The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been devastating in all senses, particularly psychologically. Physical activity (PA) is known to aid psychological well-being, and it is worth investigating whether PA has been a coping strategy during this pandemic. The objective of this literature review is to analyze the extent to which engaging in PA during the COVID-19 pandemic impacts psychological health in the adult population. The literature was searched in all databases from the EBSCOhost Research Database—MEDLINE, APA PsycArticles, between others—published between 1 January 2019 and 15 July 2020. From 180 articles found, 15 were eligible. The reviewed articles showed an association between mental health distress—e.g., stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, social isolation, psychological distress—and PA. This research concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures caused psychological distress. Those studies that analyzed PA showed that, during quarantine, adults increased their sedentary time and reduced their PA levels, showing controversial psychological outcomes. This review discusses whether PA is an effective strategy to face the COVID-19 pandemic psychological effects contributing to a further putative increase in the prevalence of psychiatric disorders.

Coping style represents the cognitive and behavioral patterns to manage particular demands appraised as taxing the resources of individuals. Studies report associations between certain coping styles and levels of adjustment of anxious symptomatology and emotional distress. The main objective of this study was to analyze behavioral co-occurrent patterns and relationships in the coping strategies used to deal with psychological distress displayed by the Spanish adult population during the first State of Emergency and lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a cross-sectional study that uses selective methodology complemented with an indirect observational methodology, with a nomothetic/punctual/unidimensional design. We collected 996 surveys from 19 out of the 22 autonomous regions in Spain. We focused the analysis on sociodemographic variables, cumulative incidence of the COVID-19 disease and psychological distress variables. We performed two different inferential analyses: Lag sequential analysis to define the participant coping patterns, and polar coordinate analysis to study the interrelationship of the focal behavior with conditioned behaviors. We found behavioral co-occurrent patterns of coping strategies with problem avoidance being found as the coping strategy most frequently engaged by participants. Interestingly, the problem avoidance strategy was not associated with lower anxious symptomatology. By contrast, emotion-focused strategies such as express emotions and social support were associated with higher anxious symptomatology. Our findings underscore the importance of furthering our understanding of coping as a way to aid psychological distress during global public health emergencies.

Well-being in children with a complex medical condition (CMC) impacts the way they view and communicate with their immediate environment as well as their development, and it is thus necessary to inquire about the contextual issues and different needs that a CMC carries. This pilot study aimed to identify factors of pediatric well-being from the experience of hospitalization and convalescence of youth with CMC and their caregivers, in a cross-sectional analysis using a selective methodology complemented by an indirect observational methodology. We analyzed the quality of life and well-being of youth with CMC using a validated KINDLR questionnaire. We collected 35 surveys: 11 from youth with CMC and 24 from caregivers from Spain. We focused the analysis on sociodemographics, well-being perceptions, and coping strategies variables. The results show that children aged between 3 and 6 years and their caregivers scored physical well-being the lowest out of all dimensions of well-being, and they scored family well-being the highest. Moreover, youth between the ages of 7 and 17 years and their caregivers scored school-related well-being the lowest. Coping strategies to deal with stressful situations differ between children and caregivers. While children mainly engage in social withdrawal, caregivers engage in cognitive restructuring and expressing emotions. However, we did not find a relationship between coping strategies and well-being perceptions. These results highlight the need to facilitate communication spaces with both families and health professionals where the voice of children is considered.