in fair/poor health had significantly higher odds of moderate/severe depression and anxiety than those in very good/excellent health (depression: odds ratio (OR) = 4.72 [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.57-6.23]; anxiety: OR = 4.77 [95%CI: 3.63-6.28]). Similarly, living alone was associated with higher odds of moderate/severe depression and anxiety (depression: OR = 1.74 [95%CI: 1.38-2.18]; anxiety: OR = 1.57 [95%CI: 1.27-1.95]). Individuals whose physical activity or vegetable/fruit consumption decreased since the start of the pandemic also had higher odds of moderate/severe depression and anxiety. Results overall suggest that individuals in fair/poor health, living alone, and/or experiencing decreased physical activity and vegetable/fruit consumption have higher risk of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Clinical and public health interventions are needed to support individuals experiencing depression and anxiety during the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Richmond
- Division of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States of America.
| | - Maureen Sanderson
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN, United States of America
| | - Martha J Shrubsole
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States of America
| | - Andreana N Holowatyj
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States of America
| | - David G Schlundt
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States of America
| | - Melinda C Aldrich
- Division of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States of America; Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States of America; Department of Thoracic Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States of America.
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23
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Abdolrezapour P, Ghanbari N. Emotional-based pedagogy and facilitating EFL learners' perceived flow in online education. Front Psychol 2022; 13:960287. [PMID: 36186374 PMCID: PMC9521499 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.960287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Given the fundamental role of emotional intelligence (EI) in learning, especially in virtual learning contexts where individuals experience more stress and anxiety, the need to understand and recognize one's own feelings and the mutual feelings of peers has gained more importance. Flow as the ultimate state in harnessing emotions in the service of performance and learning has been introduced as the main reason for one's willingness to perform activities which are connected to no external motivation. In this regard, the present study was conducted to first introduce a new educational program to enhance the EI level in the English as a foreign language (EFL) online education environment and next to investigate the possibility of raising EFL learners' perceived flow. To achieve these goals, the study recruited a sample of 67 EFL learners who were next divided into experimental (n = 32) and control (n = 35) groups. The experimental group received the EI intervention over 10 weeks and the control group received the ordinary online EFL instruction. Data were collected through EI and flow questionnaires and semi-structured interviews which focused on learners' perception of the EI intervention and signs of enhanced flow. Statistical analysis of the data showed a positive effect of the program on the learners' EI and their perceived flow. The study emphasizes the role of applying positive emotions in making language learners more engaged in online classroom tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parisa Abdolrezapour
- Department of English, Salman Farsi University of Kazerun, Kazerun, Iran
- *Correspondence: Parisa Abdolrezapour ;
| | - Nasim Ghanbari
- Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran
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24
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Hübner T, Wolfgang T, Theis AC, Steber M, Wiedenmann L, Wöckel A, Diessner J, Hein G, Gründahl M, Kämmerer U, Kittel-Schneider S, Bartmann C. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress and other psychological factors in pregnant women giving birth during the first wave of the pandemic. Reprod Health 2022; 19:189. [PMID: 36064560 PMCID: PMC9444078 DOI: 10.1186/s12978-022-01493-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The onset of mental illness such as depression and anxiety disorders in pregnancy and postpartum period is common. The coronavirus induced disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the resulting public policy responses represent an exceptional situation worldwide and there are hints for adverse psychosocial impact, hence, the study of psychological effects of the pandemic in women during hospitalization for delivery and in the postpartum period is highly relevant. METHODS Patients who gave birth during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany (March to June 2020) at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Würzburg, Germany, were recruited at hospital admission for delivery. Biosamples were collected for analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection and various stress hormones and interleukin-6 (IL-6). In addition to sociodemographic and medical obstetric data, survey questionnaires in relation to concerns about and fear of COVID-19, depression, stress, anxiety, loneliness, maternal self-efficacy and the mother-child bonding were administered at T1 (delivery stay) and T2 (3-6 months postpartum). RESULTS In total, all 94 recruited patients had a moderate concern of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at T1 with a significant rise at T2. This concern correlated with low to low-medium general psychosocial stress levels and stress symptoms, and the women showed a significant increase of active coping from T1 to T2. Anxiety levels were low and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale showed a medium score of 5 with a significant (T1), but only week correlation with the concerns about SARS-CoV-2. In contrast to the overall good maternal bonding without correlation to SARS-CoV-2 concern, the maternal self-efficiency correlated negatively with the obstetric impairment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSION Obstetric patients` concerns regarding SARS-CoV-2 and the accompanying pandemic increased during the course of the pandemic correlating positively with stress and depression. Of note is the increase in active coping over time and the overall good mother-child-bonding. Maternal self-efficacy was affected in part by the restrictions of the pandemic. Clinical trial registration DRKS00022506.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theresa Hübner
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 4, 97080, Würzburg, Germany.
| | - Tanja Wolfgang
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 4, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Ann-Catrin Theis
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 4, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Magdalena Steber
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 4, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Lea Wiedenmann
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 4, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Achim Wöckel
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 4, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Joachim Diessner
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 4, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Grit Hein
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Marthe Gründahl
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Ulrike Kämmerer
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 4, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Sarah Kittel-Schneider
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Catharina Bartmann
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 4, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
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Psycholinguistic changes in the communication of adolescent users in a suicidal ideation online community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2022; 32:975-985. [PMID: 36018514 PMCID: PMC9415261 DOI: 10.1007/s00787-022-02067-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, increases in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adolescents have been registered. Many adolescents experiencing suicidal ideation turn to online communities for social support. In this retrospective observational study, we investigated the communication-language style, contents and user activity-in 7975 unique posts and 51,119 comments by N = 2862 active adolescent users in a large suicidal ideation support community (SISC) on the social media website reddit.com in the onset period of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found significant relative changes in language style markers for hopelessness such as negative emotion words (+ 10.00%) and positive emotion words (- 3.45%) as well as for social disengagement such as social references (- 8.63%) and 2nd person pronouns (- 33.97%) since the outbreak of the pandemic. Using topic modeling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), we identified significant changes in content for the topics Hopelessness (+ 23.98%), Suicide Methods (+ 17.11%), Social Support (- 14.91%), and Reaching Out to users (- 28.97%). Changes in user activity point to an increased expression of mental health issues and decreased engagement with other users. The results indicate a potential shift in communication patterns with more adolescent users expressing their suicidal ideation rather than relating with or supporting other users during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Kimani-Murage EW, Osogo D, Nyamasege CK, Igonya EK, Ngira DO, Harrington J. COVID- 19 and human right to food: lived experiences of the urban poor in Kenya with the impacts of government's response measures, a participatory qualitative study. BMC Public Health 2022; 22:1399. [PMID: 35864480 PMCID: PMC9301899 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-13638-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Globally, governments put in place measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. Information on the effects of these measures on the urban poor is limited. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of the urban poor in Kenya in the context of government's COVID-19 response measures and its impact on the human right to food. METHODS A qualitative study was conducted in two informal settlements in Nairobi between January and March 2021. Analysis draws on eight focus group discussions, eight in-depth interviews, 12 key informant interviews, two photovoice sessions and three digital storytelling sessions. Phenomenology was applied to understand an individual's lived experiences with the human right to food during COVID - 19. Thematic analysis was performed using NVIVO software. RESULTS The human right to food was affected in various ways. Many people lost their livelihoods, affecting affordability of food, due to response measures such as social distancing, curfew, and lockdown. The food supply chain was disrupted causing limited availability and access to affordable, safe, adequate, and nutritious food. Consequently, hunger and an increased consumption of low-quality food was reported. Social protection measures were instituted. However, these were inadequate and marred by irregularities. Some households resorted to scavenging food from dumpsites, skipping meals, sex-work, urban-rural migration and depending on food donations to survive. On the positive side, some households resorted to progressive measures such as urban farming and food sharing in the community. Generally, the response measures could have been more sensitive to the human rights of the urban poor. CONCLUSIONS The government's COVID-19 restrictive measures exacerbated the already existing vulnerability of the urban poor to food insecurity and violated their human right to food. Future response measures should be executed in ways that respect the human right to food and protect marginalized people from resultant vulnerabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Wambui Kimani-Murage
- Department of Nutrition and Food Systems; African Population and Health Research Center, APHRC Campus, 2nd Floor, Manga Close, Off Kirawa Road, P.O. Box 10787-00100, Nairobi, Kenya.
- International Health Institute, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
| | - David Osogo
- Department of Nutrition and Food Systems; African Population and Health Research Center, APHRC Campus, 2nd Floor, Manga Close, Off Kirawa Road, P.O. Box 10787-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Carolyn Kemunto Nyamasege
- Department of Clinical Trials and Clinical Epidemiology, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8575, Japan
| | - Emmy Kageha Igonya
- Department of Nutrition and Food Systems; African Population and Health Research Center, APHRC Campus, 2nd Floor, Manga Close, Off Kirawa Road, P.O. Box 10787-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - David Otieno Ngira
- Cardiff University, Law Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, Wales, CF10, UK
| | - John Harrington
- Cardiff University, Law Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, Wales, CF10, UK
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Schmid F, Schmitt A, Hermanns N, Kulzer B, Ehrmann D. Psychosocial Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on People With Type 1 Diabetes: Results of an Ecological Momentary Assessment Study. FRONTIERS IN CLINICAL DIABETES AND HEALTHCARE 2022; 3:834643. [PMID: 36992727 PMCID: PMC10012070 DOI: 10.3389/fcdhc.2022.834643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Aims Psychological distress due to living with diabetes, demanding self-management tasks, impacts on life, and risks of complications is common among people living with diabetes. COVID-19 could pose a new additional risk factor for psychological distress in this group. This study aimed to analyze levels of COVID-19-related burdens and fears, variables explaining these levels, and associations with the concurrent 7-day COVID-19 incidence in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Methods A total of 113 people with T1D (58% women; age: 42.3 ± 9.9 years) participated in an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study between December 2020 and March 2021. The participants reported daily levels of COVID-19-related burdens and fears over 10 consecutive days. Global ratings of COVID-19-related burdens and fears were assessed using questionnaires, as were current and previous levels of diabetes distress (PAID), acceptance (DAS), fear of complications (FCQ), depressive symptoms (CES-D), and diabetes self-management (DSMQ). Current levels of diabetes distress and depressive symptoms were compared with pre-pandemic ratings gained during an earlier study phase. Associations between burdens and fears, psychosocial and somatic aspects, and the concurrent 7-day incidence rate were analyzed using multilevel regression. Results Diabetes distress and depressive symptoms reported during the pandemic were comparable to pre-pandemic levels (PAID: p = .89; CES-D: p = .38). Daily EMA ratings reflected relatively low mean COVID-19-related burdens and fears in everyday life. However, there was substantial day-to-day variation per person indicating higher burdens on specific days. Multilevel analyses showed that daily COVID-19-related burdens and fears were significantly predicted by pre-pandemic levels of diabetes distress and diabetes acceptance but were not associated with the concurrent 7-day incidence rate nor with demographic and medical variables. Conclusions This study observed no increase in diabetes distress and depressive symptoms during the pandemic in people with T1D. The participants reported low to moderate levels of COVID-19-related burdens. COVID-19-related burdens and fears could be explained by pre-pandemic levels of diabetes distress and acceptance but not by demographic and clinical risk variables. The findings suggest that mental factors may constitute stronger predictors of COVID-19-related burdens and fears than objective somatic conditions and risks in middle-aged adults with T1D.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabienne Schmid
- Research Institute Diabetes Academy Mergentheim (FIDAM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
- Diabetes Center Mergentheim (DCM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
| | - Andreas Schmitt
- Research Institute Diabetes Academy Mergentheim (FIDAM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
- Diabetes Center Mergentheim (DCM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
- German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Muenchen-Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Norbert Hermanns
- Research Institute Diabetes Academy Mergentheim (FIDAM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
- Diabetes Center Mergentheim (DCM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
- German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Muenchen-Neuherberg, Germany
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
| | - Bernhard Kulzer
- Research Institute Diabetes Academy Mergentheim (FIDAM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
- Diabetes Center Mergentheim (DCM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
- German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Muenchen-Neuherberg, Germany
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
| | - Dominic Ehrmann
- Research Institute Diabetes Academy Mergentheim (FIDAM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
- Diabetes Center Mergentheim (DCM), Bad Mergentheim, Germany
- German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Muenchen-Neuherberg, Germany
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
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Constant A, Conserve D, Gallopel-Morvan K, Raude J. Cognitive Factors Associated With Public Acceptance of COVID-19 Nonpharmaceutical Prevention Measures: Cross-sectional Study. JMIRX MED 2022; 3:e32859. [PMID: 35648730 PMCID: PMC9135098 DOI: 10.2196/32859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2021] [Revised: 10/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Background During the COVID-19 crisis, protests against restrictions emerged and rule violations increased, provoking peaks in new positive cases, forcing authorities in France to impose fines to slow down the spread of the disease. Due to these challenges, subsequent implementations of preventive measures in response to COVID-19 recurrences or other pandemics could present difficulties for decision makers. A better understanding of the factors underlying the public acceptance of COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical preventive measures may therefore contribute greatly to the design of more effective public communication during future pandemics. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptance of COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical prevention measures in France. The specific objectives were (1) to examine the public’s acceptance of COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical prevention measures and (2) to assess the association of the public’s acceptance of these prevention measures and their perception of COVID-19. Methods Data were collected from 2004 individuals through an online survey conducted 6-8 weeks after the first lockdown in France. For objective 1, participants were asked the extent to which they supported 8 COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical preventive measures using a 4-point Likert scale. For objective 2, COVID-19–related perceptions were assessed using a 5-point Likert scale from an adapted version of Witte’s Extended Parallel Process Model. Sociodemographic and environmental variables were also collected. The public’s acceptance factors were estimated using an unweighted least squares factorial analysis, and their associations with perceptions of COVID-19, expressed as rate ratios (RR) and 95% CIs, were estimated using generalized linear Poisson regression models. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical package. Results The acceptance rate reached 86.1% for individual protective measures, such as making masks mandatory in public open spaces, and 70.0% for collective restrictions, such as isolating the most vulnerable people (1604/2004, 80%) or forbidding public gatherings (n=1590, 79.3%). The least popular restrictions were closing all schools/universities and nonessential commerce such as bars and restaurants (n=1146, 57.2%). Acceptance of collective restrictions was positively associated with their perceived efficacy (RR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.03), fear of COVID-19 (RR 1.04, 95% CI 1.03-1.05), and perceived severity of COVID-19 (RR 1.04, 95% CI 1.03-1.06), and negatively with age >60 years (RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.81-0.98). Acceptance of individual protective measures was associated with their perceived efficacy (RR 1.03, 95% CI 1.03-1.04), fear of COVID-19 (RR 1.02, 1.01-1.03), and perceived severity of COVID-19 (RR 1.03, 1.01-1.05). Conclusions Acceptance rates of COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical measures were rather high, but varied according to their perceived social cost, and were more related to collective than personal protection. Nonpharmaceutical measures that minimize social costs while controlling the spread of the disease are more likely to be accepted during pandemics.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Donaldson Conserve
- Department of Prevention and Community Health Milken Institute School of Public Health George Washington University Washington, DC United States
| | | | - Jocelyn Raude
- Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique Rennes France
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Seruwagi G, Nakidde C, Lugada E, Ssematiko M, Ddamulira DP, Masaba A, Luswata B, Ochen EA, Okot B, Muhangi D, Lawoko S. Psychological distress and social support among conflict refugees in urban, semi-rural and rural settlements in Uganda: burden and associations. Confl Health 2022; 16:25. [PMID: 35551630 PMCID: PMC9096741 DOI: 10.1186/s13031-022-00451-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Accepted: 04/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent research shows that psychological distress is on the rise globally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions imposed on populations to manage it. We studied the association between psychological distress and social support among conflict refugees in urban, semi-rural and rural settlements in Uganda during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS Cross-sectional survey data on psychological distress, social support, demographics, socio-economic and behavioral variables was gathered from 1014 adult refugees randomly sampled from urban, semi-rural and rural refugee settlements in Uganda, using two-staged cluster sampling. Data was analyzed in SPSS-version 22, and statistical significance was assumed at p < 0.05. RESULTS Refugees resident in rural/semi-rural settlements exhibited higher levels of psychological distress [F(2, 1011) = 47.91; p < 0.001], higher availability of social interaction [F(2, 1011) = 82.24; p < 0.001], lower adequacy of social interaction [F(2, 1011) = 54.11; p < 0.001], higher availability of social attachment [F(2, 1011) = 47.95; p < 0.001], and lower adequacy of social attachment [F(2, 1011) = 50.54; p < 0.001] than peers in urban settlements. Adequacy of social interaction significantly explained variations in psychological distress levels overall and consistently across settlements, after controlling for plausible confounders. Additionally, adequacy of social attachment significantly explained variations in psychological distress levels among refugees in rural settlements, after controlling for plausible confounders. CONCLUSION There is a settlement-inequality (i.e. rural vs. urban) in psychological distress and social support among conflict refugees in Uganda. To address psychological distress, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) should focus on strategies which strengthen the existing social networks among refugees. Variations in social support are a key predictor of distress which should guide tailored need-adapted interventions instead of duplicating similar and generic interventions across diverse refugee settlements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gloria Seruwagi
- Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda.
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Centre for Health and Social Economic Improvement (CHASE-i), Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
| | - Catherine Nakidde
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Centre for Health and Social Economic Improvement (CHASE-i), Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Eric Lugada
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Centre for Health and Social Economic Improvement (CHASE-i), Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Maria Ssematiko
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Centre for Health and Social Economic Improvement (CHASE-i), Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | | | | | - Brian Luswata
- Directorate of Governance and Regulation, Ministry of Health, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Eric A Ochen
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Centre for Health and Social Economic Improvement (CHASE-i), Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Betty Okot
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Centre for Health and Social Economic Improvement (CHASE-i), Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Denis Muhangi
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Centre for Health and Social Economic Improvement (CHASE-i), Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Stephen Lawoko
- Department of Public Health Faculty of Medicine, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda
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Taylor SC, Smernoff ZL, Rajan M, Steeman S, Gehringer BN, Dow HC, Barzilay R, Rader DJ, Bucan M, Almasy L, Brodkin ES. Investigating the relationships between resilience, autism-related quantitative traits, and mental health outcomes among adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Psychiatr Res 2022; 148:250-257. [PMID: 35151216 PMCID: PMC8799379 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.01.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2021] [Revised: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Resilience is a dynamic process through which people adjust to adversity and buffer anxiety and depression. The COVID-19 global pandemic has introduced a shared source of adversity for people across the world, with detrimental implications for mental health. Despite the pronounced vulnerability of autistic adults to anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, relationships among autism-related quantitative traits, resilience, and mental health outcomes have not been examined. As such, we aimed to describe the relationships between these traits in a sample enriched in autism spectrum-related quantitative traits during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also aimed to investigate the impact of demographic and social factors on these relationships. Across three independent samples of adults, we assessed resilience factors, autism-related quantitative traits, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. One sample (recruited via the Autism Spectrum Program of Excellence, n = 201) was enriched for autism traits while the other two (recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk, n = 624 and Facebook, n = 929) drew from the general population. We found resilience factors and quantitative autism-related traits to be inversely related, regardless of the resilience measure used. Additionally, we found that resilience factors moderate the relationship between autism-related quantitative traits and depression symptoms such that resilience appears to be protective. Across the neurodiversity spectrum, resilience factors may be targets to improve mental health outcomes. This approach may be especially important during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and in its aftermath.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara C. Taylor
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA,Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Research Building, 415 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6145, USA,Neuroscience Graduate Group, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 140 John Morgan Bldg., 3620 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6074, USA
| | - Zoe L. Smernoff
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA,Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Research Building, 415 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6145, USA
| | - Maya Rajan
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA,Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Research Building, 415 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6145, USA
| | - Samantha Steeman
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA,Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Research Building, 415 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6145, USA
| | - Brielle N. Gehringer
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA,Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Research Building, 415 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6145, USA
| | - Holly C. Dow
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA,Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Research Building, 415 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6145, USA
| | - Ran Barzilay
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA,Lifespan Brain Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Daniel J. Rader
- Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Research Building, 415 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6145, USA
| | - Maja Bucan
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA,Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Research Building, 415 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6145, USA
| | - Laura Almasy
- Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Research Building, 415 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6145, USA,Lifespan Brain Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA,Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Edward S. Brodkin
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA,Corresponding author. Translational Research Laboratory, 125 South 31st Street, Room 2202, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3403, USA
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YALÇIN M, ÖZDEMİR D, CAKİROGLU S, ARPACIOĞLU S. Gelir düzeyi ve mesleki faktörlerin Türkiye'de COVID-19 kapanması döneminde ruh sağlığı üzerindeki etkisi. CUKUROVA MEDICAL JOURNAL 2022. [DOI: 10.17826/cumj.1022808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
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Liu R, Pan J, Zhang C, Sun X. Cardiovascular Complications of COVID-19 Vaccines. Front Cardiovasc Med 2022; 9:840929. [PMID: 35369340 PMCID: PMC8971371 DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.840929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global public health catastrophe. Vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is proven to be the most effective measure to suppress the pandemic. With the widespread application of the four vaccines, namely, ChAdOx1, Ad26.COV2.S, BNT162b2, and mRNA-1273.2, several adverse effects have been reported. The most serious type of complication is cardiovascularly related, including myocarditis, immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), cerebral sinus venous thrombosis, among others. All these adverse events undermine the health of the vaccinees and affect the administration of the vaccines. As the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is surrounded by suspicion and rumors, it is essential to provide the public with accurate reports from trusted experts and journals. Monitoring the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is an important and ongoing process that is also urgent. Thus, we summarized the cardiovascular complications of the major types of COVID-19 vaccines, including mRNA vaccines, which are now generally considered to be innovative vaccines, and the future for vaccination against COVID-19, in addition to the underlying pathogenesis and potential therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Runyu Liu
- Department of General Surgery (Vascular Surgery), The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
| | - Junbing Pan
- Department of General Surgery (Vascular Surgery), The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
| | - Chunxiang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology, Ministry of Education and Medical Electrophysiological Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Collaborative Innovation Center for Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease of Sichuan Province, Institute of Cardiovascular Research, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
- Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Key Laboratory of Luzhou, Luzhou, China
- Nucleic Acid Medicine of Luzhou Key Laboratory, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
| | - Xiaolei Sun
- Department of General Surgery (Vascular Surgery), The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology, Ministry of Education and Medical Electrophysiological Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Collaborative Innovation Center for Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease of Sichuan Province, Institute of Cardiovascular Research, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
- Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Key Laboratory of Luzhou, Luzhou, China
- Nucleic Acid Medicine of Luzhou Key Laboratory, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
- Department of Interventional Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
- King's College London British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, Faculty of Life Science and Medicine, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- *Correspondence: Xiaolei Sun ;
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Gligorić K, Chiolero A, Kıcıman E, White RW, West R. Population-scale dietary interests during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nat Commun 2022; 13:1073. [PMID: 35228539 PMCID: PMC8885865 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28498-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has altered people's lives around the world. Here we document population-wide shifts in dietary interests in 18 countries in 2020, as revealed through time series of Google search volumes. We find that during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic there was an overall surge in food interest, larger and longer-lasting than the surge during typical end-of-year holidays in Western countries. The shock of decreased mobility manifested as a drastic increase in interest in consuming food at home and a corresponding decrease in consuming food outside of home. The largest (up to threefold) increases occurred for calorie-dense carbohydrate-based foods such as pastries, bakery products, bread, and pies. The observed shifts in dietary interests have the potential to globally affect food consumption and health outcomes. These findings can inform governmental and organizational decisions regarding measures to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on diet and nutrition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristina Gligorić
- School of Computer and Communication Sciences, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Arnaud Chiolero
- Population Health Laboratory (#PopHealthLab), University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
- Institute of Primary Health Care (BIHAM), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- School of Population and Global Health, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Emre Kıcıman
- Microsoft Research, Redmond, Washington, United States
| | - Ryen W White
- Microsoft Research, Redmond, Washington, United States
| | - Robert West
- School of Computer and Communication Sciences, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Xu Z, Su C, Xiao Y, Wang F. Artificial intelligence for COVID-19: battling the pandemic with computational intelligence. INTELLIGENT MEDICINE 2022; 2:13-29. [PMID: 34697578 PMCID: PMC8529224 DOI: 10.1016/j.imed.2021.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic leading to over 180 million confirmed cases and nearly 4 million deaths until June 2021, according to the World Health Organization. Since the initial report in December 2019 , COVID-19 has demonstrated a high transmission rate (with an R0 > 2), a diverse set of clinical characteristics (e.g., high rate of hospital and intensive care unit admission rates, multi-organ dysfunction for critically ill patients due to hyperinflammation, thrombosis, etc.), and a tremendous burden on health care systems around the world. To understand the serious and complex diseases and develop effective control, treatment, and prevention strategies, researchers from different disciplines have been making significant efforts from different aspects including epidemiology and public health, biology and genomic medicine, as well as clinical care and patient management. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been introduced into the healthcare field to aid clinical decision-making for disease diagnosis and treatment such as detecting cancer based on medical images, and has achieved superior performance in multiple data-rich application scenarios. In the COVID-19 pandemic, AI techniques have also been used as a powerful tool to overcome the complex diseases. In this context, the goal of this study is to review existing studies on applications of AI techniques in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, these efforts can be grouped into the fields of epidemiology, therapeutics, clinical research, social and behavioral studies and are summarized. Potential challenges, directions, and open questions are discussed accordingly, which may provide new insights into addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and would be helpful for researchers to explore more related topics in the post-pandemic era.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenxing Xu
- Department of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York 10065, United States
| | - Chang Su
- Department of Health Service Administration and Policy, Temple University, Philadelphia 19122, United States
| | - Yunyu Xiao
- Department of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York 10065, United States
| | - Fei Wang
- Department of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York 10065, United States
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Zhang S, Liu Y, Song S, Peng S, Xiong M. The Psychological Nursing Interventions Based on Pygmalion Effect Could Alleviate Negative Emotions of Patients with Suspected COVID-19 Patients: a Retrospective Analysis. Int J Gen Med 2022; 15:513-522. [PMID: 35058708 PMCID: PMC8764294 DOI: 10.2147/ijgm.s347439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE This study aims to explore the psychological status of suspected COVID-19 patients during quarantine and put forward a new yet effective psychological nursing strategy for intervention. PATIENTS AND METHODS We performed a retrospective study with suspected COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized to the two hospitals of Hunan province, China and accepted the intervention of psychological nursing from 01/2020 to 03/2020. The control group received routine psychological nursing care and the observation group received the new psychological nursing intervention according to Pygmalion effect. RESULTS A total of 89 objects were included in the analysis. Results of the questionnaire before intervention showed that the majority of isolated suspected COVID-19 patients showed negative emotions, with the incidence of depression (51.69%), anxiety (14.617%), inverted provocation (22.47%), extraverted provocation (25.84%). And the extraverted provocation scores of female patients was significantly higher than that of male counterparts (P < 0.05). At discharge, compared with the control group, the scores of depression, anxiety, introversion and extraversion of patients in the observation group were significantly lower after nursing intervention based on Pygmalion effect. The satisfaction rate of psychological care based on Pygmalion effect was 86.66%. CONCLUSION Suspected COVID-19 patients tend to show the symptoms of depression, anxiety and irritation during quarantine. The psychological nursing based on Pygmalion effect is helpful to alleviate their negative emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sisi Zhang
- Nursing Department, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital/The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China
| | - Yazi Liu
- Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital/The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China
| | - Shuning Song
- Geriatric Department, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital/The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China
| | - Shixiong Peng
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University/Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, Changsha, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China
| | - Mao Xiong
- Ophthalmology and Stomatology Department, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital/The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China
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36
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Saha K, Yousuf A, Boyd RL, Pennebaker JW, De Choudhury M. Social Media Discussions Predict Mental Health Consultations on College Campuses. Sci Rep 2022; 12:123. [PMID: 34996909 PMCID: PMC8741988 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03423-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The mental health of college students is a growing concern, and gauging the mental health needs of college students is difficult to assess in real-time and in scale. To address this gap, researchers and practitioners have encouraged the use of passive technologies. Social media is one such "passive sensor" that has shown potential as a viable "passive sensor" of mental health. However, the construct validity and in-practice reliability of computational assessments of mental health constructs with social media data remain largely unexplored. Towards this goal, we study how assessing the mental health of college students using social media data correspond with ground-truth data of on-campus mental health consultations. For a large U.S. public university, we obtained ground-truth data of on-campus mental health consultations between 2011–2016, and collected 66,000 posts from the university’s Reddit community. We adopted machine learning and natural language methodologies to measure symptomatic mental health expressions of depression, anxiety, stress, suicidal ideation, and psychosis on the social media data. Seasonal auto-regressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) models of forecasting on-campus mental health consultations showed that incorporating social media data led to predictions with r = 0.86 and SMAPE = 13.30, outperforming models without social media data by 41%. Our language analyses revealed that social media discussions during high mental health consultations months consisted of discussions on academics and career, whereas months of low mental health consultations saliently show expressions of positive affect, collective identity, and socialization. This study reveals that social media data can improve our understanding of college students’ mental health, particularly their mental health treatment needs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koustuv Saha
- School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA. .,Microsoft Research Lab - Montreal, 6795 Rue Marconi, Suite 400, Montréal, Québec, H2S 3J9, Canada.
| | - Asra Yousuf
- School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Ryan L Boyd
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.,Security Lancaster, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.,Data Science Institute, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
| | - James W Pennebaker
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Munmun De Choudhury
- School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
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37
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Ntompras C, Drosatos G, Kaldoudi E. A high-resolution temporal and geospatial content analysis of Twitter posts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE 2022; 5:687-729. [PMID: 34697602 PMCID: PMC8528186 DOI: 10.1007/s42001-021-00150-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted all aspects of social, professional, and financial life, with concerns and responses being readily published in online social media worldwide. This study employs probabilistic text mining techniques for a large-scale, high-resolution, temporal, and geospatial content analysis of Twitter related discussions. Analysis considered 20,230,833 English language original COVID-19-related tweets with global origin retrieved between January 25, 2020 and April 30, 2020. Fine grain topic analysis identified 91 meaningful topics. Most of the topics showed a temporal evolution with local maxima, underlining the short-lived character of discussions in Twitter. When compared to real-world events, temporal popularity curves showed a good correlation with and quick response to real-world triggers. Geospatial analysis of topics showed that approximately 30% of original English language tweets were contributed by USA-based users, while overall more than 60% of the English language tweets were contributed by users from countries with an official language other than English. High-resolution temporal and geospatial analysis of Twitter content shows potential for political, economic, and social monitoring on a global and national level.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - George Drosatos
- Institute for Language and Speech Processing, Athena Research Center, Xanthi, Greece
| | - Eleni Kaldoudi
- School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupoli, Greece
- European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and Science, Brussels, Belgium
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38
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Alvarez-Mon MA, Fernandez-Lazaro CI, Ortega MA, Vidal C, Molina-Ruiz RM, Alvarez-Mon M, Martínez-González MA. Analyzing Psychotherapy on Twitter: An 11-Year Analysis of Tweets From Major U.S. Media Outlets. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:871113. [PMID: 35664489 PMCID: PMC9159799 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.871113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Internet has become the main source of information on health issues, and information now determines the therapeutic preferences of patients. For this reason, it is relevant to analyze online information discussing psychotherapy. OBJECTIVE To investigate tweets posted by 25 major US media outlets between 2009 and 2019 concerning psychotherapy. METHODS We investigated tweets posted by 25 major US media outlets about psychotherapy between January 2009 and December 2019 as well as the likes generated. In addition, we measured the sentiment analysis of these tweets. RESULTS Most of the tweets analyzed focused on Mindfulness (5,498), while a low number were related to Psychoanalysis (376) and even less to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (61). Surprisingly, Computer-supported therapy, Psychodynamic therapy, Systemic therapy, Acceptance and commitment therapy, and Dialectical behavior therapy did not generate any tweet. In terms of content, efficacy was the main focus of the posted tweets, receiving Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness a positive appraisal. CONCLUSIONS US media outlets focused their interest on Mindfulness which may have contributed to the growing popularity in the past years of this therapeutic modality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel A Alvarez-Mon
- Department of Medicine and Medical Specialities, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Alcala, Alcala de Henares, Spain.,Ramón y Cajal Institute of Sanitary Research (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor, Madrid, Spain
| | - Cesar Ignacio Fernandez-Lazaro
- Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.,Navarra's Health Research Institute (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain
| | - Miguel A Ortega
- Department of Medicine and Medical Specialities, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Alcala, Alcala de Henares, Spain.,Ramón y Cajal Institute of Sanitary Research (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain
| | - Cristina Vidal
- Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology. University of Navarra Clinic, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Rosa M Molina-Ruiz
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Melchor Alvarez-Mon
- Department of Medicine and Medical Specialities, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Alcala, Alcala de Henares, Spain.,Ramón y Cajal Institute of Sanitary Research (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain
| | - Miguel A Martínez-González
- Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.,Navarra's Health Research Institute (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Institute of Health Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
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39
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Giner L, Vera-Varela C, de la Vega D, Zelada GM, Guija JA. Suicidal Behavior in the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Curr Psychiatry Rep 2022; 24:1-10. [PMID: 35080711 PMCID: PMC8790944 DOI: 10.1007/s11920-022-01312-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Since the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been numerous social changes to try to contain the spread of the disease. These sudden changes in daily life have also changed the way we relate to others, in addition to creating a climate of uncertainty and fear. Therefore, the objective of this review is to compile published data of the consequences of suicidal behavior in the first months from the onset of the pandemic. RECENT FINDINGS The analysis reflects a concern about issues related to suicide since the beginning of the pandemic. A large number of online surveys have been released and have provided data on relatively large populations. The percentage of the population with suicidal ideation in that period seems to be approximately 5-15%. Many studies associate suicidal ideation with being young, female, and presence of sleep problems. Surveys of healthcare workers do not seem to indicate a higher prevalence of suicidal ideation compared to the general population. The incidence of suicide attempts seen in emergency departments did not seem to change, while the number of visits for other issues, unrelated to suicide, did decrease. The few studies on completed suicide do not indicate an increase in incidence in these first 6 months since March 2020, when the WHO declared the start of the pandemic. It does not seem that there have been major changes in the figures related to suicidal behavior in the studies from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, although it is still too early to know the consequences it will have long term. The social and economic damages resulting from the pandemic will certainly take a long time to recover.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Giner
- Department of Psychiatry, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain.
| | | | - Diego de la Vega
- Department of Psychiatry, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
- Unidad de Hospitalización de Salud Mental. Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental del Hospital Virgen Macarena. Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Seville, Spain
| | - Giovani M Zelada
- Internal Medicine/Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Julio A Guija
- Department of Psychiatry, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
- Instituto de Medicina Legal Y Ciencias Forenses de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
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40
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Šćepanović S, Aiello LM, Barrett D, Quercia D. Epidemic dreams: dreaming about health during the COVID-19 pandemic. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:211080. [PMID: 35116145 PMCID: PMC8790359 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The continuity hypothesis of dreams suggests that the content of dreams is continuous with the dreamer's waking experiences. Given the unprecedented nature of the experiences during COVID-19, we studied the continuity hypothesis in the context of the pandemic. We implemented a deep-learning algorithm that can extract mentions of medical conditions from text and applied it to two datasets collected during the pandemic: 2888 dream reports (dreaming life experiences), and 57 milion tweets (waking life experiences) mentioning the pandemic. The health expressions common to both sets were typical COVID-19 symptoms (e.g. cough, fever and anxiety), suggesting that dreams reflected people's real-world experiences. The health expressions that distinguished the two sets reflected differences in thought processes: expressions in waking life reflected a linear and logical thought process and, as such, described realistic symptoms or related disorders (e.g. nasal pain, SARS, H1N1); those in dreaming life reflected a thought process closer to the visual and emotional spheres and, as such, described either conditions unrelated to the virus (e.g. maggots, deformities, snake bites), or conditions of surreal nature (e.g. teeth falling out, body crumbling into sand). Our results confirm that dream reports represent an understudied yet valuable source of people's health experiences in the real world.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Deirdre Barrett
- Harvard Medical School, 352 Harvard Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Daniele Quercia
- Nokia Bell Labs, 21 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB30FA, UK
- CUSP, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK
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41
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Detsyk O, Fedorkiv N, Burak O, Kaluzhna R. Analysis of Covid-19 Hospital Admissions in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. GALICIAN MEDICAL JOURNAL 2021. [DOI: 10.21802/gmj.2021.4.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has a substantial impact on socioeconomic, political, demographic, and other aspects of life. Effective healthcare is, however, a primary determinant of successful fighting against Covid-19. The analysis of local healthcare indicators serves as a source for estimating pandemic magnitude and the adaptation of healthcare at a national level. In this study, the rates of Covid-19 hospital admissions to the Ivano-Frankivsk City Hospital, Ukraine, from April 2020 to May 2021 were analysed. All cases were grouped by age, sex, and the type of admission; data were analyzed monthly and seasonally. The peaks of hospital admissions were observed in November 2020 and March 2021; however, the highest mortality rates were seen from August to November 2020. The analysis of age- and sex-disaggregated Covid-19 mortality data showed the predominance of elderly males (61.9%, 66.6 ± 3.9 years) over females (38.1%, 71.8 ± 2.3 years). The ratio of hospital admissions was unstable: the percentage of emergency, GP-referred and self-referred admissions was similar from April to May 2020; however, GP-referred admissions prevailed, and the number of self-referral patients decreased twice between March and May 2021. In conclusions, the trends in hospital admissions were similar to those reported in other studies. However, the differences in time frames and socio-demographic characteristics were observed that highlights the importance of considering regional, social and geographic aspects of the population when improving the capacity of healthcare system and establishing effective preventive measures against the pandemic at the local level.
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42
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Luo C, Chen A, Cui B, Liao W. Exploring public perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine online from a cultural perspective: Semantic network analysis of two social media platforms in the United States and China. TELEMATICS AND INFORMATICS 2021; 65:101712. [PMID: 34887618 PMCID: PMC8429027 DOI: 10.1016/j.tele.2021.101712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2021] [Revised: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
The development and uptake of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) vaccine is a top priority in stifling the COVID-19 pandemic. How the public perceives the COVID-19 vaccine is directly associated with vaccine compliance and vaccination coverage. This study takes a cultural sensitivity perspective and adopts two well-known social media platforms in the United States (Twitter) and China (Weibo) to conduct a public perception comparison around the COVID-19 vaccine. By implementing semantic network analysis, results demonstrate that the two countries' social media users overlapped in themes concerning domestic vaccination policies, priority groups, challenges from COVID-19 variants, and the global pandemic situation. However, Twitter users were prone to disclose individual vaccination experiences, express anti-vaccine attitudes. In comparison, Weibo users manifested evident deference to authorities and exhibited more positive feelings toward the COVID-19 vaccine. Those disparities were explained by the cultural characteristics' differences between the two countries. The findings provide insights into comprehending public health issues in cross-cultural contexts and illustrate the potential of utilizing social media to conduct health informatics studies and investigate public perceptions during public health crisis time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Luo
- School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing, China
| | - Anfan Chen
- School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
| | - Botao Cui
- New China Asset Management Company, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
| | - Wang Liao
- Department of Communication, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
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43
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Yue Z, Zhang R, Xiao J. Passive social media use and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of social comparison and emotion regulation. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2021; 127:107050. [PMID: 34646057 PMCID: PMC8499034 DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2021.107050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Revised: 10/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/07/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Social media browsing is commonly seen as a trigger of unhealthy social comparison (i.e., upward contrast), which negatively affects well-being. One underlying assumption is the predominance of positive self-presentation on social media, which may have shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic when negative disclosures have become more prevalent. In this study, we conceptualize social comparison as a multi-dimensional construct based on different comparing targets and processes, and explore how individual (i.e., cognitive reappraisal) and contextual (i.e., quarantine status) factors may influence the relationships among passive social media use, social comparison and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a survey with 1131 Wuhan residents in China, we found that passive social media use was positively related to both upward contrast and downward identification, which in turn predicted a higher level of stress. Cognitive reappraisal was negatively associated with unhealthy social comparison (i.e., upward contrast and downward identification) but was positively related to healthy social comparison such as upward identification. Quarantined people tended to report more upward contrast, especially when they engaged in more frequent social media browsing. This study contributes to the larger debate about the impact of social media on mental health and offers practical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiying Yue
- Department of Communication, University at Buffalo, USA
| | - Renwen Zhang
- Department of Communication Studies, Northwestern University, USA
| | - Jun Xiao
- Center for Studies of Media Development, School of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan University, China
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44
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Torous J, Bucci S, Bell IH, Kessing LV, Faurholt-Jepsen M, Whelan P, Carvalho AF, Keshavan M, Linardon J, Firth J. The growing field of digital psychiatry: current evidence and the future of apps, social media, chatbots, and virtual reality. World Psychiatry 2021; 20:318-335. [PMID: 34505369 PMCID: PMC8429349 DOI: 10.1002/wps.20883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 268] [Impact Index Per Article: 89.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
As the COVID-19 pandemic has largely increased the utilization of telehealth, mobile mental health technologies - such as smartphone apps, vir-tual reality, chatbots, and social media - have also gained attention. These digital health technologies offer the potential of accessible and scalable interventions that can augment traditional care. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive update on the overall field of digital psychiatry, covering three areas. First, we outline the relevance of recent technological advances to mental health research and care, by detailing how smartphones, social media, artificial intelligence and virtual reality present new opportunities for "digital phenotyping" and remote intervention. Second, we review the current evidence for the use of these new technological approaches across different mental health contexts, covering their emerging efficacy in self-management of psychological well-being and early intervention, along with more nascent research supporting their use in clinical management of long-term psychiatric conditions - including major depression; anxiety, bipolar and psychotic disorders; and eating and substance use disorders - as well as in child and adolescent mental health care. Third, we discuss the most pressing challenges and opportunities towards real-world implementation, using the Integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (i-PARIHS) framework to explain how the innovations themselves, the recipients of these innovations, and the context surrounding innovations all must be considered to facilitate their adoption and use in mental health care systems. We conclude that the new technological capabilities of smartphones, artificial intelligence, social media and virtual reality are already changing mental health care in unforeseen and exciting ways, each accompanied by an early but promising evidence base. We point out that further efforts towards strengthening implementation are needed, and detail the key issues at the patient, provider and policy levels which must now be addressed for digital health technologies to truly improve mental health research and treatment in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Torous
- Division of Digital Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sandra Bucci
- Digital Research Unit, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
- Centre for Health Informatics, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Imogen H Bell
- Orygen, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Lars V Kessing
- Psychiatric Center Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Maria Faurholt-Jepsen
- Psychiatric Center Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Copenhagen Affective Disorder Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Pauline Whelan
- Digital Research Unit, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
- Centre for Health Informatics, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Andre F Carvalho
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada
- IMPACT (Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment) Strategic Research Centre, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
| | - Matcheri Keshavan
- Division of Digital Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jake Linardon
- Deakin University, Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development and School of Psychology, Burwood, VIC, Australia
| | - Joseph Firth
- Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW, Australia
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45
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Matthes J, Koban K, Neureiter A, Stevic A. Longitudinal Relationships Among Fear of COVID-19, Smartphone Online Self-Disclosure, Happiness, and Psychological Well-being: Survey Study. J Med Internet Res 2021; 23:e28700. [PMID: 34519657 PMCID: PMC8477910 DOI: 10.2196/28700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2021] [Revised: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Given that governmental prevention measures restricted most face-to-face communications, online self-disclosure via smartphones emerged as an alternative coping strategy that aimed at reducing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people's psychological health. Prepandemic research demonstrated that online self-disclosure benefits people's psychological health by establishing meaningful relationships, obtaining social support, and achieving self-acceptance, particularly in times of crisis. However, it is unclear whether these dynamics transition well to lockdown conditions where online self-disclosure must stand almost entirely on its own. Longitudinal investigations are needed to gain insights into the psychological functionalities of online self-disclosure during the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the temporal associations between smartphone online self-disclosure (as a communicative behavior) and critical indicators of psychological health (including psychopathological, as well as hedonic and eudaimonic states) during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Austria. METHODS We conducted a representative 2-wave panel survey between late March/April 2020 and May 2020. A total of 416 participants completed both waves (43.1% attrition rate, given n=731 participants who completed the first wave). A partially metric measurement invariant overtime structural equation model was used to determine the temporal associations among online self-disclosure, fear of COVID-19, happiness, and psychological well-being. RESULTS The analysis revealed that fear of COVID-19 significantly predicted online self-disclosure over time (b=0.24, P=.003) and happiness over time (b=-0.14, P=.04), but not psychological well-being (b=0.03, P=.48), that is, stronger COVID-19 fears at T1 prompted more online self-disclosure and less happiness at T2. Online self-disclosure, on the other hand, significantly predicted happiness (b=0.09, P=.02), but neither fear of COVID-19 (b=-0.01, P=.57) nor psychological well-being (b=-0.01, P=.57) over time. Participants who engaged more strongly in online self-disclosure at T1 felt happier at T2, but they did not differ from less-disclosing participants concerning COVID-19 fears and psychological well-being at T2. Importantly, happiness and psychological well-being were significantly related over time (happiness T1 → psychological well-being T2: b=0.11, P<.001; psychological well-being T1 → happiness T2: b=0.42, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that online self-disclosure might play a pivotal role in coping with pandemic stressors. With restrictions on their options, individuals increasingly turn to their smartphones and social media to disclose their feelings, problems, and concerns during lockdown. While online self-disclosure might not alleviate fears or improve psychological well-being, our results demonstrate that it made people experience more happiness during this crisis. This psychological resource may help them withstand the severe psychological consequences of the COVID-19 crisis over longer timeframes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jörg Matthes
- Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Kevin Koban
- Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Anja Stevic
- Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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46
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Zhang S, Liu M, Li Y, Chung JE. Teens' Social Media Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Time Series Examination of Posting and Emotion on Reddit. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph181910079. [PMID: 34639381 PMCID: PMC8507823 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph181910079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Revised: 09/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Research has rarely examined how the COVID-19 pandemic may affect teens' social media engagement and psychological wellbeing, and even less research has compared the difference between teens with and without mental health concerns. We collected and analyzed weekly data from January to December 2020 from teens in four Reddit communities (subreddits), including teens in r/Teenagers and teens who participated in three mental health subreddits (r/Depression, r/Anxiety, and r/SuicideWatch). The results showed that teens' weekly subreddit participation, posting/commenting frequency, and emotion expression were related to significant pandemic events. Teen Redditors on r/Teenagers had a higher posting/commenting frequency but lower negative emotion than teen Redditors on the three mental health subreddits. When comparing posts/comments on r/Teenagers, teens who ever visited one of the three mental health subreddits posted/commented twice as frequently as teens who did not, but their emotion expression was similar. The results from the Interrupted Time Series Analysis (ITSA) indicated that both teens with and without mental health concerns reversed the trend in posting frequency and negative emotion from declining to increasing right after the pandemic outbreak, and teens with mental health concerns had a more rapidly increasing trend in posting/commenting. The findings suggest that teens' social media engagement and emotion expression reflect the pandemic evolution. Teens with mental health concerns are more likely to reveal their emotions on specialized mental health subreddits rather than on the general r/Teenagers subreddit. In addition, the findings indicated that teens with mental health concerns had a strong social interaction desire that various barriers in the real world may inhibit. The findings call for more attention to understand the pandemic's influence on teens by monitoring and analyzing social media data and offering adequate support to teens regarding their mental health wellbeing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saijun Zhang
- Department of Social Work, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38677, USA
- Correspondence:
| | - Meirong Liu
- School of Social Work, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA;
| | - Yeefay Li
- Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA 22312, USA
| | - Jae Eun Chung
- Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA;
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Gianfredi V, Provenzano S, Santangelo OE. What can internet users' behaviours reveal about the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic? A systematic review. Public Health 2021; 198:44-52. [PMID: 34352615 PMCID: PMC8328639 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.06.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Revised: 05/30/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES At the end of 2019, an acute infectious pneumonia (coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began in Wuhan, China, and subsequently spread around the world starting a pandemic. Globally, to date, there have been >118 million confirmed cases, including >2 million deaths. In this context, it has been shown that the psychological impact of the pandemic is important and that it can be associated with an increase in internet searches related to fear, anxiety, depression, as well as protective behaviours, health knowledge and even maladaptive behaviours. STUDY DESIGN This is a systematic review. METHODS This review aims to collect, analyse and synthesise available evidence on novel data streams for surveillance purposes and/or their potential for capturing the public reaction to epidemic outbreaks, particularly focusing on mental health effects and emotions. RESULTS At the end of the screening process, 19 articles were included in this systematic review. Our results show that the COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on internet searches for mental health of entire populations, which manifests itself in a significant increase of depressed, anxious and stressed internet users' emotions. CONCLUSIONS Novel data streams can support public health experts and policymakers in establishing priorities and setting up long-term strategies to mitigate symptoms and tackle mental health disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincenza Gianfredi
- School of Medicine, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, 20132 Milan, Italy; CAPHRI Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, 6211 Maastricht, the Netherlands.
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Haucke M, Liu S, Heinzel S. The Persistence of the Impact of COVID-19-Related Distress, Mood Inertia, and Loneliness on Mental Health During a Postlockdown Period in Germany: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study. JMIR Ment Health 2021; 8:e29419. [PMID: 34347622 PMCID: PMC8396535 DOI: 10.2196/29419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Revised: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 07/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 increased mental health problems globally. However, little is known about mental health problems during a low-incidence period of the pandemic without strict public health measures. OBJECTIVE We aim to investigate whether COVID-19-related risk factors for mental health problems persist beyond lockdown measures. We targeted a vulnerable population that is at risk of developing low mental health and assessed their daily dynamics of mood and emotion regulation after a strict lockdown. METHODS During a postlockdown period in Germany (between August 8, 2020, and November 1, 2020), we conducted an ecological momentary assessment with 131 participants who experienced at least mild COVID-19-related distress and loneliness. To estimate negative mood inertia, we built a lag-1 three-level autoregressive model. RESULTS We found that information exposure and active daily COVID-19 cases did not have an impact on negative mood amid a postlockdown period. However, there was a day-to-day carryover effect of negative mood. In addition, worrying about COVID-19, feeling restricted by COVID-19, and feeling lonely increased negative mood. CONCLUSIONS The mental health of a vulnerable population is still challenged by COVID-19-related stressors after the lifting of a strict lockdown. This study highlights the need to protect mental health during postpandemic periods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Haucke
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany.,Department of Education and Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Shuyan Liu
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany
| | - Stephan Heinzel
- Department of Education and Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Tan H, Peng SL, Zhu CP, You Z, Miao MC, Kuai SG. Long-term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Public Sentiments in Mainland China: Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Posts. J Med Internet Res 2021; 23:e29150. [PMID: 34280118 PMCID: PMC8360336 DOI: 10.2196/29150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2021] [Revised: 07/10/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The COVID-19 outbreak has induced negative emotions among people. These emotions are expressed by the public on social media and are rapidly spread across the internet, which could cause high levels of panic among the public. Understanding the changes in public sentiment on social media during the pandemic can provide valuable information for developing appropriate policies to reduce the negative impact of the pandemic on the public. Previous studies have consistently shown that the COVID-19 outbreak has had a devastating negative impact on public sentiment. However, it remains unclear whether there has been a variation in the public sentiment during the recovery phase of the pandemic. Objective In this study, we aim to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China by continuously tracking public sentiment on social media throughout 2020. Methods We collected 64,723,242 posts from Sina Weibo, China’s largest social media platform, and conducted a sentiment analysis based on natural language processing to analyze the emotions reflected in these posts. Results We found that the COVID-19 pandemic not only affected public sentiment on social media during the initial outbreak but also induced long-term negative effects even in the recovery period. These long-term negative effects were no longer correlated with the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases both locally and nationwide during the recovery period, and they were not attributed to the postpandemic economic recession. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic induced long-term negative effects on public sentiment in mainland China even as the country recovered from the pandemic. Our study findings remind public health and government administrators of the need to pay attention to public mental health even once the pandemic has concluded.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Tan
- School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, China.,Emergency Science Joint Research Center, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Sheng-Lan Peng
- School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, China.,Emergency Science Joint Research Center, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Chun-Peng Zhu
- School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, China.,Emergency Science Joint Research Center, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Zuo You
- School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, China.,Emergency Science Joint Research Center, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Ming-Cheng Miao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (Ministry of Education), The Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Shu-Guang Kuai
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (Ministry of Education), The Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.,NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science, New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China
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Buško V, Bezinović P. Experiences With Online Teaching and Psychological Adjustment of High-School Students at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Croatia. Front Psychol 2021; 12:647991. [PMID: 34366967 PMCID: PMC8340917 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Vastly changed schooling arrangements due to the COVID-19 crisis have generally limited the opportunities and resources for schools to provide necessary psychological and other support to their students. Given this, all parties involved in the schooling system need to understand the kinds of experiences students have via distance learning and how students adapt to novel living and studying conditions. This study examines the relevant sources of stress that students encounter with regard to online classes, and the frustrations they face due to living in social isolation, as well as how these stressors relate to the measures of students’ emotional wellbeing and psychological adjustment. Data were collected in April 2020 via an online questionnaire administered to a sample of 4,492 students (62.6% female) attending all four grades of high school within two Croatian counties. The results point to the differential effects of particular aspects of online teaching practices on the stressful experiences of students. Furthermore, the results of multivariate analysis of variance and canonical discriminant analyses demonstrated notable gender and grade differences in the structure of students’ emotional and behavioral adaptation to the health crisis. Female students and those predominantly studying at the highest grade reported higher frequency and intensity of short-term emotional and psychosomatic difficulties. Male students in the final grade year scored highest on the dimension defined by the number and intensity of online teaching stressors. The results are interesting in light of hypothetical accounts of adjustment mechanisms based on existing stress theories. Moreover, the findings serve as a basis for teachers’ self-reflection and self-evaluation of schools, which can then lead to designing specific programs of support in learning and adaptation to the new living and studying conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vesna Buško
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
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