The current pandemic wave of COVID-19 has resulted in significant uncertainty for the general public. Mental health and examining factors that may influence distress have been outlined as key research priorities to inform interventions. This research sought to examine whether intolerance of uncertainty and coping responses influence the degree of distress experienced by the U.K. general public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a cross-sectional online questionnaire design, participants were recruited (N = 842) using snowball sampling over a 10-day period in the early “lockdown” phase of the pandemic. Around a quarter of participants demonstrated significantly elevated anxiety and depression, with 14.8% reaching clinical cutoff for health anxiety. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance indicated those in “vulnerable” groups were significantly more anxious (p < .001), and also more anxious in relation to their health (p < .001). Mediation modeling demonstrated maladaptive coping responses partially mediated the predictive relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and psychological distress. Mental health difficulties have become significantly raised during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, particularly for the vulnerable. Findings support emerging research suggesting the general public is struggling with uncertainty, more so than normal. Vulnerable groups are more anxious about their health, but not more intolerant of uncertainty than the nonvulnerable. Finally, this study indicated two modifiable factors that could act as treatment targets when adapting interventions for mental health during the COVID-19 global health crisis.

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Introduction and Aims The Recovery Strengths Questionnaire (RSQ) is a 15‐item self‐report questionnaire that assesses an addicted individual's recovery strengths. This study aimed to validate the RSQ as a measure of recovery capital. Design and Methods As part of a larger study, 151 participants in addiction recovery groups from across the UK completed the RSQ. Participants also completed the Assessment of Recovery Capital questionnaire and provided some demographic information. Results The RSQ was found to be psychometrically sound, with high internal consistency and concurrent validity with the Assessment of Recovery Capital. RSQ scores were positively correlated with length of time in recovery and length of membership in recovery groups, and the scores could be used to discriminate between those in early and late recovery. Principal components analysis revealed a two‐factor structure of recovery capital. These two factors were named ‘within‐group recovery strengths’ and ‘externally generated recovery strengths’, and it was found that only the within‐group factor scale (i.e. resources developed within recovery groups) predicted length of time in recovery and recovery groups. Discussion and Conclusions These results highlight the important role that recovery groups can play in an individual's recovery, and they provide an alternative factor structure to the one‐factor structure of the Assessment of Recovery Capital.

The results suggest that positive change-related words are a better predictor of treatment outcome than are either alcohol-related words or negative change-related words.