Emotional and Behavioral Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Health Anxiety, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Distress (In)Tolerance

Sauer, Karoline Sophie; Jungmann, Stefanie M.; Witthöft, Michael

doi:10.3390/ijerph17197241

Cited by 81 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach which also includes the psychological aspect, should be considered by the worldwide health policy makers [58]. It is also important to note that the groups that present a greater risk and fear perception are those that need the most support [59] and, therefore, require more complex investigations that place the focus of their objectives on it.…”

Section: Applicability Of the Results And Future Lines Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Perception of COVID−19 Community Transmission among the Spanish Population

Domínguez

Jiménez

Eraso

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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On 11 March 2020 the SARS-CoV−2 virus was officially declared a pandemic and measures were set up in various countries to avoid its spread among the population. This paper aims to analyse the perception of risk of COVID−19 infection in the Spanish population. A cross-sectional, descriptive observational study was conducted with a total of 16,372 Spanish participants. An online survey was used to gather data for 5 consecutive days over the compulsory lockdown period which was established after the state of emergency was declared. There is an association between socio-demographic variables and risk perception, and a very strong relationship between this perception and contact and direct experience with the virus in a family, social or professional setting. We also found that compared to working from home, working outside the home increased the perception of risk of infection and the perception of worsening health. Understanding the public perception of the risk of COVID−19 infection is fundamental for establishing effective prevention measures.

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Section: Applicability Of the Results And Future Lines Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Perception of COVID−19 Community Transmission among the Spanish Population

Domínguez

Jiménez

Eraso

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…Recent publications have cited or speculated about the impact of numerous determinants associated with mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. These have included having personal protective equipment and infection control needs met, fear of stigma or discrimination for working as a HCW, fear of spreading disease to a family member, domestic caregiver status, uncertainty regarding mode of disease transmission, income loss, perceived susceptibility, and vaccine availability, safety and uptake hesitancy [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ]. These factors are all likely highly important, and we are not able to opine on which ones were most relevant in our study population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Moral Injury, Distress, and Resilience Factors among Healthcare Workers at the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hines

Chin

Glick

et al. 2021

IJERPH

173

199

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The coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome (COVID-19) pandemic has placed increased stress on healthcare workers (HCWs). While anxiety and post-traumatic stress have been evaluated in HCWs during previous pandemics, moral injury, a construct historically evaluated in military populations, has not. We hypothesized that the experience of moral injury and psychiatric distress among HCWs would increase over time during the pandemic and vary with resiliency factors. From a convenience sample, we performed an email-based, longitudinal survey of HCWs at a tertiary care hospital between March and July 2020. Surveys measured occupational and resilience factors and psychiatric distress and moral injury, assessed by the Impact of Events Scale-Revised and the Moral Injury Events Scale, respectively. Responses were assessed at baseline, 1-month, and 3-month time points. Moral injury remained stable over three months, while distress declined. A supportive workplace environment was related to lower moral injury whereas a stressful, less supportive environment was associated with increased moral injury. Distress was not affected by any baseline occupational or resiliency factors, though poor sleep at baseline predicted more distress. Overall, our data suggest that attention to improving workplace support and lowering workplace stress may protect HCWs from adverse emotional outcomes.

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“…It is conceivable that people scoring higher on health anxiety will be more concerned with the physical health consequences of COVID-19, whereas people scoring higher on intolerance of uncertainty may be more concerned with the uncertainty of the further development of the pandemic and its socio-economic consequences. Indeed, multiple previous studies have found a relationship between fear of COVID-19 and health anxiety ( Fedorenko et al, 2021 ; Jungmann & Witthöft, 2020 ; Mertens et al, 2020 ; Sauer et al, 2020 ; Wheaton et al, 2021 ) and between fear of COVID-19 and intolerance of uncertainty ( Bakioğlu et al, 2020 ; Elsharkawy & Abdelaziz, 2020 ; Fedorenko et al, 2021 ; Satici, Saricali, et al, 2020 ; Wheaton et al, 2021 ). However, it remains unclear how these two anxious personality traits relate to different types of fear of COVID-19.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

The latent and item structure of COVID-19 fear: A comparison of four COVID-19 fear questionnaires using SEM and network analyses

Mertens¹,

Duijndam²,

Smeets³

et al. 2021

Journal of Anxiety Disorders

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Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), several reports have shown that fear relating to COVID-19 has sharply increased. To measure fear of COVID-19, various questionnaires have been developed in parallel. However, fear concerning COVID-19 is not necessarily a uniform construct and the different questionnaires may cover diverse aspects. To examine the underlying structure of fear of COVID-19, we conducted structural equation modelling and network analyses on four scales in an online convenience sample ( N = 829). Particularly, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (Ahorsu et al., 2020), the Fear of the Coronavirus Questionnaire (Mertens et al., 2020), and the COVID Stress Scales (Taylor, Landry, Paluszek, Fergus et al., 2020, Taylor, Landry, Paluszek, Rachor et al., 2020) were included in our study, along with a new scale that also assessed socio-economic worries relating to COVID-19. We found that fear of COVID-19 was best classified into four clusters: Fear of health-related consequences, fear of supplies shortages and xenophobia, fear about socio-economic consequences, and symptoms of fear (e.g., compulsions, nightmares). We also find that a central cluster of items centered on fear of health, which likely represents the core of fear of COVID-19. These results help to characterize fear due to COVID-19 and inform future research.

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Emotional and Behavioral Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Health Anxiety, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Distress (In)Tolerance

Cited by 81 publications

References 68 publications

Risk Perception of COVID−19 Community Transmission among the Spanish Population

Risk Perception of COVID−19 Community Transmission among the Spanish Population

Trends in Moral Injury, Distress, and Resilience Factors among Healthcare Workers at the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The latent and item structure of COVID-19 fear: A comparison of four COVID-19 fear questionnaires using SEM and network analyses

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