Post-Traumatic Growth during COVID-19: The Role of Perceived Social Support, Personality, and Coping Strategies

A moderated chain mediation model examining the relation between smartphone addiction and intolerance of uncertainty among master's and PhD students

The theories of relational regulation and compensatory Internet use suggest that intolerance of uncertainty influences smartphone addiction (SPA), which in turn is influenced by other aspects. This study used previous results to examine how intolerance of uncertainty affects SPA in PhD and master's degree programs. A convenience sample comprising 1727 master's and PhD students (99.9 %; 50.7 % female; Mage = 27.71; SD = 3.80; range = 21-43) was recruited. Using established questionnaires, we measured SPA, anxiety, positive coping style, perceived social support, and intolerance of uncertainty. The results demonstrated that intolerance of uncertainty positively affects SPA in terms of predictive power. Furthermore, anxiety and positive coping style mediate that link in a cascade fashion. A greater SPA indicates that the individual is less likely to use a positive coping style, has a higher anxiety level, and has a lower tolerance for uncertainty. While thinking about how intolerance of uncertainty affects anxiety and positive coping style, perceived social support mediates the relationship. Intolerance of uncertainty has less impact on anxiety and positive coping style when perceived social support is high. These results indicate the possibility of examining SPA prevention and intervention from several angles. Therefore, emotional regulation, which modifies anxiety and the tendency to use a positive coping style, may reduce the impact of intolerance of uncertainty on SPA. Another successful strategy for reducing smartphone addiction is to provide social support from loved ones and the community at large.

The relationship of social support to posttraumatic growth in COVID-19 among college students after experiencing campus lockdown: the effects of belief in a just world and meaning in life

Background

Campus lockdown orders were issued for the purpose of preventing and controlling COVID-19, which resulted in psychological problems among college students. However, the experiences they have during the pandemic may also lead to positive personal changes, including posttraumatic growth (PTG). The current study examined the mediating role of belief in a just world and meaning in life in social support and PTG during the COVID-19 campus lockdown.

Method

An online survey was conducted on 1711 college students in Hebei Province, China. Based on the survey results, a structural equation model was established.

Results

Social support positively predicted PTG. Furthermore, belief in a just world and meaning in life played a mediating role between social support and PTG respectively. Besides, social support could also predict PTG through the multiple serial mediating effect of belief in a just world and meaning in life.

Conclusion

These results indicated mechanisms by which social support influenced PTG, and this provided insights into how to promote post-traumatic growth among university students in the post-pandemic period.

Factors Associated with Post-Traumatic Growth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented event that further stimulated the debate on the concept of trauma. To increase knowledge about the traumatic potential of the pandemic, the main objective of this study was to identify, through a systematic literature review, the main factors associated with the adaptive outcome of post-traumatic growth caused by COVID-19. Studies were selected from the PsychInfo, Embase, and PubMed databases, and 29 articles were included at the end of the screening process. The identified factors are of different natures, including personal variables such as personality traits, coping, and cognitive strategies used to face adversity, and interpersonal variables, one of the most important of which is the level of social support. In addition, several results confirmed a relationship between post-traumatic growth and post-traumatic stress symptoms, as well as indices related to psychological well-being. Finally, the results are discussed by comparing them with those already present in the literature, as well as with some of the main explanatory models of post-traumatic growth. In this regard, some of the factors identified, such as maladaptive coping, avoidance symptoms, optimism, and low-stress tolerance, suggest the possibility that the process of post-traumatic growth may also be characterized by an illusory dimension.

Effects of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue on posttraumatic growth of psychiatric nurses: A cross-sectional study

AIMS

This study aimed to explore the effects of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue on the posttraumatic growth of psychiatric nurses.

BACKGROUND

Psychiatric nurses' prolonged and repeated exposure to trauma and complex situations in the work environment can lead to negative emotions such as compassion fatigue, but they also experience positive consequences such as posttraumatic growth, and the relationship between compassion fatigue and posttraumatic growth is not unclear.

METHODS

A total of 336 nurses from psychiatry departments of seven tertiary hospitals in Sichuan Province, China, were administered an online questionnaire. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling. The posttraumatic growth level was measured with the Simplified Chinese version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. The Professional Quality of Life Scale-Chinese version was used to assess compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress. T-test and one-way variance analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and hierarchical linear regression were used for data analysis. A STROBE checklist was used to guide the reporting of the research.

RESULTS

Psychiatric nurses' posttraumatic growth is at a low level, influenced by demographic and occupational factors, whereas compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress are at a moderate level. Hierarchical regression analysis suggested that compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress had a positive impact on posttraumatic growth, whereas burnout had a negative impact on posttraumatic growth.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that nursing managers should attach importance to the mental health of psychiatric nurses, improve compassion satisfaction, alleviate burnout and promote posttraumatic growth.

Physicians' Resilience as a Positive Effect of COVID-19

People devoid of COVID-19 may exhibit mental health problems, such as anxiety disorders, depression, panic attack, insomnia, emotional disorder, and suicidal actions. Healthcare workers (HCWs) may also exhibit these problems. Physicians should be careful an "at-risk" population. Physicians revealed higher levels of resilience than the popular workers. Humans with stronger resilience have lower feeling of anxiety and depression. We investigated the risk to physicians from an infected environment to infected patients during the pandemic. The social and psychological support of all HCWs, particularly physicians, is significant in the fight against this pandemic. Physicians working with patients with COVID-19 should set enough time to relax, sleep, and spend time with family. Resilience in physicians facing COVID-19 can induce post-traumatic growth in the future.

Hope, optimism, and pessimism as predictors of positive and negative psychological changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovak adults

Background and objectives

Positive and negative changes in outlook represent psychological changes that are the results of the cognitive processing of stressful and traumatic events by an individual. The objectives of the study were (1) to determine the level of occurrence and types of positive and negative changes in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic among adults in Slovakia and (2) to study the role of personality factors such as hope (dispositional and perceived) and life orientation (optimism and pessimism) in the prediction of positive and negative changes in adults during the fourth pandemic wave.

Methods

A Short Form of the Changes in Outlook Questionnaire (CiOQ-S), the Dispositional Hope Scale (DHS), the Perceived Hope Scale (PHS), and the Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) were administered. The research sample consisted of 102 participants, whose ages ranged from 20 to 65 years (Mage = 38.90, SD = 14.28). The research design was quantitative, exploratory, and confirmatory.

Results

In total, 95% of participants reported positive changes related to COVID-19. Concurrently, up to 70% of these participants also reported negative changes from the impact of the pandemic. Only 25% of participants reported positive changes without noticing any negative perception of the consequences of the pandemic. Overall, 68% of participants reported negative changes related to COVID-19. Only 29% of participants reported negative changes without noticing any positive perception of the consequences of the pandemic. In total, up to 86% of participants agreed with experienced psychological changes (positive or negative) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The high prevalence of positive changes along with the relatively high prevalence of negative changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic outline the question of whether reported positive changes represent real or illusory growth. Optimism and pessimism were found to be significant independent predictors of positive changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hope was identified as a significant independent predictor of negative changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"What does not kill you… mutates and tries again." A study on personality determinants of post-traumatic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic was recognized as a collective trauma and as a major threat to mental health. Recent literature focused on the stress symptomatology or post-traumatic stress disorder associated to the COVID-19 exposure. The concept that people have a natural inclination toward growth, even under stressful and threatening events, gathered less attention. Previous research has analyzed antecedents of post-traumatic growth (PTG) with non-conclusive results. Methods. The present research aimed at including findings on PTG from personality traits, i.e., sense of control and self-mastery, and distal condition of nurturance and support received by others, i.e., cognitive and affective well-being. Analyses were based on 4934 interviews with adults (Mage = 57.81 years, 55.5% women) from the Swiss Household Panel study. Results. Relationships over time emerged between sense of control and self-mastery on PTG and worries, measured after two years, via the mediation of cognitive and affective well-being. Conclusion. Results come from a large study in a design seldom employed in this type of research and can inform both research and interventions.

Threat Appraisal, Resilience, and Health Behaviors in Recovered COVID-19 Patients: The Serial Mediation of Coping and Meaning-Making

Research indicates that both cognitive appraisal and personal resources can noticeably influence health behaviors, as individuals modify their health convictions and practices on the basis of threat appraisal, personality, and meaning. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether coping strategies and meaning-making can serially mediate the relationship of threat appraisal and resilience with health behaviors in recovered COVID-19 patients. Self-report measures of threat appraisal, resilience, coping, meaning-making, and health behaviors were completed by 266 participants (aged 17 to 78, 51.5% female) who had recovered from COVID-19. The serial mediation analysis showed that the relationship of threat appraisal and resilience with health behaviors was mediated by problem-focused coping, meaning-focused coping, and meaning-making, but not by emotion-focused coping. These results suggest that associations among threat perception, resilience, and health behavior depend to some extent on the interplay of coping and meaning-making, which reveals their unique role in the process of recovery from COVID-19, with potential implications for health interventions.

The relationship between fear of COVID-19 and psychological resilience according to personality traits of university students: A PATH analysis

PURPOSE

The purpose of the current research was to identify the influence of university students' personality traits on their fear of COVID-19 and psychological resilience levels.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A cross-sectional trial was completed with 690 students. Descriptive statistics and correlations were calculated, and a path analysis was employed with the objective of assessing the model fit and investigating direct and indirect impacts.

FINDINGS

Among personality traits, conscientiousness and neuroticism were observed to affect fear of COVID-19, and conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience had an effect on psychological resilience. The tested model has a good fit and explains the direct effects of the study variables.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Nurses should improve university students' psychological resilience by supporting them with protective and improving factors. The role of the psychiatric nurse is important in providing conscious and need-oriented support in extraordinary events such as pandemics.

The relationship between social support and Internet addiction among Chinese college freshmen: A mediated moderation model

Purpose

Internet addiction has become a worldwide mental health problem, and this problem is particularly prominent in China. Although current studies have shown that social support is closely related to Internet addiction, the mechanism of the relationship between the two is not clear at present. This study aimed to find out the influencing factors and the mechanism of Internet addiction among college freshmen, and to form scientific prevention and intervention plan on this basis.

Method

This study adopts the cluster sampling method to select 322 college freshmen in a typical postsecondary school in Shandong Province, using Chinese Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), and Network-related Maladaptive Cognition Scale (NRMCS) to investigate the relationship between social support, network-related maladaptive cognition, gender, and the degree of Internet addiction.

Results

The findings of this study are as follows: (1) After controlling age and family location, social support had a significant negative predictive effect on Internet addiction; (2) Gender acted as a moderator between the relationship of social support and Internet addiction; and (3) Additionally, the moderating effect of gender was completely mediated by network-related maladaptive cognition.

Conclusion

There is a mediated moderating effect between social support and Internet addiction. That is, gender plays a moderating role between social support and Internet addiction, and this moderating effect is mediated by network maladaptive cognition.

The relationship between social support and Internet addiction among Chinese college freshmen: A mediated moderation model

Purpose

Internet addiction has become a worldwide mental health problem, and this problem is particularly prominent in China. Although current studies have shown that social support is closely related to Internet addiction, the mechanism of the relationship between the two is not clear at present. This study aimed to find out the influencing factors and the mechanism of Internet addiction among college freshmen, and to form scientific prevention and intervention plan on this basis.

Method

This study adopts the cluster sampling method to select 322 college freshmen in a typical postsecondary school in Shandong Province, using Chinese Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), and Network-related Maladaptive Cognition Scale (NRMCS) to investigate the relationship between social support, network-related maladaptive cognition, gender, and the degree of Internet addiction.

Results

The findings of this study are as follows: (1) After controlling age and family location, social support had a significant negative predictive effect on Internet addiction; (2) Gender acted as a moderator between the relationship of social support and Internet addiction; and (3) Additionally, the moderating effect of gender was completely mediated by network-related maladaptive cognition.

Conclusion

There is a mediated moderating effect between social support and Internet addiction. That is, gender plays a moderating role between social support and Internet addiction, and this moderating effect is mediated by network maladaptive cognition.

'Caring for the helpers': factors associated with professional quality of life among Hong Kong nurses during the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Western studies have found that nurses are likely to experience both positive and negative emotions in their job, as a helping profession [professional quality of life (ProQoL)] during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and that psychosocial and work-related variables (e.g. pandemic-related stressors, interpersonal and organizational support, coping strategies) are associated with such outcomes. However, relevant studies on nurses in the Asian context are limited.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the psychosocial correlates of three indicators of ProQoL, i.e. compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress (STS), and burnout, among nurses during the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

METHOD

Nurses in Hong Kong (N = 220) working in hospitals and community settings during the COVID-19 pandemic were recruited between 24 May and 27 June 2022 through nursing associations to complete an online survey measuring the aforementioned psychosocial variables.

RESULTS

Hierarchical regression results found that stressors from clinical work environments, insufficient emotional support, and less positive reframing were associated with poorer ProQoL (i.e. lower compassion satisfaction; higher STS and burnout) (β from 0.16, p > .05, to 0.44, p > .001). In addition, COVID-19-related worries/uncertainties and emotional processing were associated with higher STS (β from 0.21 to 0.23, p < .01), whereas insufficient organizational support for communication with the healthcare system was associated with higher burnout (β = 0.12, p < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings identified the important psychosocial determinants in ProQoL among nurses in Hong Kong and provide recommendations for services supporting the mental health of these nurses. Providing workshops for nurses to train their skills in coping with COVID-19-related uncertainties, worries, and stressors from the clinical work environment, in using adaptive coping strategies (e.g. positive reframing), and in soliciting emotional support from important others could facilitate their ProQoL. Moreover, the provision of organizational support through timely and transparent communication with the healthcare system could reduce STS in nurses.

Growing in Suffering: The Curvilinear Relationship Between Prolonged Grief and Post-traumatic Growth of Recently Bereaved Individual During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to mourning and growth of bereaved. The purpose is to explore the relationship between the prolonged grief (PG) symptoms and the post-traumatic growth (PTG) of recently bereaved people during the COVID-19 period, and the mediating role of meaning making. 305 participants were recruited to complete the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, Inventory of Complicated Grief, and Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses and Medcurve in SPSS were adapted to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that there was a curvilinear relationship between PG and PTG and meaning making had a completely mediating effect on this relationship. Different intervention goals - whether alleviating distress or cultivating growth - should be set up according to the level of grief for recently bereaved individuals during COVID-19. More attention should be paid to the role of meaning making in the future clinical practice.

Psychological health in COVID-19 patients after discharge from an intensive care unit

Along with physical changes, psychological changes are detectable in patients with COVID-19. In these patients, the stressful experience of intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalization may aggravate psychological conditions. Our study examines the short- and long-term psychological consequences of COVID-19 in ICU patients. COVID-19 patients completed the self-rating questionnaires Kessler 10 Psychological Distress Scale (K10), Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS), Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R), and Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) and were clinically interviewed 1 and 6 months after discharge. Altered behavioral-psychological symptoms and patients' strategies (adaptive vs. maladaptive) for coping with stress during and after hospitalization were coded during clinical interviews. Between 20 and 30% of patients showed moderate symptoms of depression or anxiety and perceived stress 1 and 6 months after discharge. Sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, confusion in placing events, and fear of reinfection were observed in many (6-17%) patients. At 6 months, only 7% of patients showed PTSD symptoms, and 50% showed post-traumatic growth in the "appreciation of life" sub-scale. Finally, 32% of subjects were classified as "maladaptive coping patients," and 68% as "adaptive coping patients." Patients who adopted "adaptive" coping strategies showed significantly lower levels of anxious-depressive symptoms and perceived stress when compared to subjects with "maladaptive" strategies at both time points. Coping strategy had no effect on PTSD symptoms or post-traumatic growth at 6 months. These findings clarify the short- and long-term psychological effects of intensive care due to COVID-19 infection and demonstrate that patient characteristics, particularly strategies for coping with stress, seem to play a critical role in psychological outcomes.