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This study was designed to assess the psychological factors influencing life satisfaction of undergraduates. The instruments used were Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS), Rosenberge Self-esteem Scale (RSS), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). A total number of 190 participants were purposively selected across various faculties in Ekiti State University. Four hypotheses were tested using Independent t-test to find the effects of perceived stress, emotional intelligence, and self-esteem on life satisfaction. Multiple regression was used to find the joint and individual influences of these variables. The results showed that there is no significant influence of perceived stress on life satisfaction (t (75) = 1.23, p = .22, 95% CI [-1.14, 4.83). There is no significant influence of self-esteem on life satisfaction (t (51) = -1.31, p = .20, 95% CI [-5.28, 1.11), and there is no significant joint influence of perceived stress, emotional intelligence and self-esteem on life satisfaction (F (3,187) = 1.79, p = .15, R2 =.03). Additionally, perceived stress (β = .07, p = .33), emotional intelligence (β = .14, p = 054) and self-esteem (β = .02, p = .83) did not have independent influences on life satisfaction. Implications of the present findings for future research are discussed, as well as potential interventions for improving life satisfaction.

Previous research has demonstrated a clear link between late chronotype and depression. The vulnerability factors underpinning this link, however, are unclear. Here the relationship between two specific emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, and chronotype was investigated using multiple regression. Two hundred and fourty participants (age range 18- 80, 189 females) completed validated self-report questionnaires assaying chronotype, neuroticism, depression symptomatology, sleep quality and emotion regulation. Eveningness was associated increased expressive suppression and morningness was associated with increased cognitive reappraisal after controlling for age, gender, depressive symptomatology, neuroticism and sleep quality. Trait expressive suppression and reduced cognitive reappraisal are known to increase depression risk. Our results suggest that eveningness is associated with impaired emotion regulation which may confer risk for future depression. These findings suggest modifiable markers that could be therapeutically targeted to prevent the onset of depression in late chronotype individuals.

Introduction: Passive detection of cigarette smoking offers potential for considerable benefits to researchers exploring smoking behaviour and designing precision behaviour change interventions. A number of systems have been developed that either use bespoke sensing technology, or rely on connected smartphones to run analytical software. Here we present StopWatch, a system for passive detection of cigarette smoking that runs on a smartwatch and does not require additional sensing or a connected smartphone.Methods: Our system uses motion data from the accelerometer and gyroscope in an Android smartwatch to detect the signature hand movements of cigarette smoking. It uses a three-stage analytical pipeline to transform raw motion data into motion features, and in turn into individual drags and instances of smoking. This pipeline runs on the smartwatch, and does not require a smartphone.Results: We validated the system in daily smokers (n=13) in laboratory and free-living conditions running on an Android LG G-Watch. In free-living conditions, over a 24 hour period, the system achieved precision of 86% and recall of 71%.Conclusions: StopWatch is a system for passive measurement of cigarette smoking that runs entirely on a commercially available smartwatch. It runs on an Android smartwatch and requires no smartphone so the cost is low. No bespoke sensing equipment is needed, and it uses a mass-market smartwatch, so participant burden is low. Performance is currently lower than other more expensive and complex systems, though adequate for some applications. Future developments will focus on enhancing performance, and validation on a range of smartwatches.

An emerging area of research in cognitive science is the utilization of networks to model the structure and processes of the mental lexicon in healthy and clinical populations, like aphasia. Previous research has focused on only one type of word similarity at a time (e.g., semantic relationships), even though words are multi-faceted. Here, we investigate lexical retrieval in a picture naming task from people with Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia and healthy controls by utilizing a multiplex network structure that accounts for the interplay between multiple semantic and phonological relationships among words in the mental lexicon. Extending upon previous work, we focused on the global network measure of closeness centrality which is known to capture spreading activation, an important process supporting lexical retrieval. We conducted a series of logistic regression models predicting the probability of correct picture naming. We tested whether multiplex closeness centrality was a better predictor of picture naming performance than single-layer closeness centralities, other network measures assessing local and meso-scale structure, psycholinguistic variables and group differences. We also examined production gaps, or the difference between the likelihood of producing a word with the lowest and highest closeness centralities. Our results indicated that multiplex closeness centrality was a significant predictor of picture naming performance, where words with high closeness centrality were more likely to be produced than words with low closeness centrality. Additionally, multiplex closeness centrality outperformed single-layer closeness centralities and other multiplex network measures, and remained a significant predictor after controlling for psycholinguistic variables and group differences. Furthermore, we found that the facilitative effect of closeness centrality was similar for both types of aphasia. Our results underline the importance of integrating multiple measures of word similarities in cognitive language networks for better understanding lexical retrieval in aphasia, with an eye towards future clinical applications.

Imagination is an adaptive ability that can be directed toward the pursuit of personal goals. Although there is a wealth of research on goals and on imagination, few studies lie at the intersection—little is known about individual differences in goal-directed imagination. In 153 adults, we examined how 28 aspects of goal setting, pursuit, and goal-directed imagination relate to mental health. Higher well-being and lower depressive symptoms were strongly linked (a) to having goals that were more attainable, under control, and expected to bring more joy and (b) to goal-directed imagination that was clearer, more detailed, more positive, and less negative. Importantly, the emotional valence of goal-directed imagination strongly predicted well-being at a 2-month follow-up even after controlling for mental health at baseline. These findings underscore the relevance of goal-directed imagination to well-being and depressive symptoms and highlight potential targets for goal- and imagery-based interventions to improve mental health.

During the pandemic, people may experience various mental health problems. Psychological strengths may help them to cope with emerging challenges and foster mental health and well-being. This study examined the associations between resilience, dispositional hope, preventive behaviours, subjective well-being, and psychological health among adults during early stage of COVID-19. A total of 220 participants from general public participated this study completing a battery of measures (134 men [M age = 42.36 years, SD = 8.99, range = 18 to 60] and 86 women [M age = 36.73 years, SD = 7.44, range = 18 to 51]). This cross-section study indicated that resilience mediated the relationship between hope and psychological health and subjective well-being. Results also showed that hope, and resilience had significant direct effects on psychological health, and subjective well-being while preventive behaviours did not manifest a significant effect on these two variables except on resilience. Preventive behaviours mediated the relationship between hope and resilience. The results suggest that we should more pay attention to hope and resilience for the development and improvement of well-being and psychological health during the times of crisis.

Only a portion of individuals experiencing chronic stress and associated increases in inflammation go on to develop pathological elevations in mood and anxiety symptoms. Some prevailing models suggest that the outcomes of chronic stress may largely depend on individual differences in perceived control. In the current study, we used this theoretical framework to disambiguate the influence of autonomic arousal and perceived control on inflammatory and psychological outcomes in a large sample of adults from the Midlife in the United States dataset (wave 2; MIDUS-2) (Final N ​= ​1030), and further replicated our approach in a second (MIDUS-Refresher) cohort (Final N ​= ​728). Using k-means clustering we created subgroups systematically differing in subjective arousal (high/low) and perceived control (low/high) and compared these subgroups on inflammatory markers and psychological outcomes. Overall results showed that individuals in the high subjective arousal subgroups had higher levels of IL-6, CRP, and FIB, independent of level of CNTL. However, distinctive, and pathological psychological symptom patterns became more apparent when individuals were characterized by both subjective arousal and perceived control. These findings suggest that subtyping individuals based on subjective arousal and perceived control can help us disentangle pathological versus adaptive mental health outcomes in those with co-occurring inflammation and may help identify those vulnerable to psychopathology in the context of physical or psychological stressor exposure., Highlights • Clustering along subjective arousal and perceived control produced reliable subgroups in adults. • High arousal subgroups had higher IL-6 and CRP levels in both main and replication samples, independent of control. • Each of the four arousal/control subgroups showed distinct affective phenotypes. • Low perceived control subgroups uniquely reported low positive affect. • Effect of low perceived control on positive affect is dissociable from high negative affect and inflammation.

Objective: Although basing conclusions on confidence intervals for effect size estimates is preferred over relying on null hypothesis significance testing alone, confidence intervals in psychology are typically very wide. One reason may be a lack of easily applicable methods for planning studies to achieve sufficiently tight confidence intervals. This paper presents tables and freely accessible tools to facilitate planning studies for the desired accuracy in parameter estimation for a common effect size (Cohen’s d). In addition, the importance of such accuracy is demonstrated using data from the Reproducibility Project: Psychology (RPP).Results: It is shown that the sampling distribution of Cohen’s d is very wide unless sample sizes are considerably larger than what is common in psychology studies. This means that effect size estimates can vary substantially from sample to sample, even with perfect replications. The RPP replications’ confidence intervals for Cohen’s d have widths of around 1 standard deviation (95% confidence interval from 1.05 to 1.39). Therefore, point estimates obtained in replications are likely to vary substantially from the estimates from earlier studies.Conclusion: The implication is that researchers in psychology -and funders- will have to get used to conducting considerably larger studies if they are to build a strong evidence base.

We conducted a rapid review and quantitative summary of meta-analyses that have examined interventions which can be used by individuals during quarantine and social distancing to manage anxiety, depression, stress and subjective well-being. A literature search yielded 34 meta-analyses (total number of studies k = 1,390, n = 145,744) that were summarized. Overall, self-guided interventions showed small to medium effects in comparison to control groups demonstrating their effectiveness. In particular, therapeutic approaches (including cognitive-behavioral, mindfulness, and acceptance-based interventions), selected positive psychology interventions, and multi-component and activity based interventions (music, physical exercise) showed promising evidence for effectiveness. Many of these interventions are available in online or smartphone app form. At the same time, self-guided interventions on average did not show the same degree of effectiveness as traditional guided individual or group therapies. The review points to activities and practices that can be adapted by individuals as a first step to manage their mental health during social distancing and quarantines. Further research is clearly needed on activities helping individuals to interact and live in constrained living conditions (e.g, improving social interactions during quarantine) and the relative effectiveness of self-guided interventions across cultural boundaries.

In this study, we investigated the perception of risk and the worries about COVID-19 infection in both healthcare workers and general population in Italy. We studied the difference in risk perception in these two groups, and how this related to demographic variables and psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, and death anxiety. To this aim, we administered an online questionnaire about COVID-19 together with other questionnaires assessing the psychological condition of participants. First, we found that the exposition to infection risk, due to living area or job, increased the perceived stress and anxiety (i.e. medical staff in North Italy was more stressed and anxious respect to both medical- and non-medical participants from Center and South Italy). Then, we conducted hierarchical logistic regression models on our data to assess the response odds ratio relatively to each predictor on each dependent variable. We found that health workers reported higher risk perception, level of worry, and knowledge as related to COVID-19 infection compared to general population. Also psychological state, gender, and living area were important predictors of these factors. Instead, judgments about behaviors and containment rules were more linked to demographics, such as gender and alcohol consumption. We discussed these results in the light of risk factors for psychological distress and possible interventions to meet the psychological needs of healthcare workers.

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may raise unique challenges for individuals with experience of eating disorders. Many factors have potential for detrimental impacts on psychological wellbeing and eating disorder recovery, including: Disruption to living situations, ‘social distancing’ restrictions, difficult access to healthcare, and societal changes to food behaviours and technology usage. To date, little is known on the impact of the pandemic on this population, particularly within the UK. Method A mixed-methods online survey was developed for the purpose of this study. Data was collected from 129 individuals currently experiencing, or in recovery from, an eating disorder during the early stages of the UK pandemic lockdown. Participants were aged between 16 and 65 years, with 121 participants identifying as female, 7 male and 1 participant preferring not to disclose their gender. Results Findings suggest that the pandemic is having a profound, negative impact upon individuals with experience of eating disorders. Eight key themes were generated: Disruption to living situation, increased social isolation and reduced access to usual support networks, changes to physical activity rates, reduced access to healthcare services, disruption to routine and perceived control, changes to relationship with food, increased exposure to triggering messages, and positive outcomes. The results suggest detrimental impacts on psychological wellbeing including decreased feelings of control, increased feelings of social isolation, increased rumination about disordered eating, and low feelings of social support. Conclusions Individuals with eating disorders are at significant risk of negative impacts of the pandemic. There is a vital need for interventions to support this population. Inequalities in healthcare provision were identified, emphasising a need for a more cohesive approach to remote treatment across UK healthcare services. Positive aspects of technology use were identified but the results suggest a need to address and/or limit the potential for negative impacts of public messages around food and exercise behaviours, and to co-design technologies with end-users to facilitate effective treatment.

Background: Extant research relating to the psychological impact of infectious respiratory disease epidemics/pandemics suggests that frontline workers are particularly vulnerable.Methods: The current study used data from the first two waves of the United Kingdom (UK) survey of the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study to compare frontline workers with the rest of the UK population on prevalence estimates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD during the first week of ‘lockdown’ (Wave 1) and one month later (Wave 2).Results: Compared to the rest of the population, frontline workers generally, and individual frontline worker groups, had significantly higher prevalence estimates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD during both wave 1 and wave 2. While prevalence estimates of depression significantly increased among Local & National Government Workers from Wave 1 (15.4%) to Wave 2 (38.5%), no significant improvement or deterioration in mental health status was recorded for any other frontline worker group. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis showed that, beyond other risk factors, food workers were nearly twice as likely as others to screen positive for anxiety, while all frontline worker groups, other than transport workers, were significantly more likely to screen positive for PTSD (Odds Ratios ranged from 1.74 – 3.43). Finally, while frontline workers, generally, were significantly more likely than the general public to have received mental health advice during the pandemic (26.9% versus 20.3% respectively), this was largely reflective of health and social care workers (37.9%).Conclusions: These findings offer timely and valuable information on the psychological health status of UK’s frontline workforce during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and may aid in preparations for their future psychological and mental health support.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused uncertainty and disruptions in daily life. It has mandated social distancing and online education. Teens are spending a significant amount of time online and less time on extracurricular activities including team sports, choir/orchestra, and school socials. The cancellation of SAT, the switch to online AP exams, and the Credit/No Credit policy for 2nd-semester all contribute to the uncertainty in students regarding their future. Our project aims to create a survey that seeks opinions from teens about how they are managing with online socialization, the effectiveness of the online school, and stress levels. Using convenience sampling, adolescents (n = 168) were invited to participate in an anonymous online survey. Participants were asked about the effectiveness of online socializing, online education, hobbies, and extracurriculars to determine stress levels. We looked at models with two dependent stress variables: “low energy, insomnia and headache” and “forgetfulness and disorganization”. We used descriptive, regression, and correlation analysis to assess what the predictors of anxiety and stress are. Results show that stress levels are highly correlated with online exposure, online schooling, the credit/no credit, and home environment. The purpose of this study is to help school communities and leaders understand the effects on teens during the shelter in place order and identify areas of improvement in socio-academic life. Further studies need to be conducted to follow up with the findings of this project.

In the context of the global outbreak of COVID-19, there is an urgent need to explore the effects of this pandemic on the mental health of adolescents. The present study aims to adapt and validate a Japanese-version Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) with a sample of adolescent students from Japan. To this end, the Japanese-version FCV-19S, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents (PHQ-A), and Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale (PVDS) were administered to a sample of Japanese adolescents in schools. The results of statistical analyses revealed that the Japanese-version FCV-19S has a bi-factor model consisting of the emotional response factor and the physiological response factor, with a high reliability (emotional: α = .71; physiological: α = .82). Constructive validity was shown by the significant positive correlation between the GAD-7 and emotional (r = .11) and physiological response (r = .25), between PHQ-A and physiological response (r = .19), as well as between both factors and the PVDS subscale (rs > .16). Taken together, these results indicate that the Japanese-version FCV-19S has a high internal consistency and a moderately good construct validity.

This study anonymously examined 2,734 psychiatric patients worldwide for worsening of their pre-existing psychiatric condition during the COVID-19 pandemic. Valid responses mainly from 12 featured countries indicated self-reported worsening of psychiatric conditions in 2/3rd of the patients assessed that was validated through their significantly higher scores on scales for general psychological disturbance, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. Female gender, feeling no control of the situation and reporting dissatisfaction with the response of the state during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reduced interaction with family and friends increased the worsening of pre-existing psychiatric conditions, whereas optimism, ability to share concerns with family and friends and using social media like usual were associated with less worsening. An independent clinical investigation from the USA confirmed worsening of psychiatric conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic based on identification of new symptoms that necessiated clinical interventions such as dose adjustment or starting new medications in more than half of the patients. Funding Statement: The authors worked voluntarily for this project and have no funding source to disclose. AJ is supported by an International Research Agenda (MAB) grant by Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: The study procedures were reviewed and approved by University of Zurich Research Office for Scientific Integrity and Cantonal Ethics Commission for the canton of Zurich (Switzerland; Appendix 3), Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw (Poland; Appendix 4), and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tuzla, Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina; Appendix 5).

Mental health is a state of well-being associated with happiness, joy, satisfaction, achievement,optimism, or hope. While mental disorders are behavioral or psychological patterns that areshown by individuals that cause distress, dysfunction, and reduce the quality of life (Stuart,2013). Based on the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 18 Year 2014, mental health is acondition where an individual can develop physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially so thatthe individual is aware of his own abilities, can deal with stress, can work productively, and isable to contribute to the community.

The COVID-19 outbreak and the restrictions that have been enforced by the health authorities are having a profound psychological impact on the population. Many people, including the students, faced forced modifications to their daily lives and this prompted the need for scalable strategies to promote resilience. We designed an online community intervention for psychology students and recent alumni aimed to promote functional coping strategies through openness and cognitive flexibility. This psycho-educational intervention was delivered through a private group on social media (Facebook) and it involved the publication of exercises and quick lectures. Contents were posted regularly and people from the community were invited to share their comments. The posts included stimuli that promote open and flexible reflections on the current situation. The overall aim of this group was a cognitive reframing on the epidemic effects, promoting creative and flexible thinking. We ran a thematic analysis of the interactions, and we collected qualitative feedback at the end of the intervention. The participants’ comments dealt with changes in their perspectives, sharing discomfort, encouragement and support, and building a sense of community. Post-intervention comments were highly satisfied and confirmed the helpfulness of the stimuli to promote flexibility and openness, eventually helping to manage the negative emotions related to the COVID-19 outbreak. This study provides preliminary evidence that an online psycho-educational community stimulating flexibility and openness can help to reframe the negative psychological impact of the outbreak, improving their management.

mental disorders in some urban areas show that problems in married life are the factors most often associated with mental disorders and women are more affected than men, this is possible because the nature and openness of women make themselves easy affected by changes from outside. Based on these studies that marriage affects anxiety, anxiety affects the Coping Strategy, Coping Strategy affects the tendency of mental disorders. The Coping Strategy is constructive when anxiety is used as a warning sign and individuals accept it as a challenge to solve the problem. The destructive Coping Strategy turns off anxiety warnings and does not resolve conflicts, and may use a Coping Strategy that avoids resolution

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic affecting health and wellbeing globally. In addition to the physical health, economic, and social implications, the psychological impacts of this pandemic are increasingly being reported in the scientific literature. This narrative review reflected on scholarly articles on the epidemiology of mental health problems in COVID-19. The current literature suggests that people affected by COVID-19 may have a high burden of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety disorders, stress, panic attack, irrational anger, impulsivity, somatization disorder, sleep disorders, emotional disturbance, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and suicidal behavior. Moreover, several factors associated with mental health problems in COVID-19 are found, which include age, gender, marital status, education, occupation, income, place of living, close contact with people with COVID-19, comorbid physical and mental health problems, exposure to COVID-19 related news and social media, coping styles, stigma, psychosocial support, health communication, confidence in health services, personal protective measures, risk of contracting COVID-19, and perceived likelihood of survival. Furthermore, the epidemiological distribution of mental health problems and associated factors were heterogeneous among the general public, COVID-19 patients, and healthcare providers. The current evidence suggests that a psychiatric epidemic is cooccurring with the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitates the attention of the global health community. Future epidemiological studies should emphasize on psychopathological variations and temporality of mental health problems in different populations. Nonetheless, multipronged interventions should be developed and adopted to address the existing psychosocial challenges and promote mental health amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The prevalence of anxiety is three times greater in patients with chronic diseases than in the general population. There has recently been growing interest in the roles of inflammation in contributing to the development of anxiety in people with Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID). Patient-reported outcome measures can facilitate the assessment of physical and psychological functioning. In recent years various patient outcome measures (PROMs) have been implemented. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) is a set of publicly available and standardized Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) that cover physical appearance, mental health, and social health. The PROMIS® has been built through an Item Response Theory approach (IRT), a model-based measurement in which trait level estimates depend on both persons' responses and on the properties of the items that were administered. The aim of this study is to test the psychometric properties of the original anxiety items of the PROMIS® in a cohort of outpatients with IMIDs.Methods: We translated the original eight anxiety items from the PROMIS into Italian and administered them to consecutive outpatients affected by Inflammatory Bowel disease (n = 246), rheumatological (n = 100) and dermatological (n = 43) diseases, and healthy volunteers (n = 280). We analyzed the data through an Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian adaptation of the PROMIS® anxiety short form.Results: Taken together, Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Exploratory Factor analysis suggested that the unidimensionality assumption if the instrument holds. The instrument has excellent reliability from a Classical Theory of Test (CTT) standpoint (Cronbach's ⍺ = .94, McDonald's ω = .95). The 1PL Graded Response Model (GRM) model provided a good balance between the goodness of fit and parsimony (BIC = 9099.82) as compared to the 2PL GRM model (BIC = 9111.02). We did not find signs of Differential Item Functioning (DIF), but we found that the local independence assumption was violated for some items. The analysis of the test reliability curve suggested that the instrument is most reliable for higher levels of the latent trait of anxiety.Discussion: The Italian adaptation of the PROMIS® anxiety short form shows acceptable psychometric properties both from a CTT and an IRT standpoint. Its compatibility with the 1 parameter logistic (1PL) model implies that its total score is a sufficient statistic for the latent anxiety trait. The TRC shows that this instrument is mostly informative for people with higher levels of anxiety, making it particularly suitable for clinical populations such as IMID patients.

Young adults’ attitudes toward COVID-19 are vital for their adherence to control measures taken by the government to break the chain of contamination. This study aims to measure differences in attitudes to this pandemic across various demographic groups of young adults living inside and outside of Dhaka. The predictors of optimistic attitudes toward COVID-19 also have been investigated. The study is cross-sectional in nature using data from the members of Secondary and Intermediate Level Students’ Welfare Association (SILSWA). Participants (n = 700) self-reported their attitudes toward controlling and defeating the pandemic. ANOVA and a two-sample t-test were utilized to find the differences in the mean attitude across demographic groups. Predictors of attitudes toward COVID-19 were searched using multivariate logistic regression. Psychologically distressed participants showed more negative attitudes toward winning over COVID-19 than participants with good mental health both inside and outside of Dhaka. Participants inhabiting in Dhaka demonstrated less optimism for controlling and beating the pandemic. Less psychological distress [AOR=0.51; 95 per cent CI: 0.35, 0.76; p=0.001] found to be the significant predictors of an optimistic attitude of young adults. Dissemination of précised and accurate information regarding COVID-19 coupled with mental health intervention based on necessity can improve the attitudes of young adults.

Background: Due to the global spread of COVID-19, oncology departments across the world rapidly adapted their cancer care protocols, balancing the risk of delaying cancer treatments and risk of COVID-19 exposure. Little attention was given to the psychological impact of COVID-19 and associated changes on cancer patients. We wanted to understand the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on young people living with and beyond cancer. Method: We surveyed 177 individuals, aged 18 - 39 years, about the impact of COVID-19 on their cancer care and psychological wellbeing in a cross-sectional study. Participants also reported their information needs relating to COVID-19. Responses were summarized descriptively and qualitative answers were analysed thematically. Results: This is the first study to examine psychological functioning of young patients and survivors during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Close to a third of respondents reported increased levels of psychological distress, and as many as 60% reported feeling more anxious than they did prior to COVID-19. More than half also wanted more information tailored to them as young cancer patients. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly evolving and changing the landscape of cancer care. Young people living with cancer are a unique population and might be more vulnerable during this time compared to their healthy peers. There is a need to screen for psychological distress and attend to young people whose cancer care has been delayed. As the lockdown begins to ease, the guidelines about cancer care should be updated according to this population’s needs.

Aims and objectives To investigate how changes in the levels of preparedness and experiences of death and dying influence nursing students’ mental health. Background The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to cause significant trauma in the nursing population. The lack of preparation, in combination with a substantial loss of life, may have implications for the longer-term mental health of the nursing workforce. Nursing students have, in many cases, been an important part of the emergency response. Design A longitudinal cohort study was conducted with data collected at two time points. There was a seven-month time period between data collection. Methods Participants completed paper-based questionnaires measuring demographics, academic stressors, clinical stressors, and mental health. 358 nursing students at time point one and 347 at time point two (97% retention) completed the survey. Results Inadequate preparation (OR: 1.783) and the inadequate preparation x death and dying interaction term (OR: 4.115) significantly increased risk of mental health problems over time. Increased death and dying alone did not increase mental health risk. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that it is not the increase in death and dying per se that causes mental health difficulties, but that it is instead the experience of high levels of death and dying in combination with inadequate preparation. The data are considered within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with both inadequate preparation and the scale of death and dying being two significant stressors during the emergency period. Relevance to Clinical Practice This paper is an initial indication of the potential longer-term mental health impact of COVID-19 for nursing students.

The rapid spread of the COVID-19 has triggered a worldwide epidemic emergency which is an international concern given that it poses several challenges to physical and mental health of humans across the globe. Like businesses and universities, schools around the world have been closed and children must remain at home during this pandemic. However, social isolation could have a negative impact on young children’s wellbeing and if not addressed properly, it could trigger long-term negative effects in their mental health. However, little is known about the psychological impact of social isolation during COVID-19 on young children’s mental health and to date, there are no specific guidelines regarding effective psychological strategies that could support children’s wellbeing. Drawing form existing research on social isolation, this review aims to synthesise previous literature to explore the negative impact of social isolation in young children and offer a comprehensive set of evidence-informed recommendations for parents and professionals to safeguard the mental health of young children currently on lockdown across the globe.

This study anonymously screened 13,332 individuals worldwide for psychological symptoms related to Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic from March 29th to April 14th, 2020. A total of n=12,817 responses were considered valid with responses from 12 featured countries and five WHO regions. Female gender, pre-existing psychiatric condition, and prior exposure to trauma were identified as notable risk factors, whereas optimism, ability to share concerns with family and friends like usual, positive prediction about COVID-19, and daily exercise predicted fewer psychological symptoms. These results could aid in dynamic optimization of mental health services during and following COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundWorldwide, the vast majority of people have been impacted by COVID-19. While millions of individuals have become infected, billions of individuals have been asked or required by local and national governments to change their behavioral patterns. Previous research on epidemics or traumatic events suggest this can lead to profound behavioral and mental health changes, but rarely are researchers able to track these changes with frequent, near real-time sampling or compare these to previous years of data on the same individuals.ObjectivesWe seek to answer two overarching questions by combining mobile phone sensing and self-reported mental health data among college students participating in a longitudinal study for the past two years. First, have behaviors and mental health changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to previous time periods within the same participants? Second, did behavior and mental health changes track the relative news coverage of COVID-19 in the US media?MethodsBehaviors were measured using the StudentLife mobile smartphone sensing app. Depression and anxiety were assessed using weekly self-reported Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs). Differences in behaviors and self-reported mental health collected during the Winter 2020 term (the term in which the coronavirus pandemic started), as compared to prevous terms in the same cohort, were modeled using mixed linear models.ResultsDuring the initial COVID-19 impacted academic term (Winter 2020), individuals were more sedentary and reported increased anxiety and depression symptoms (P

The paper presents the first part of the results of a planned longitudinal survey. Researchers asked the question: What is people’s quality of life during the COVID19 pandemic in its growth, peak, and subsidence phases. The survey was conducted based on a sample of adult Poles in electronic form. Three hundred fifty-three comprehensive responses were collected. Respondents were asked about the quality of life, coping with the objectively difficult situation, and about resource gains and losses over the past six months. The results obtained indicate that a high global quality of life correlates with higher gains and minor losses, as well as coping with the difficult situation through planning, positive reframing, emotional support seeking and reduced substance use tendency, low self-blaming, avoidance, and disengagement. Factors that may reduce people’s quality of life during the COVID 19 pandemic are low resource gains and losses experienced over the last six months preceding the pandemic, and coping strategies that are characteristic of those experiencing helplessness. Also, helplessness-based coping strategies were found to mediate both the relationship between resource gains and quality of life and resource loss and quality of life.

This study examined the psychological distress experience of Nigerians amid COVID-19 pandemic. From March 20, 2020 to April 12, 2020, this descriptive survey used a snowballing sampling technique to select 502-Nigerian with an online semi-structured questionnaire containing Impact of Event Scale-Revised, GAD-7, Patient Health Questionnaire and Insomnia Severity Index. Gender had insignificant difference in the level of insomnia (χ2=04.93; df=3; p>0.05), however, 20.8% of males had sub-threshold of insomnia, 8.2% experienced moderate insomnia and 5.9% had severe insomnia; 32% females reported sub-threshold of insomnia, 12.4% had moderate insomnia while, 3.6% had severe insomnia. Also, gender had insignificant difference in the measures of depression (χ2=01.94; df=4; p>0.05); 55.4% males reported minimal depression, 22.3% had mild depression, 11.9% had moderate depression; 6.7% to 3.7% males had moderately to severe depression while, 49.3% of the females had minimal depression, 26.7% reported mild depression, 14.29% had moderate depression, 4.4% to 5.3% had moderately to severe depressive symptoms. Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) has no gender difference among respondents (χ2=02.51; df =3; p>0.05); 23% of males reported partial PTSS, 17.5% presented clinical PTSS, and 21.6% males had severe PTSS; while 29.3% of females had severe PTSS, 24% reported partial PTSS and 18.7% had clinical PTSS. Respondents reported insignificant gender difference on anxiety (χ2=0.08; df=1; p>0.05), while 51% reported moderate anxiety and 49% exhibited severe anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Findings revealed that Nigerians experienced psychological distress during COVID-19 pandemic. Government and stakeholders in health sectors should provide psychological health services for the residents in Nigeria. Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Declaration of Interest: We declare no conflict of interest Ethical Approval: Ethical review and approval was not obtained for the study due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Nigeria. Written informed consent to participate in the study was, however, provided by the participants via completion of the questionnaire/survey. Please find the attached informed consent documentation form used in the study.

Background–The pandemic of COVID-19 in Italy represents a unique threat in terms of psychological distress, especially among healthcare professionals. This study represents a first attempt to investigate both the psychological states and coping strategies of Italian healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Importantly, we assessed psychological distress and coping strategies regarding two phases, pre-COVID (asking participants to retrospectively recall their state in December 2019) and during the time of survey, which was in the midst of the COVID emergency outbreak (March-April 2020). Methods–Self-administered questionnaires were distributed online to healthcare professionals of different Italian regions from March 26 to April 9, 2020. The questionnaire included three main sections measuring changes in psychological states, coping strategies and demographic variables. Two linear regression models were run to analyze variations in both general health and infection-risk perception depending on changes in psychological states, coping strategies, personality trait, and demographic variables. Results– Altogether, the direct exposure to the virus and a negative impact of the COVID-19 emergency outbreak on contextual psychological functioning contribute to the deterioration of physical and mental health, which may lead to severe future consequences for Italian healthcare workers, if not provided immediately with an effective support program. Conclusions– Both immediate and long-term monitoring psychological assistance services for healthcare workers should be implemented by local and national institutions to reestablish psychological well-being and enhance self-confidence and resilience of Italian hospital personnel. These intervention programs should especially target women, and professionals at their first steps into the hospital job.

Background The current Corona pandemic is not only a threat to physical health. First data from China and Europe indicate that symptoms of anxiety and depression and perceptions of stress rise significantly as a consequence of the pandemic. There are also anecdotal reports of increased domestic violence, divorce, and suicide rates. Hence, the Corona crisis is also a mental health crisis. There is urgent need for knowledge about factors that can protect mental health (resilience factors) in this world-wide crisis, which is different in nature from other crises that have so far been studied in resilience research. Methods Potential resilience factors, exposure to Corona-specific and general stressors, as well as internalizing symptoms were assessed online in N=5000 adult Europeans. Resilience, as an outcome, was conceptualized as good mental health despite stressor exposure and measured as the inverse residual between actual and predicted symptom total score. Preregistered hypotheses (osf.io/r6btn) were tested with multiple regression models and mediation analyses. Results Results confirmed our primary hypothesis that positive appraisal style (PAS) is positively associated with resilience (p

We tested if challenges to basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness) during the COVID-19 pandemic undermines people’s mental well-being. Furthermore, we tested if an intervention, affirmation of these psychological needs, counteracts this negative impact. Results of Study 1 (N = 153) showed that higher levels of satisfaction of basic psychological needs was related to higher mental well-being during the COVID-19 outbreak. In Study 2 (N = 215) we employed an online intervention enhancing these basic psychological needs. We found increased mental well-being through bolstered relatedness in particular. The intervention also decreased perceived stress. Both studies showed that mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic is positively related to the ability to work as usual and the number of people contacted via phone or Internet, but not in person.

Background: The outbreak and spread of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) led to a confinement situation in many countries worldwide. Our objective was to analyze the short-term psychological effects of the COVID-19 crisis and the quarantine on the population. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A survey was completed by 3550 adults from Spain. Symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress were analyzed using the 21-item version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder were analyzed using the Impact of Event Scale. Results: Symptomatic scores of anxiety, depression, stress were observed in 32.4%, 44.1% and 37.0% of respondents, respectively. Also, symptomatic scores indicating psychological stress were found in 88.6% of respondents. Increased prevalence of anxiety, depression and stress symptoms was associated with female sex, younger age, self-reported COVID-19 symptoms, previous psychological or psychiatric treatment, intake of psychoactive medication and negative effect on social relationships and relationships with people living in the same place. Higher scores related to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder was associated with most of those factors, and also with the acquaintance with a COVID-19 patient.Conclusion: An important emotional impact of confinement related to COVID-19 has been found in Spanish population. Considering a possible long period of confinement, the evolution of the psychological effects should be controlled to prevent severe mental health disorders.

Purpose: This study assesses distress/anxiety and predictors of distress/anxiety associated with quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure among the first quarantined community in the US, and to identify potential areas of intervention.Design: An anonymous survey was distributed via community organization distribution lists to approximately 1250 constituents under a quarantine directive.Setting: Members of the first community in the NYC area under quarantine orders due to the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak.Intervention: We sought to uncover the most salient predictors of distress/anxiety in order to recommend specific areas for effective intervention to reduce distressMeasures: We measured distress by using the Subjective Units of Distress Scale and anxiety with the Beck Anxiety Inventory. A variety of psychosocial predictors relevant to the current crisis were explored. Results: 303 individuals responded within 48 hours of survey distribution. Mean levels of distress in the sample were heightened and sustained, with 69% reporting moderate to severe distress. Modifiable behavioral factors, specifically with regard to media exposure and sleep quality, predicted the largest percentage of variance in the sample (41.9%, F (3, 264) = 40.7, R = 0.65, p < .001).Conclusion: Distress levels were markedly elevated among those in quarantine. The highest percentage of distress/anxiety variance was accounted for by modifiable factors amenable to behavioral and psychological interventions, including promoting healthy sleep and curtailing media use. Access to professional mental health care as well as behavioral interventions should be prioritized.

The COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study aims to assess and monitor the psychological and social impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the general population, using longitudinal surveys and mixed-methods studies in multiple countries. The first strand of the study, an internet-based panel survey, was launched in the UK in March 2020 during the earliest stages of the pandemic in that country (hereafter referred to as C19PRC-UKW1). This paper describes (1) the development, design and content for C19PRC-UKW1, which was informed by the extant evidence base on the psychosocial impact of previous global outbreaks of similar severe acute respiratory syndromes (e.g. SARS, H1N1, MERS); (2) the specific socio-economic and political context of the C19PRC-UKW1; (3) the recruitment of a large sample of UK adults aged 18 years and older (n=2025) via an internet-based panel survey; (4) the representativeness of the C19PRC-UKW1 sample compared to the UK adult population in terms of important sociodemographic characteristics (e.g. age, sex, household income, etc.); and (5) future plans for C19PRC Study including follow-up survey waves in the UK, supplementary non-survey based study strands linking from the C19PRC-UKW1 and the roll-out of the study to other countries.

Purpose Reducing the spread of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted recommendations for individuals to socially distance. Little is known about the extent to which youth are socially distancing, what motivations underlie their social distancing, and how these motivations are connected with amount of social distancing, mental health, and social health. Using a large sample of adolescents from across the United States, this study examined adolescents' motivations for social distancing, their engagement in social distancing, and their mental and social health. Methods Data were collected on March 29th and 30th, 2020, two weeks after COVID-19 was declared a national emergency in the United States. The sample consisted of 683 adolescents recruited using social media. A series of multiple linear regressions examined unique associations among adolescents' motivations to engage in social distancing, perceived amount of social distancing, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, burdensomeness, and belongingness. Results Almost all respondents (98.1%) reported engaging in at least a little social distancing. The most commonly reported motivations for social distancing concerned social responsibility and not wanting others to get sick. Motivations concerning state or city lockdowns, parental rules, and social responsibility were associated with greater social distancing, whereas motivations concerning no alternatives were associated with less social distancing. Specific motivations for social distancing were differentially associated with adolescents' anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, burdensomeness, and belongingness. Conclusions Understanding adolescents' motivations to engage in social distancing may inform strategies to increase social distancing engagement, reduce pathogen transmission, and identify individual differences in mental and social health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: Reading is often cited as beneficial for one’s mental health, but the research on this topic is limited. The goal of the present research was to examine whether recreational reading is beneficial for mental health during college, and to determine what motivates recreational reading. Participants: Participants were 231 university students from a large Canadian University.Methods: A longitudinal design was employed and students completed online surveys on recreational reading, motivation, psychological distress and need frustration at the beginning and end of the academic year. Results: Recreational reading was associated with reduced psychological distress over the school year. Recreational reading seemed to buffer against the frustration of one’s basic psychological needs which led to improved mental health over the school year. Students who were more autonomously motivated reported reading more books recreationally. Conclusion: Recreational reading is a simple and cost-effective tool to help college students cope with mental health problems.

Political involvement is accompanied by a range of positive and negative emotional experiences, including stress, sadness, anger, regret, purpose, and empowerment. These experiences may be especially potent during adolescence when youth are forming political opinions and are becoming more integrated within the political system. Little research has examined adolescents’ political emotional experiences and how these experiences are connected with concordant and future political engagement. Using an ecological momentary assessment design, this study tested cross-sectional and longitudinal within-day associations between adolescents’ political emotional costs and benefits and political engagement. Participants (N=291, Mage=16.09) completed four assessments of political emotional experiences (stress/sadness, anger, regret, empowerment) and multiple forms of political engagement (intent to protest, intent to vote, political interest, political efficacy, political participation) across one day. Greater political empowerment was cross-sectionally associated with all forms of political engagement and longitudinally associated with greater next-moment intent to vote and protest, political interest, and political efficacy. Greater political anger was associated with greater cross-sectional political interest, political efficacy, and political participation, but lower next-moment political efficacy. Greater political regret was associated with lower cross-sectional political efficacy and political interest and greater political stress/sadness was associated with greater cross-sectional intent to vote. Findings emphasize the importance of empowerment for adolescent political engagement and demonstrate nuanced connections between adolescents’ and subsequent involvement.

The growing popularity of mindfulness-based interventions has prompted exciting scientific research regarding their beneficial effects on well-being and health. Most mindfulness programs are provided as multi-faceted packages encompassing a set of different mindfulness techniques, each with distinct focus and mechanisms. However, this approach overlooks potential individual differences which may arise in response to practicing various mindfulness techniques. The present study investigated preferences for four prototypical mindfulness techniques (focused attention, open monitoring, loving-kindness, and body scan) and identified factors that may contribute to individual differences in these preferences. Participants without prior mindfulness experiences were exposed to each technique through audio-guided instructions and were asked to rank their preferences at the end of all practices. Results indicated that preferences for loving-kindness were predicted by empathy, and that females tended to prefer loving-kindness more than males. Conversely, preferences for open monitoring were predicted by nonreactivity and nonjudgment of present moment experiences. Additionally, higher state mindfulness was detected for individuals’ preferred technique relative to other alternatives. These findings suggest that individuals tend to prefer techniques compatible with their personalities, as the predictor variables encompass trait capacities specifically relevant to practicing these techniques. Together, our results suggest the possibility that assessing individual difference and then tailoring mindfulness-based interventions to individual needs could be a useful way to improve intervention effectiveness and subsequent outcomes.

Classic perspectives on mindfulness emphasize engagement with life’s challenges. In contrast, contemporary mainstream approaches to mindfulness in psychology chiefly focus on stress reduction. We contrast classic and contemporary approaches, outlining conceptual and methodological shortcomings of mindfulness research. Existing mindfulness measures fail to adequately capture engagement or relief aspects of the construct due to assessment primarily through negatively-worded items, discordant definitions, confusion of outcomes with processes, and a lack of contextual sensitivity. Empirical evidence shows that the dimensions of mindfulness are not only negatively correlated with each other, but also with variables they should be similarly linked to. Further, modern measures of mindfulness are positively related to outcomes that are antithetical to mindfulness-as-engagement (e.g., emotional suppression), suggesting that current measures may be biased towards relief rather than engagement outcomes. We outline several ways to overcome conceptual and methodological challenges, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of classic contemplative roots of mindfulness and a rigorous psychometric and culturally-sensitive analysis, in hopes to guide researchers towards capturing mindfulness as a regulatory process that involves actively working through life’s challenges.

Objectives: To synthesize the evidence on the effects of exposure to natural environment on mental health to inform future policymaking, practice, and research. Methods: A systematic search of nine major databases and additional sources were conducted using relevant keywords for the natural environment and mental health till November 2019. We included systematic reviews or meta-analyses reporting any measures of associations between the natural environment and mental health. The data on study characteristics and research findings were extracted using the JBI data extraction tool and synthesized narratively.Results: Twenty reviews were included in this umbrella review reporting both correlational and experimental studies. Among diverse population groups, the exposure to the natural environment was associated with improvements in depressive symptoms, anxiety, mood disorders, stress, cognitive and emotional functions, affect, happiness, and overall mental wellbeing. Conclusions: The findings of this review inform beneficial mental health outcomes associated with exposure to the natural environment. This umbrella review suggests collaborative policymaking, advanced research, and evidence-based practice protecting the natural environment and improving mental health across populations.

Background:Living in the time of the COVID-19 means experiencing not only a global health emergency but alsoextreme psychological stress with potential emotional side effects such as sadness, grief, irritability, and mood swings. Crucially, lockdown and confinement measures isolate people who become the first and the only ones in charge of their own mental health: people are left alone facing a novel and potentially lethal situation, and, at the same time, they need to develop adaptive strategies to face it, at home. In this view, easy-to-use, inexpensive, and scientifically validated self-help solutions aiming to reduce the psychological burden of coronavirus are extremely necessary. Aims:This pragmatic trial aims to provide the evidence that a weekly self-help virtual reality (VR) protocol can help overcome the psychological burden of the Coronavirus by relieving anxiety, improving well-being, and reinforcing social connectedness. The protocol will be based on the “Secret Garden” 360 VR video online (www.covidfeelgood.com) which simulates a natural environment aiming to promote relaxation and self-reflection. Three hundred sixty–degree or spherical videos allow the user to control the viewing direction. In this way, the user can explore the content from any angle like a panorama and experience presence and immersion. The “Secret Garden” video is combined with daily exercises that are designed to be experienced with another person (not necessarily physically together), to facilitate a process of critical examination and eventual revision of core assumptions and beliefs related to personal identity, relationships, and goals. Methods:This is a multicentric, pragmatic pilot randomized controlled trial involving individuals who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and underwent a lockdown and quarantine procedures. The trial is approved by the Ethics Committee of the Istituto Auxologico Italiano. Each research group in all the countries joining the pragmatic trial, aims at enrolling at least 30 individuals in the experimental group experiencing the self-help protocol, and 30 in the control group, over a period of 3 months to verify the feasibility of the intervention. Conclusion:The goal of this protocol is for VR to become the “surgical mask” of mental health treatment. Although surgical masks do not provide the wearer with a reliable level of protection against the coronavirus compared with FFP2 or FFP3 masks, surgical masks are very effective in protecting others from the wearer’s respiratory emissions. The goal of the VR protocol is the same: not necessarily to solve complex mental health problems but rather to improve well-being and preserve social connectedness through the beneficial social effects generated by positive emotions.

Inhibitory control refers to the ability to stop, change or delay a response, and is often used in order to protect higher order goals. Theoretical models suggest that deficits in inhibitory control may be exacerbated during exposure to appetitive-cues (such as pictures of alcoholic drinks or food), and that these effects of cues may be related to individual differences (e.g. in body mass index, or alcohol consumption). In order to investigate these claims we conducted a random effects meta-analysis of 66 effect sizes from 37 articles that tested the effect of exposure to appetitive (alcohol / food) cues on indices of inhibitory control. The overall effect of cue exposure was small, but robust (SMD = -0.12 [95% CI -0.23, -0.02]; Z = 2.34, p = .02, I2 = 84%). Exposure to alcohol-related cues significantly impaired inhibitory control (SMD = -0.21 [95% CI = -0.32, -0.11]; Z = 4.17, p < .001), however exposure to food-related cues did not lead to impairments (SMD = -0.03 [95% CI = -0.21, 0.15]; Z = 0.36, p = .720). There was no evidence that drinking or weight status significantly moderated the effects of cues on inhibitory control. Similarly, cue modality (words, pictures, or smells) did not significantly moderate the effects. Trim and Fill analysis suggested bias in the literature, which when corrected, made the overall effect of cues non-significant. Overall, these findings provide some tentative support for theoretical claims that inhibitory control is a malleable construct that fluctuates with individuals, and that exposure to appetitive cues prompts transient impairments in inhibitory control. Further research is required to determine the clinical significance of these observations. However, care should be taken when drawing conclusions from a potentially biased evidence base.

Suicide is a major public health problem in the US, specifically among Veterans. The Resilience and Wellness Center (RWC) is an innovative program focused on suicide prevention. The RWC targets vulnerable veterans by augmenting traditional treatments with complementary and integrative health interventions. One critical problem in suicide prevention is lack of engagement in traditional mental health programs, with stigma an oft-cited barrier. The RWC, an alternative paradigm, attempts to break through this barrier by addressing isolation through promoting group camaraderie and accountability, integral to the success of the program. This innovative program provides a unique opportunity to enhance life skills through Whole Health intervention, including: meditation, yoga, music therapy, exercise/dance etc. Specifically, the RWC is a four-week outpatient program, where admission is determined via hospital-wide consults. With a focus on Measurement Based Care, Veterans complete baseline and post-program assessments such as the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) and scales measuring: depression, hopelessness, sleep quality, and diet & nutrition. Data for 9 cohorts to date demonstrate significant improvements, with large treatment effects as evidenced by reduction in PHQ-9 totals and feelings of depression and hopelessness, especially for Veterans with histories of suicide attempts or ideation. Overall, Veterans found the RWC program experience favorable, with > 98% completing. The RWC can be rapidly deployed in the VHA by drawing on existing hospital services and clinics. According to participants, the RWC engages Veterans in building a partnership to pave the way towards a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle.

Aims: To measure the immediate impact of participating in arts on prescription workshops on multiple dimensions of mood and to evaluate whether improvement in mood is a mechanism for change, predicting improvements in global wellbeing before and after participation in arts on prescription programmes.Methods: The evaluation drew upon the experience sampling method, asking participants to complete a six-item mood questionnaire at the beginning and end of each workshop in a twelve-week-long arts on prescription programme. Participants also completed a measure of global wellbeing at the beginning and end of the programme. Results: Multi-level modelling was used to test hypotheses since the data was hierarchical (with 1491 mood reports nested within 66 participants). There was a significant increase in global wellbeing across participation in the arts on prescription programme. After each art workshop there was a significant increase on all dimensions of mood: hedonic tone (contentment); tense arousal (calmness); and energetic arousal (alertness). There was also a significant increase in these dimensions of mood, over time, upon arrival at the art workshops each week. Further, reduction in anxiety after art workshops significantly predicted changes in global wellbeing.Conclusions: The findings suggest that anxiety reduction is a crucial component of arts on prescription services and make a direct link between experiences during art workshops and changes in global wellbeing for the first time. This strengthens the evidence base for arts on prescription and suggests that tracking experience across interventions is a useful evaluation tool, with much potential.

This study explored psychological variables associated with disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism (a covenantal community), and subsequent wellness. A web-based survey (N = 206) assessed factors previously used to study immigrants: push (distress within origin community), pull (toward destination community), and goal attainment. Psychological and emotional wellness, perceived stress, overall health, and loneliness were also assessed. Findings included: 1) strong pull toward opportunities for physical and ideological autonomy; 2) those who experienced more push toward disaffiliation, reported decreased current wellness; 3) goal attainment was associated with increased wellness 4) significant differences in the experiences of disaffiliation between men and women; 5) most who disaffiliated left religion altogether; those who remained religious decreased their participation, few joined non-Jewish faith communities. Results demonstrate that this immigration paradigm can be adapted to advance research on individuals who disaffiliate from covenantal communities.

Introduction: Evaluating effects of behavior change interventions is a central interest in health psychology and behavioral medicine. Researchers in these fields routinely use frequentist statistical methods to evaluate the extent to which these interventions impact behavior and the hypothesized mediating processes in the population. However, calls to move beyond the exclusive use of frequentist reasoning are now widespread in psychology and allied fields. We suggest adding Bayesian statistical methods to the researcher’s toolbox of statistical methods. Objectives: We first present the basic principles of the Bayesian approach to statistics and why they are useful for researchers in health psychology. We then provide a practical example on how to evaluate intervention effects using Bayesian methods, with a focus on Bayesian hierarchical modeling. We provide the necessary materials for introductory-level readers to follow the tutorial. Conclusion: Bayesian analytical methods are now available to researchers through easy-to-use software packages, and we recommend using them to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for their conceptual and practical benefits.

Objective: Although ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) correlate with health inequality, efforts to\ud explain variance in health behavior attributable to these factors are limited by difficulties in population\ud sampling. We used ethnicity identification software to test effects of psychological beliefs about\ud screening as mediators of ethnicity and SES on faecal occult blood colorectal screening behavior in a\ud no-cost health care context. Method: Adults aged 50–67 years (N � 1,678), of whom 28% were from\ud minority South Asian religiolinguistic ethnic groups (Hindu-Gujarati/Hindi, Muslim-Urdu and Sikh-\ud Punjabi), participated in a prospective survey study. Subsequent screening participation was determined\ud from medical records. Results: Screening nonparticipation in the most deprived SES quintile was 1.6\ud times that of the least deprived quintile. Nonparticipation was 1.6 times higher in South Asians compared\ud with non-Asians. A process model in which psychological variables mediated effects of ethnicity and\ud SES on uptake was tested using structural equation modeling. Self-efficacy and perceived psychological\ud costs of screening were, respectively, positive and negative direct predictors of uptake. Paths from Hindu,\ud Muslim, and Sikh ethnicity, and SES on uptake were fully mediated by lower self-efficacy and higher\ud perceived psychological costs. Paths from South Asian ethnicity to participation via self-efficacy and\ud psychological costs were direct, and indirect via SES. Conclusion: SES is implicated, but does not fully\ud account for low colorectal screening uptake among South Asians. Targeting increased self-efficacy and\ud reduced perceived psychological costs may minimize health inequality effects. Future research should\ud test independent effects of SES and ethnicity on lower self-efficacy and higher psychological costs.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory auto-immune disease of the central nervous system. It leads to many impairments including physical, cognitive, psychological, and social challenges. Our study examined gender and cultural associations with quality of life (QoL), personal characteristics, and benefits from having MS among those with MS.The study was conducted in Austria and the United States. The sample included 128 participants, 64 in each country, of whom 78 were women and 50 were men aged between 20 and 57 years. We used standard statistical tests, including analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) and partial correlations for the analysis of quantitative data. For the qualitative part of the survey we used semi-structured interviews, which we transcribed and coded to identify categories in the answers for qualitative analyses.Austrian participants with MS perceived a higher social-emotional QoL in comparison to American participants. American participants expressed a higher self-esteem in comparison to Austrian participants. Men reported a lower ability to express love than women. Independent of sex/gender and nationality, participants reported benefits through the disease, especially with regard to improved compassion, mindfulness, improved family relations and lifestyle gains. The qualitative interviews revealed additional gender differences for coping with the illness; and in experiences, expectations, and challenges related to MS.These insights can be used to develop targeted psychological and social support interventions aimed toward improving social-emotional QoL for persons with MS.

Background: The importance of social connectedness in supporting public mental health is well established. However, the reverse causal pathway (that psychological ill-health leads to reduced social connectedness) remains a dominant perspective among mental health practitioners. Our analysis aimed to provide a rigorous test of the directionality of this relationship. Method: A cross-lagged panel analysis of a large longitudinal national probability sample ( N ≈ 21,227), the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Survey, was used to assess the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between social connectedness and mental health, controlling for baseline levels of both variables and demographics. Results: Social connectedness was found to be a stronger and more consistent predictor of mental health year-on-year than mental health was of social connectedness. Conclusion: These results further demonstrate how the psychological resources conferred by social connectedness can act as a ‘social cure’ for psychological ill-health, and provide the strongest evidence to date for the direction of this relationship in the general community.

This paper provides a primer for researchers seeking an introduction to quantitative narrative research methods. It represents a consensus document of most common practices used by the co-authors. Key elements of conducting narrative research (e.g., asking narrative questions, designing narrative prompts, collecting narratives, coding narratives) are discussed, along with limitations to this approach and future directions.