scholarly journals The Italian Covid-19 Psychological Research Consortium ( IT C19PRC): General Overview and Replication of the UK study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Bruno ◽  
Anna Panzeri ◽  
Umberto Granziol ◽  
Fabio Alivernini ◽  
Andrea Chirico ◽  
...  

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic represents a major stressor for the psychological health of people worldwide. In the UK, the Covid19-Psychological Research Consortium Study (C19PRC) launched to evaluate the psychological impact of Covid-19 in the general population and its implications. The project was then extended to Italy and several other countries.Purpose: this article provides an overview of the Italian C19PRC study and its replication of two specific findings from the UK C19PRC. In the first part, the relationship between anxiety and somatic symptomatology is examined. In the second part, we analyse the association between several factors and psychological health outcomes: depression/anxiety, traumatic stress, Covid-19 anxiety. Methods: in line with the study conducted in the UK, an online survey was administered to the adult Italian general population. The sample included 1038 respondents (age, mean = 49.94, SD = 16.14; 51.15% females) taken from four regions: Lombardia, Veneto, Lazio e Campania. The relationship between predictors and outcomes was evaluated by means of logistic regression models.Results: somatic indices showed a positive association with anxiety, worse somatic symptoms were associated with having had losses due to Covid-19 and with precarious health conditions. Females showed a higher incidence of psychological issues. No differences in anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress were found across regions but the Campania region showed the most severe somatic symptomatology. In the second analysis, the factors associated with more severe psychological outcomes (i.e., anxiety and/or depression, traumatic stress, and Covid-19 Related Anxiety) were younger age, the presence of minors in the household, traumatic stressors, and precarious health conditions. No differences across regions emerged.Discussions and conclusions: The Italian results correspond to the UK findings for anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress 1. Both in the UK and Italy, the factors associated with worse psychological health were gender (female), younger age, having children, pre-existing health issues (both for oneself or someone close), and the moderate/high perceived risk of contracting Covid-19 within one month. In Italy, unlike the UK, lower household income and having (had) Covid-19 were not associated with poorer mental health. The psychological impact of Covid-19 can last for months; future research should explore all aspects of the psychological burden of Covid-19 in order to implement psychological interventions and promote psychological health.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Giovanni Bruno ◽  
Anna Panzeri ◽  
Umberto Granziol ◽  
Fabio Alivernini ◽  
Andrea Chirico ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a major stressor for the psychological health of people worldwide. In the UK, the COVID19-Psychological Research Consortium Study (C19PRC) launched to evaluate the psychological impact of COVID-19 in the general population and its implications. The project was then extended to Italy and several other countries. This article provides an overview of the Italian C19PRC study and its replication of two specific findings from the UK C19PRC. In the first part, the relationship between anxiety and somatic symptomatology is examined. In the second part, we analyze the association between several factors and psychological health outcomes: depression/anxiety, traumatic stress, COVID-19 anxiety. In line with the study conducted in the UK, an online survey was administered to the adult Italian general population. The sample included 1038 respondents (age, mean = 49.94, SD = 16.14, 51.15% females) taken from four regions: Lombardia, Veneto, Lazio, and Campania. The relationship between predictors and outcomes was evaluated by means of logistic regression models. Somatic indices showed a positive association with anxiety, worse somatic symptoms were associated with mourning a loss of a beloved one due to COVID-19 and with precarious health conditions. Females showed a higher incidence of psychological issues. No differences in anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress were found across regions but the Campania region showed the most severe somatic symptomatology. In the second analysis, the factors associated with more severe psychological outcomes (i.e., anxiety and/or depression, traumatic stress, and COVID-19 related anxiety) were younger age, the presence of minors in the household, traumatic stressors, and precarious health conditions. No differences across regions emerged. The Italian results correspond to the UK findings for anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress. Both in the UK and Italy, the factors associated with worse psychological health were gender (female), younger age, having children, pre-existing health issues (both for oneself or someone close), and the moderate/high perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 within one month. In Italy, unlike the UK, lower household income and having (had) COVID-19 were not associated with poorer mental health. The psychological impact of COVID-19 can last for months; future research should explore all aspects of the psychological burden of COVID-19 in order to implement psychological interventions and promote psychological health.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orla McBride ◽  
Jamie Murphy ◽  
Mark Shevlin ◽  
Jilly Gibson Miller ◽  
Todd K. Hartman ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study aims to assess and monitor the psychological and social impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the general population, using longitudinal surveys and mixed-methods studies in multiple countries. The first strand of the study, an internet-based panel survey, was launched in the UK in March 2020 during the earliest stages of the pandemic in that country (hereafter referred to as C19PRC-UKW1). This paper describes (1) the development, design and content for C19PRC-UKW1, which was informed by the extant evidence base on the psychosocial impact of previous global outbreaks of similar severe acute respiratory syndromes (e.g. SARS, H1N1, MERS); (2) the specific socio-economic and political context of the C19PRC-UKW1; (3) the recruitment of a large sample of UK adults aged 18 years and older (n=2025) via an internet-based panel survey; (4) the representativeness of the C19PRC-UKW1 sample compared to the UK adult population in terms of important sociodemographic characteristics (e.g. age, sex, household income, etc.); and (5) future plans for C19PRC Study including follow-up survey waves in the UK, supplementary non-survey based study strands linking from the C19PRC-UKW1 and the roll-out of the study to other countries.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orla McBride ◽  
Jamie Murphy ◽  
Mark Shevlin ◽  
Jilly Gibson Miller ◽  
Todd K. Hartman ◽  
...  

The C19PRC Study aims to assess the psychological, social, and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, Republic of Ireland, and Spain. This paper describes the the first two waves of the UK survey (the ‘parent’ strand of the Consortium) during March-April 2020. A longitudinal, internet panel survey assessed: (1) COVID-19 related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours; (2) the occurrence of common mental health disorders (e.g. anxiety, depression); as well as the role of (3) psychological factors (e.g. personality, locus of control, resilience) and (4) social and political attitudes (e.g. authoritarianism, social dominance), in influencing the public’s response to the pandemic. Quota sampling was used to recruit a nationally representative (in terms of age, sex, and household income) sample of adults (N=2025), 1406 of whom were followed-up one month later (69.4% retention rate). The baseline sample was representative of the UK population in terms of economic activity, ethnicity, and household composition. Attrition was predicted by key socio-demographic characteristics, and an inverse probability weighting procedure was employed to ensure the follow-up sample was representative of the baseline sample. C19PRC Study data has strong generalisability to facilitate and stimulate interdisciplinary research on important public health questions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Shevlin ◽  
Sarah Butter ◽  
Orla McBride ◽  
Jamie Murphy ◽  
Jilly Gibson Miller ◽  
...  

Shevlin et al. (2021) recently demonstrated heterogeneity in mental health and psychological responses to the COVID-19 pandemic over time from a nationally representative sample of UK adults (March–July 2020). Five subpopulations representing either stability, deterioration or improvement in both anxiety-depression and COVID-19 PTSD were identified. The majority of the sample were characterised by low levels of anxiety-depression (56.6%) and COVID-19 traumatic stress (68.3%) during this early phase of the pandemic but some showed deterioration and some showed mental health benefits. Here we extend these findings using two additional survey waves from the C19PRC Study, thereby modelling mental health trajectories for the UK population within the entire first year of the pandemic.


Author(s):  
Erman Yıldız

BACKGROUND: Although previous studies have separately revealed that parameters such as anxiety, depression, and secondary traumatic stress (STS) are associated with burnout, there is still a limited understanding of the relationship between anxiety, depression, and STS and burnout in intensive care unit (ICU) nurses. AIMS: To investigate the relationship between levels of burnout, anxiety, depression, and STS in ICU nurses. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted with ICU nurses ( N = 164) from a university hospital in eastern Turkey. The participants completed the anxiety, depression, STS, and burnout scales along with the descriptive characteristics form. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The mean scores for STS, anxiety, depression, and burnout were 40.60 ± 13.77, 17.14 ± 12.90, 13.28 ± 9.75 and 41.39 ± 14.87, respectively. The results showed that, in the ICU nurses, anxiety, depression, and STS components explained 61% of emotional exhaustion, 38% of depersonalization, and 13% of personal accomplishment. CONCLUSIONS: While the present findings supported the paradigm that burnout in ICU nurses is associated with STS, anxiety, and depression, they also revealed some details about the psychopathological factors associated with burnout. These details were as follows: (1) individuals who resorted to avoidance as a component of STS on a high level were more likely to experience emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, (2) individuals with severe depressive symptoms were more likely to experience a decrease in their personal accomplishment, and (3) individuals with anxiety symptoms were more likely to experience both emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-394
Author(s):  
Anita Padmanabhanunni

The psychological and emotional risks associated with providing care to traumatized populations have been largely overlooked in the literature on non-professional trauma counselling in South Africa. Non-professional or lay trauma counsellors are frontline service providers and typically the first point of contact for people in community contexts who have experienced traumatic events. The main aim of this study was to investigate the professional quality of life including compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout of a sample ( N = 146) of lay trauma counsellors in the Western Cape Province. Demographic factors including age and gender were found to be significant. Older age was associated with compassion satisfaction while younger age predicted burnout. Male lay trauma counsellors were more likely to report high burnout and high secondary traumatic stress compared with their female counterparts. The study underscores the need for organizations to incorporate prevention and intervention approaches to mitigate the negative psychological impact of working with trauma. Male lay trauma counsellors and younger counsellors may particularly benefit from interventions that encourage debriefing.


Author(s):  
Verena Rass ◽  
Bogdan-Andrei Ianosi ◽  
Laura Zamarian ◽  
Ronny Beer ◽  
Sabina Sahanic ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose To assess patient characteristics associated with health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) and its mental and physical subcategories 3 months after diagnosis with COVID-19. Methods In this prospective multicentre cohort study, HR-QoL was assessed in 90 patients using the SF-36 questionnaire (36-item Short Form Health Survey), which consists of 8 health domains that can be divided into a mental and physical health component. Mental health symptoms including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorders were evaluated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-5 (PCL-5) 3 months after COVID-19. Using descriptive statistics and multivariable regression analysis, we identified factors associated with impaired HR-QoL 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. Results Patients were 55 years of age (IQR, 49–63; 39% women) and were classified as severe (23%), moderate (57%), or mild (20%) according to acute disease severity. HR-QoL was impaired in 28/90 patients (31%). Younger age [per year, adjOR (95%CI) 0.94 (0.88–1.00), p = 0.049], longer hospitalization [per day, adjOR (95%CI) 1.07 (1.01–1.13), p = 0.015], impaired sleep [adjOR (95%CI) 5.54 (1.2–25.61), p = 0.028], and anxiety [adjOR (95%CI) 15.67 (3.03–80.99), p = 0.001) were independently associated with impaired HR-QoL. Twenty-nine percent (n = 26) scored below the normal range on the mental health component of the SF-36 and independent associations emerged for anxiety, depression, and self-reported numbness. Impairments in the physical health component of the SF-36 were reported by 12 (13%) patients and linked to hypogeusia and fatigue. Conclusion Every third patient reported a reduction in HR-QoL 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis and impairments were more prominent in mental than physical well-being.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehran Shayganfard

Abstract Mental disorders including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, bipolar and etc. have a considerable proportion of global disorder burden. Many nutritional psychiatry investigations have been conducted to evaluate the relationship between several individual nutrients such as herbal compounds with mental health. Resveratrol, a famous polyphenol compound, is known as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and neuroprotective agent regulating the function of brain and improves the behavioral factors associated with learning, anxiety, depression, and memory. In addition, this natural compound can cross the blood–brain barrier representing neurological influences. The pharmacological interest of utilizing resveratrol in mental disorders is due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant features. The aim of this paper was to review the studies evaluated the potential effects of resveratrol on mental disorders.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-41
Author(s):  
Mrs. Hanin Shalaby ◽  
Nora Baroom ◽  
Rawan Obaid ◽  
Enaam Raboe

Purpose: This study aimed at assessing the factors associated with psychological outcomes among HCWs in Saudi Arabia (SA) during the pandemic. It also aims to determine the factors affecting their QoL. Methodology: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, all HCWs who are working in direct and indirect contact with COVID-19 cases in tertiary hospitals of SA were invited voluntarily to complete the validated web-based survey during the study period. A total of 1,182 HCWs from different regions across SA and different specialties including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, health educators, technicians, and others responded to this study between the 1st of June and the 31st of July 2020. Psychological risk factors were evaluated using Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale; and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) anxiety scale. QoL was assessed using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL). Socio-demographic data were summarized with frequency and percentages. The overall anxiety, depression, WHOQOL scores of the study participants were calculated according to mean value, SD, and median. The association between socio-demographic factors and anxiety, depression scales were examined using independent samples t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and the chi-square test (for categorical depression/ anxiety variables severe depression/severe anxiety against mild/moderate/moderately severe). While those factors and WHOQOL domains were examined using one-way ANOVA.   Multivariate analysis was used to identify the front-line work predictors of depression and anxiety. Findings: Poor QoL scores were observed, especially in the physical and psychological health domains. In general, low QoL was significantly higher among workers who reported higher levels of anxiety and depression. The observed factors affecting the psychological health and QoL were age, gender, living with children and/or older people, occupation, years of experience, participation in front-line work. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Specific characteristics of HCWs may act as protective or risk factors with regard to depression, anxiety, and QoL. Targeted interventions could mitigate the negative effects of front-line work to maintain medical professionals’ optimal psychological and physical health .More research is needed to further determine how the COVID-19 pandemic and front-line work affect HCWs' mental and physical well-being


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Shevlin ◽  
Sarah Butter ◽  
Orla McBride ◽  
Jamie Murphy ◽  
Jilly Gibson Miller ◽  
...  

Background: The current study argues that population prevalence estimates for mental health disorders, or changes in mean scores over time, may not adequately reflect the heterogeneity in mental health response to the COVID-19 pandemic within the population.Methods: The COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study is a longitudinal, nationally representative, online survey of UK adults. The current study analysed data from its first three waves of data collection: Wave 1 (March 2020, N=2025), Wave 2 (April 2020, N=1406) and Wave 3 (July 2020, N=1166). Anxiety-depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire Anxiety and Depression Scale (a composite measure of the PHQ-9 and GAD-7) and COVID-19 related PTSD with the International Trauma Questionnaire. Changes in mental health outcomes were modelled across the three waves. Latent class growth analysis was used to identify subgroups of individuals with different trajectories of change in anxiety-depression and COVID-19 PTSD. Latent class membership was regressed on baseline characteristics.Results: Overall prevalence of anxiety-depression remained stable, while COVID-19 PTSD reduced between Waves 2 and 3. Heterogeneity in mental health response was found, and hypothesised classes reflecting (i) stability, (ii) improvement, and (iii) deterioration in mental health were identified. Psychological factors were most likely to differentiate the improving, deteriorating and high-stable classes from the low-stable mental health trajectories. Conclusions: A low-stable profile characterised by little-to-no psychological distress (‘resilient’ class) was the most common trajectory for both anxiety-depression and COVID-19 PTSD. Monitoring these trajectories is necessary moving forward, in particular for the ~30% of individuals with increasing anxiety-depression levels.


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