BackgroundIn this study, we analyze the association of social isolation in the first phase of the pandemic with perceived stress among residents of Poland and Italy with a look at how these populations adjust to and comply with implemented regulations, guidelines, and restrictions.Materials and MethodsInternet survey with Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and questions regarding mobility patterns, attitude, and propensity to adjust toward the implemented measures and current health condition was made among Polish and Italian residents (Cronbach’s alpha 0.86 and 0.79, respectively). The sample size was 7,108 (6,169 completed questionnaires in Poland and 939 in Italy).ResultsThe Polish group had a higher stress level than the Italian group (mean PSS-10 total score 22,14 vs 17,01, respectively; p < 0.01). There was a greater prevalence of chronic diseases among Polish respondents. Italian subjects expressed more concern about their health, as well as about their future employment. Italian subjects did not comply with suggested restrictions as much as Polish subjects and were less eager to restrain from their usual activities (social, physical, and religious), which were more often perceived as “most needed matters” in Italian than in Polish residents.ConclusionHigher activity level was found to be correlated with lower perceived stress, but the causality is unclear. Difference in adherence to restrictions between Polish and Italian residents suggests that introducing similar lockdown policies worldwide may not be as beneficial as expected. However, due to the applied method of convenience sampling and uneven study groups, one should be careful with generalizing these results.

Background: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (April to May 2020), 6,169 Polish and 939 Italian residents were surveyed with an online questionnaire investigating socio-demographic information and personality traits (first section) as well as attitudes, position, and efficacy perceptions on the impact of lockdown (second section) and various health protection measures enforced (third section).Methods: The “health protection attitude score” (HPAS), an endpoint obtained by pooling up the answers to questions of the third section of the survey tool, was investigated by multiple linear regression models, reporting regression coefficients (RC) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).Results: Concerns for business and health due to COVID-19 were associated with a positive attitude toward risk reduction rules. By contrast, male sex, concerns about the reliability of information available online on COVID-19 and its prevention, along with the feeling of not being enough informed on the transmissibility/prevention of SARS-CoV-2 were associated with a negative attitude toward risk mitigation measures.Discussion: A recent literature review identified two social patterns with different features in relation to their attitude toward health protection rules against the spread of COVID-19. Factors positively associated with adherence to public health guidelines were perceived threat of COVID-19, trust in government, female sex, and increasing age. Factors associated with decreased compliance were instead underestimation of the COVID-19 risk, limited knowledge of the pandemic, belief in conspiracy theories, and political conservativism. Very few studies have tested interventions to change attitudes or behaviors.Conclusion: To improve attitude and compliance toward risk reduction norms, a key intervention is fostering education and knowledge on COVID-19 health risk and prevention among the general population. However, information on COVID-19 epidemiology might be user-generated and contaminated by social media, which contributed to creating an infodemic around the disease. To prevent the negative impact of social media and to increase adherence to health protection, stronger content control by providers of social platforms is recommended.

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, immigrant status and being a member of the LGBT+ community are all independent factors associated with increased stress levels. Few studies provide more complex analysis on this issue, and there has been no research on the cumulative burden of perceived stress that people belonging to both minorities experience in the current epidemiological situation. The aim of this study was to assess the ability to deal with an external situation during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland in the following groups with different stress levels (total sample n = 370): Polish heterosexual men (n = 202), heterosexual men from Ukraine (n = 131) and homo- and bisexual men (men who have sex with men—MSM) from Ukraine (n = 37). A Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) was used. The analysis of the survey did not show statistically significant differences between the three study groups in the general level of perceived stress (24.71, 24.77 and 26.49 points, respectively, p = 0.551), but it revealed numerous differences in coping with various aspects of everyday functioning between these groups. Negative assessment of one’s own health proved to be the main factor negatively affecting the level of perceived stress, however specific health risks, medical history or the participants’ previous experience have not been taken into account in the study. Our research shows differences in the needs, resources and methods of coping with stress between men who are Polish citizens and migrants from Ukraine, both heterosexual and belonging to the MSM group. Proper identification and addressing of these needs, taking into account different availability of health services, could be the responsibility of NGOs or insurance providers. This should result in the reduction of mental health burdens and the risk of developing serious mental disorders, and consequently in better functioning of persons belonging to minorities and in a reduced burden on the health care system.

This study gives an analysis of the diversification of the demographic situation in the rural areas of Ukraine in the years 1992-2011 in a regional depiction (it corresponds to the NUTS 2 division applied in the European Union). The demographic situation of the rural population is undergoing increasingly distinct deterioration. It is the worst in central Ukraine and relatively the best in its western part. This is an effect of political, economic and social processes initiated in today's Ukraine after World War One. It overlaps with negative effects of the processes of political transformation taking place in already independent Ukraine. The chances of improving the demographic situation in rural areas are rather slim and depend on two factors: (1) a fundamental change in the state policy towards the Ukrainian countryside and (2) overcoming a prolonged socio-economic crisis.key worDs: demography, rural population, Ukraine

As global communities respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increasing emphasis on public health strategies, like implementation of ‘lockdowns’, closure of educational institutions and offices, cancellation of events, and enforcement of social distancing measures to slow the rate of transmission. The main objective of this article is to find out how the public health interventions and national lockdown affected people’s perception and attitudes to limited mobility and how people reacted by their spatial mobility behaviours in new reality of the first weeks of COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. The study is based on the on-line survey research conducted among Polish residents supplemented by the analysis of data on changes in the spatial mobility based on Google dataset. The obtained results highlight high level of self-discipline in the population in response to restrictions and social distancing obligations, and as a result significantly lower spatial mobility level, before the restrictions began to be lifted. The size of the respondents’ place of residence had the greatest impact on changes in spatial mobility.