The Impact of COVID-19 Epidemic Declaration on Psychological Consequences: A Study on Active Weibo Users

Abstract

COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) has significantly resulted in a large number of psychological consequences. The aim of this study is to explore the impacts of COVID-19 on people's mental health, to assist policy makers to develop actionable policies, and help clinical practitioners (e.g., social workers, psychiatrists, and psychologists) provide timely services to affected populations. We sample and analyze the Weibo posts from 17,865 active Weibo users using the approach of Online Ecological Recognition (OER) based on several machine-learning predictive models. We calculated word frequency, scores of emotional indicators (e.g., anxiety, depression, indignation, and Oxford happiness) and cognitive indicators (e.g., social risk judgment and life satisfaction) from the collected data. The sentiment analysis and the paired sample t-test were performed to examine the differences in the same group before and after the declaration of COVID-19 on 20 January, 2020. The results showed that negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, depression and indignation) and sensitivity to social risks increased, while the scores of positive emotions (e.g., Oxford happiness) and life satisfaction decreased. People were concerned more about their health and family, while less about leisure and friends. The results contribute to the knowledge gaps of short-term individual changes in psychological conditions after the outbreak. It may provide references for policy makers to plan and fight against COVID-19 effectively by improving stability of popular feelings and urgently prepare clinical practitioners to deliver corresponding therapy foundations for the risk groups and affected people.

COVID-19: Public Compliance with and Public Support for Stay-at-Home Mitigation Strategies

“…These results demonstrate an escalated public response compared to before shelter-in-place orders were widely implemented, 19 and contribute to a growing body of evidence that mitigation strategies for COVID-19, like those for previous outbreaks, are associated with significant disruption of life and general health consequences. [20][21][22][23][24][25] These findings may also provide insight into behavioral countermeasures related to sleep, exercise, and diet that may reduce adverse health consequences of COVID-19 mitigation measures. As controversies over the legality 26 and balance between duration and nature of mitigation strategies and related consequences continue to mount, and with the recent prospect of repeated and All rights reserved.…”

Conséquences psychopathologiques du confinement

“…Le confinement modifie considérablement la vie des individus en devenant une manifestation concrète de la menace, surtout pour ceux qui n'avaient pas encore connu de proche infecté par le SARS-CoV-2. Plusieurs études en Chine ont étudié l'état de santé mentale de la population dans les premières semaines de confinement (7,49,(69)(70)(71)(72)(73) La pandémie et le confinement peuvent-ils être pourvoyeurs de trouble de stress post-traumatique ?…”

A Glimpse of University Students’ Family Life Amidst the COVID-19 Virus

“…According to the statement of the students, it is the same case this time as 82.98% of the students felt fearful of this emergent public health event. Similarly, a recent study showed that people's negative emotions and sensitivity to social risk have increased since the official declaration of COVID-19 (Li et al, 2020). According to the previous findings, it is believed that the effective preventive actions of government and recovery information in effect could ameliorate people's risk perception of their self-interests and their families (Shi et al, 2003).…”