“Dies Irae?” The Role of Religiosity in Dealing with Psychological Problems Caused by The COVID-19 Pandemic—Studies on a Polish Sample

"Faith Is Not Enough?" Ego-Resiliency and Religiosity as Coping Resources with Pandemic Stress-Mediation Study

Based on the concepts of Pargament's adaptational functions of religiosity, Huber's centrality of religiosity, and Block's conceptualisation of ego-resiliency as psychosocial resources, a nonexperimental, moderated mediation project was designed for a group of 175 women and 57 men who voluntarily participated in an online study to determine whether and to what extent religiosity mediated or moderated the relationship between ego-resiliency and the severity of PTSD and depression during the COVID-19 epidemic. The analyses carried out showed that the studied variables, ego-resiliency and centrality of religiosity, were predictors of the intensity of some psychopathological reactions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic but were not connected via a mediation relationship. Therefore, one question remains open: what is the role of ego-resiliency and the nature of the stated immunogenic effect of the centrality of religiosity in dealing with the critical threat to mental health that is the COVID-19 pandemic?

The Influence of Sociodemographic Factors on Symptoms of Anxiety, the Level of Aggression and Alcohol Consumption in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic among Polish Respondents

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of most of the world's population. The authors of this study decided to identify differences in the intensity of anxiety, aggression and alcohol consumption within the study population. The study was conducted via an Internet survey. It uses Polish adaptations of international scales to assess anxiety (GAD-7), aggression (Buss and Perry Aggression Scale) and alcohol consumption (AUDIT test). A total of 538 people were examined. The surveyed group of respondents does not reflect the structure of Polish society. The group of surveyed women scored higher than men in terms of anxiety, as well as anger and hostility. The examined men were characterized by higher results of alcohol consumption and physical aggression. People between 18 and 49 years of age consumed significantly more alcohol than people aged 50 and over. People aged 18-29 obtained statistically significantly higher scores in generalized aggression and hostility. The relationships between the studied parameters do not differ significantly from those presented in other studies. People under the age of 50 are the group most exposed to the harmful effects of alcohol. Women between the ages of 30 and 49 are most vulnerable to the negative mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need for further research studies in which the studied group will obtain a greater degree of compliance with the structure of Polish society.

Spiritual Coping of Emergency Department Nurses and Emergency Medical Services Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Iran: An Exploratory Study

Emergency department (ED) nurses and emergency medical services (EMS) staff have been recently exposed to high levels of stress due to the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This increased stress level may influence the physical and mental health of ED nurses and EMS staff and the quality of caregiving to the patients. A spiritual coping approach is one of the most commonly used strategies to help healthcare workers manage stressful events or situations. This study explores the spiritual coping (positive or negative) among ED nurses and EMS staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 494 ED/EMS nurses in Ardabil Province in the northwest of Iran, using a convenience sampling method. The spiritual coping questionnaire (SCQ) was used to assess spiritual coping in the subjects. The results of this study showed that ED nurses and EMS staff generally used positive spiritual coping methods to reduce stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple linear regression indicated that workplace (β = 0.22, p < 0.001), service location (β = 0.16, p < 0.001), and type of employment (β = - 0.13, p = 0.012) were significant predictors of positive spiritual coping, and older age (β = 0.13, p = 0.045), overtime work (β = 0.12, p = 0.01), and marital status (β = - 0.12, p = 0.021) were predictors of negative spiritual coping. Our findings indicated that positive religious behavior was the main spiritual coping strategy used by healthcare workers. The findings could help emergency nurse managers to propose future strategies to minimize stress based on the use of spiritual coping strategies and provide time and facilities to pray.

Does religion predict coronavirus conspiracy beliefs? Centrality of religiosity, religious fundamentalism, and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs

There has been an increasing interest in the relationship between religion and psychosocial functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, emerging recent findings suggest that religiousness may have a Janus-face impact on how people cope with the pandemic, leading to both positive and negative social outcomes. In this project, we examine whether two types of religiousness (i.e., centrality of religiosity and religious fundamentalism) are associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and socially undesirable behavior during the pandemic. We suggest that only the most dogmatic and fundamentalistic type of religiousness could lead to conspiracy beliefs, while centrality of religiosity could be unrelated or even negatively related to this type of thinking. In a series of two studies (N = 361 and N = 394) conducted among Polish Roman Catholics, we demonstrate that religious fundamentalism, unlike centrality of religiosity, is positively related to coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, which, in turn, promote socially maladaptive behavior such as freeriding or non-adherence to safety guidelines.