Psychology & Health最新文献

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the associations between health behavior adherence and psychological factors during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on identifying trajectories of handwashing, mask wearing, social contact limitations, and physical distancing.

Methods: We employed a multi-trajectory group-based approach to analyze data from 6026 Belgian residents, including 60% women, with an average age of 52.65. Data were collected over six waves spanning from April 2021 to December 2021.

Results: Participants were categorized into trajectory groups based on persistently low (11.9%), moderate-low (20.9%), moderate-high (39.1%), and high (28.1%) levels of adherence to the specified health behaviors. Our findings indicate a declining trend in health behavior adherence over the study period. Additionally, we observed that females, older individuals, and those with prior COVID-19 infection had a higher likelihood of belonging to trajectory groups characterized by the highest levels of health behavior adherence. Similarly, individuals with positive vaccination intentions, a heightened perception of consequences, and increased health anxiety demonstrated greater adherence to health behaviors over time. Furthermore, our investigation into the relationship between health behaviors and mental health revealed that participants in trajectory groups with higher levels of adherence to social contact limitations and physical distancing reported increased feelings of loneliness and decreased life satisfaction.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped our lives, and while vaccines have marked progress, maintaining health behaviors is crucial for virus prevention. To address potential mental health challenges from sanitary measures, policies and communication should promote health behaviors while acknowledging their psychological impact.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of public engagement in health protective behaviors (e.g. masking, vaccination) to reduce viral spread and impact. Future public health efforts may be facilitated by identifying factors that impact the likelihood of adopting these behaviors. This study evaluated whether COVID-specific worry and/or generalized anxiety predicted subsequent uptake of COVID-19 vaccination and engagement in other COVID-preventive behaviors.

Method and measures: Participants (N = 205) completed an online survey in July 2020, shortly after the onset of the pandemic, and a follow-up survey, over a year later, after vaccines were available to the public.

Results: Findings indicate that those reporting greater COVID-worry on the initial survey were more likely to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by the follow-up survey and to report greater engagement in COVID-protective behaviors at both timepoints. By contrast, lower levels of generalized anxiety predicted greater likelihood of vaccination by follow-up and greater engagement in other COVID-protective behaviors on the initial survey.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that worry about a specific health threat may have a protective function, motivating protective behavior, whereas elevated levels of generalized anxiety appear to undermine health protective behavior and should be aggressively addressed.

Objective: This study aimed to understand how family caregivers of people with dementia managed changes caused by COVID-19 restrictions and how they adjusted to the lifting of restrictions. A particular focus of the study was on understanding the impact of social isolation, a reduction of social interactions, and reduced access to healthcare services.

Methods and measures: Fourteen voluntary caregivers (nine women) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule.

Results: Five themes were identified based on reflexive thematic analysis: (i) Outlets to cope with lockdown; (ii) 'Not all doom and gloom': A silver lining amid COVID-19; (iii) Optimism helps provide resilience; (iv) The challenges and joys of reopening; and (v) Caregiving toward a new normality.

Conclusion: The research highlighted difficulties reported by family caregivers and people with dementia during COVID-19, while also showing how such carers coped. Interviews also identified ways that family caregivers often used optimism to help navigate through lockdown and to tackle the reopening stage. Family caregivers in this study reported coping well overall, but welcomed the lifting of restrictions.

Objective: Playing drinking games (DGs) is a common behavior among university students, which is concerning given that DG participation is related to more alcohol use/consequences. People's motivations for playing DGs are associated with certain DG behavior patterns and negative consequences. However, few studies have accounted for general drinking motives and other key covariates when examining the unique associations between DG-specific motivations and DG outcomes. The present study used a large, multisite national sample of university students in the United States to determine cross-sectional associations between DG-specific motives (e.g. sexual pursuit, enhancement/thrills, conformity) and DG frequency, quantity, and negative consequences, above and beyond relevant demographics and general drinking motives. Method: University students (N = 8922) completed a self-report survey that assessed DG-specific behaviors, consequences, and motives, as well as general drinking behaviors and motives. Results: Multivariate findings indicated that enhancement/thrills and sexual pursuit motives are the riskiest DG motives, given their association with DG frequency, quantity, and consequences. Conformity was positively associated with negative consequences while competition and boredom were positively associated with DG frequency. Social lubrication was unrelated to all outcomes. Conclusion: Enhancement/thrills, sexual pursuit, and conformity DG motives may be particularly important targets for DG-specific prevention and intervention efforts.

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the level of peritraumatic distress in relation to possible traumatic outcomes in university personnel and students across three pandemic waves.

Methods: Three cross-sectional surveys were conducted to investigate university students and staff (n = 1426). An online survey including the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI), Ways of Coping, Impact of Events Scale (IES), and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) were administered across three waves. Psychometric properties of the Hungarian version of CPDI were assessed and associations between peri/posttraumatic stress and coping were explored. Cluster analysis based on posttraumatic stress and growth was used to identify subgroups.

Results: An increasing trend of peritraumatic stress over the waves was found. Regression analyses revealed that two coping styles, cognitive restructuring and problem analysis were negatively and positively associated, respectively, with both peritraumatic and posttraumatic stress. Two-step cluster analysis conducted on PTGI and IES scores yielded three clusters of posttraumatic changes: IES-low/PTGI-low, IES-high/PTGI-low and IES moderate/PTGI-high. Multinomial regression showed that cognitive restructuring and peritraumatic stress were significant predictors of cluster membership.

Conclusion: Our findings point out that cognitive restructuring may be effective for dealing with longer-term psychological results of traumatic life events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, even in highly exposed groups of the society.

Objective: This paper focuses on the relationship between stressful life events experienced by young refugees and their reports of psychological and somatic stress symptoms and well-being. It examines whether this relationship is mediated by personal and social resources and by acculturation hassles experienced in the host country.

Methods: Path analyses were calculated based on data from 147 adolescents aged 11 to 18 years from the Middle East after their flight to Germany to test the proposed mediation model.

Results: The number of experienced stressful life event types was directly linked to current psychological and somatic stress symptoms. The association with psychological stress symptoms was partially mediated by acculturation hassles experienced in the host culture. Well-being was not related to stressful life events but showed significant associations with available social resources. A closer inspection of the mediation by acculturation hassles showed that discrimination hassles and socio-cultural adaptation hassles are important mediators in the relationship between stressful life events and the included outcome variables.

Conclusion: The results indicate that stressful life events as well as resources and acculturation hassles should be considered in measures to improve the adjustment of young refugees.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the utility of temporal self-regulation theory across four behaviours differing in complexity and approach or avoidance nature. Specifically, we explored if intention, habit, cues, self-regulation (disorganisation, coping planning, task switching, present orientation, sensation seeking, automaticity, planning and distractibility) and interactions between constructs could account for variance in fruit consumption, unhealthy snacking, walking and recycling.

Methods and measures: Two hundred and fifty-four participants completed a two-part online survey measuring theory constructs at time one and behaviours at time two. Data was analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and binary logistic regression analyses.

Results: Findings partially support the theory with differential importance of constructs across behaviours. Intention, habit, sensation seeking and automaticity significantly predicted fruit consumption. Intention and cues significantly predicted unhealthy snacking. There were no significant predictors of walking. Habit, present orientation, sensation seeking, and interactions between intention and sensation seeking, and intention and planning significantly predicted recycling.

Conclusion: Findings may help develop future frameworks to guide research and tailored interventions using the theory according to behaviour type. Behavioural pathways suggested in the theory may be reconsidered, or other constructs could be included as extensions of the model to improve the theory's utility.

Objective: The increased demand on healthcare professionals (HCPs) during the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) pandemic reduces opportunities for HCPs to deliver compassionate care to patients and to maintain self-care. This study explored how HCPs understand and experience compassionate working practices during the Covid-19 pandemic to better support HCPs' wellbeing and to sustain quality of care.

Design: All nineteen participants worked as an HCP during the Covid-19 pandemic, resided in the United Kingdom (UK) and took part in individual semi-structured interviews.

Main outcome measures: Using a thematic analysis approach, we developed three themes: (a) The art of compassionate care: Feeling and action, (b) The impact of Covid-19 on compassionate care and (c) Suffering during Covid-19: The importance of self-compassion and self-care.

Results: Overall, the analysis illustrated the strong and negative impact that Covid-19 had on the ability to deliver compassionate care, resulting in moral injury and psychological and behavioural difficulties for HCPs, particularly in terms of self-care.

Conclusions: This research demonstrates an imperative need for organisations to better support HCPs' health and wellbeing, through a self-care system that promotes self-compassionate and self-care practices.

Objective: Despite abundant information about negative consequences of consuming meat, consumption in many Western countries is many times higher than recommended. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that people consciously decide to ignore such information-a phenomenon called deliberate ignorance. We investigated this potential barrier for information interventions aiming to reduce meat consumption.

Methods: In three studies, a total of 1133 participants had the opportunity to see 18 information chunks on negative consequences of meat consumption or to ignore part of the information. Deliberate ignorance was measured as the number of ignored information chunks. We assessed potential predictors and outcomes of deliberate ignorance. Interventions to reduce deliberate ignorance (i.e., self-affirmation, contemplation, and self-efficacy) were experimentally tested.

Results: The more information participants ignored, the less they changed their intention to reduce their meat consumption (r = -.124). This effect was partially explained by cognitive dissonance induced by the presented information. While neither self-affirmation nor contemplation exercises reduced deliberate ignorance, self-efficacy exercises did.

Conclusion: Deliberate ignorance is a potential barrier for information interventions aiming to reduce meat consumption and needs to be considered in future interventions and research. Self-efficacy exercises are a promising approach to reduce deliberate ignorance and should be further explored.

Methods: Four schools were randomly allocated to one of four conditions: a social network intervention using influence agents focusing on water consumption, physical activity, a combination of the two, or a passive control condition. Participants included a total of 201 6- to-11-year-old children (53.7% girls; M_age = 8.51, SD_age = 0.93). At baseline, 149 (76.0%) participants had a healthy weight, 29 (14.8%) had overweight and 18 (9.2%) had obesity.

Results: Linear mixed effect models indicated that a multi-component school-based social network intervention targeting both water consumption and physical activity was most effective in decreasing children's zBMI.

Conclusion: This study suggests that schools can contribute to the intervention of childhood obesity-even without involving the parents-by targeting both children's water consumption and physical activity through influential peers, but more research is needed to identify mechanisms of change.