https://zoom.us/j/92749104744
Meeting ID: 927 4910 4744
The impact of Covid-19 on patient symptom severity.
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused worldwide societal upheaval. Individuals now face a constant threat of illness, loss of loved ones, mounting unemployment rates, childcare challenges, and social isolation. The lasting psychological impacts of these traumatic experiences and lifestyle changes are not yet known. Early studies suggest that Covid-19 has caused an increase in stress levels, depression and anxiety symptoms, and loneliness across the general population (Serafini et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). While the research to-date generally shows that an increase in psychological distress is likely to be widespread, some studies have suggested that individual factors, such as psychological flexibility, may account for variance in distress and greater resilience (Dawson & Golijani-Moghaddam, 2020). We have yet to see published data examining the impact of Covid-19 on symptom severity within clinical populations. The current study examined the changes in symptom severity in individuals already receiving psychotherapy treatment at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that patients would report greater levels of symptom severity due to the pandemic, and that this effect would differ depending on the strength of patients’ therapeutic alliance (TA), with stronger TAs acting as a protective factor against symptom deterioration.
State boredom, boredom proneness, and psychological distress during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout the United States (US), individuals across the country remained locked inside their homes while businesses, schools, and place of recreation remained closed for weeks at a time. Such conditions are conducive to numerous psychological problems (Panchal et al., 2020), including increased experiences of boredom. At first glance, boredom may seem to be a relatively innocuous, albeit unpleasant, emotional state, and one that is to be expected given the current conditions. However, boredom is associated with a number of undesirable outcomes (Todman, 2003), including psychological problems such as increased depression (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986), binge-eating (Havermans et al., 2015), and addictions (LePera et al., 2011). Moreover, individuals differ in their propensity to experience boredom, and highly boredom-prone individuals may be at an increased risk for negative consequences associated with the pandemic lockdowns. It was expected that boredom rates would rise as the pandemic continued to spread through the US, and we aimed to examine the associations between boredom and several markers of psychological distress. Moreover, although the subjective experience of boredom (state boredom [SB]) and boredom proneness (BP), the proclivity to experience boredom, are highly related constructs, they are in fact, distinct (Todman, 2003). While it is expected that individuals who are easily bored (i.e., highly boredom-prone) are likely to be more frequently bored, it does not necessarily follow that all individuals who have been frequently bored in the recent past are also highly boredom-prone. The protracted lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 public health directives allowed us to explore this distinction and ask two important questions about boredom and the propensity to bored. Specifically, we wanted to ascertain the extent to which negative outcomes associated with a high level of boredom-proneness were dependent on the co-occurrence of high levels of SB. Also, because previous research had suggested that high levels of recent SB are associated with a more hopeful outlook about the future when BP is held constant (Weiss et al., 2019), we conjectured that SB, when decoupled form BP, might positively impact individuals’ psychological health and decision making during these times of uncertainty.
The biopsychosocial impact of a pandemic: Understanding Covid-19 as a potentially morally injurious experience.
COVID-19 continues to make a devastating impact on public health worldwide. The impacts of this pandemic on mental health have yet to be fully uncovered. While there has been some preliminary research documenting the rates of psychological distress, few studies have investigated the factors that may account for differences in individual functioning. The current research aimed to understand how sense of self impacts clinical outcomes such as anxiety, depression and traumatic stress. An online snowball sampling approach was used to collect data from 170 individuals living in the US between April and June 2020. A semi-structured self report interview was conducted to assess a variety of Covid-19 related demographic information in addition to cognitive and clinical measures. Results suggest that moral injury and rumination mediate the relationships between loss of employment and clinical outcomes such as increased depression, anxiety and traumatic stress. These findings suggest that individuals who believe their morals were greatly compromised during the pandemic are more likely to endure psychological distress.
The associations between boredom and increased substance use during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in devastating consequences across the United States (US) and around the world. The stress associated with the pandemic’s numerous impacts have also resulted in detrimental consequences for mental health (Czeisler et al., 2020; Panchal et al., 2020), with a recent survey (n = 5,000) reporting that 13% of individuals had increased their substance use to cope with pandemic-related stress (Czeisler et al., 2020). Another report found a 12% increase in substance use between March and July (Panchal et al., 2020) Boredom is one factor that may make some individuals more susceptible to turning to substances to cope with these difficult circumstances. As individuals spend increasing amounts of time in isolation, with limited options for recreation, experiences of boredom are likely to increase and persist. Both the tendency to experience boredom, or boredom proneness (BP), as well as the subjective experience of boredom, or state boredom (SB), have been consistently linked to increased substance use (e.g., LePera, 2011; Spaeth et al., 2015). It is possible that increases in boredom have interacted with other stressors to contribute to increased substance use across the country. This study aimed to explore changes in substance use across the pandemic, and to determine the impact of boredom on substance use patterns.
PAUSE in the New York state of mind: Emotion dysregulation and extraversion as potential risk factors for psychotherapy patients in NYC during Covid-19.
COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020 (World Health Organization, 2020). On March 20, 2020, the Governor of New York State signed the "New York State on PAUSE" Executive Order banning non-essential gatherings (Governor of New York State, 2020), effectively confining residents to their homes. Studies of non-U.S. populations found that COVID-19 has adversely impacted psychological well-being (Bao et al. 2020; Mazza et al., 2020; Traunmuller et al. 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Further, forced self-isolation required for containment of the SARS virus was associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms (Hawryluck et al., 2004). While recent studies have investigated the effect of COVID-19 on psychological outcomes, none appear to have explored the risk of symptom deterioration in patients receiving psychotherapy during COVID-19, nor sought to identify the characteristics of psychotherapy patients that may place them at greater risk of symptom deterioration during COVID-19. Emotion regulation, the process through which emotions are experienced and expressed (Gross, 1998), may be an important mechanism in protecting against the adverse psychological effects of COVID-19, including forced-isolation (Restubog et al., 2020), in part because it reflects resilience in the face of major stressors (Tory & Mauss, 2011). Extraversion, a Big Five personality trait reflecting the tendency to be more sociable, assertive, and optimistic (Vollrath, 2001), may also increase symptom severity during COVID-19. Extraverts have lower isolation tolerance (Francis, 1969), potentially increasing the risk of psychological distress during self-isolation. Indeed, recent research by Liu et al. (2020) found that high extraversion was associated with greater stress during COVID-19.
Non-partisan uncertainty during COVID-19: conspiracy beliefs mediate disease precautionary behaviors in New York City. The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to have a profound impact on every division of society and New York City (NYC) emerged as an early epicenter of the virus. Give the global proportions and novelty of the disease, accurate information surrounding COVID-19 has been marked with confusion and uncertainty. While factors have been associated with COVID-19 stress and precautionary behavior outcomes, little is known about the connectedness between levels of intolerance of uncertainty (IU), political partisanship, and conspiracy beliefs. This cross-sectional study sought to examine potential correlates and pathways between levels of intolerance of IU (prospective and inhibitory), political partisanship, conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19, and the impact on precautionary behaviors. Individuals from NYC (N = 99) participated in this study through an Amazon Mechanical Turk online survey. Findings revealed no significant direct effect of any predictors (partisanship, religious affiliation, or inhibitory or prospective IU) on the outcome, precaution adherence behaviors. However, the indirect effects of these variables are significant when mediated through conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19. Further, conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 are significantly greater among individuals showing symptoms of inhibitory IU (uncertainty paralysis). These results suggest that irrespective of partisanship, religiosity, and degree of IU, the inclination to engage with conspiracy theories during a global crisis event may have negative real-world effects on disease prevention behaviors, particularly among individuals who may experience too much uncertainty to take appropriate action.
Effect of transition to teletherapy on therapeutic alliance during Covid-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic made telehealth psychotherapy the rule rather than the exception. Previous literature has raised concerns about the impact of virtual conferencing on the psychotherapy process (Vincent, et al., 2017) and psychologists have predicted that teletherapy would have detrimental effects on the development of the therapeutic alliance (Rees & Stone, 2005). The current study sought to evaluate the effect of the transition to teletherapy on the therapeutic alliance, as measured by the Therapeutic Alliance (TA) subscore of the Outcome Questionnaire 30.2 (OQ 30.2). We predicted that the abrupt change to teletherapy due to the COVID-19 pandemic would negatively impact TA scores.
What was lost and what was gained?: Trainee perspectives on switching to telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We examined how clinical psychology doctoral students perceived the shift to telehealth due to Covid-19 on their clinical training. We hypothesized that respondents would report a negative impact overall on clinical training, but the acquisition of new clinical skills. Eighteen participants completed a mixed-methods survey assessing the training impact of the move to telehealth. Results showed no consensus on whether the Covid-19 pandemic had affected training in a positive or negative way, but the majority of respondents felt they were able to develop more clinical skills. Further exploration is necessary to understand the influences of individual and contextual differences on the perspective of the switch from in-person therapy vs. telehealth. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020 (World Health Organization, 2020). On March 20, 2020, the Governor of New York State signed the "New York State on PAUSE" Executive Order banning non-essential gatherings (Governor of New York State, 2020), effectively confining residents to their homes. Studies of non-U.S. populations found that COVID-19 has adversely impacted psychological well-being (Bao et al. 2020; Mazza et al., 2020; Traunmuller et al. 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Further, forced self-isolation required for containment of the SARS virus was associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms (Hawryluck et al., 2004). While recent studies have investigated the effect of COVID-19 on psychological outcomes, none appear to have explored the risk of symptom deterioration in patients receiving psychotherapy during COVID-19, nor sought to identify the characteristics of psychotherapy patients that may place them at greater risk of symptom deterioration during COVID-19. Emotion regulation, the process through which emotions are experienced and expressed (Gross, 1998), may be an important mechanism in protecting against the adverse psychological effects of COVID-19, including forced-isolation (Restubog et al., 2020), in part because it reflects resilience in the face of major stressors (Tory & Mauss, 2011). Extraversion, a Big Five personality trait reflecting the tendency to be more sociable, assertive, and optimistic (Vollrath, 2001), may also increase symptom severity during COVID-19. Extraverts have lower isolation tolerance (Francis, 1969), potentially increasing the risk of psychological distress during self-isolation. Indeed, recent research by Liu et al. (2020) found that high extraversion was associated with greater stress during COVID-19.
Self-efficacy app study (SeApp): Feasibility in the context of Covid-19.
This “SeApp” study aims to test the feasibility of a mobile app designed to boost users’ self-efficacy and reduce perceived stress in response to COVID-19 as a global mental health crisis. The app harnesses the power of self-efficacy autobiographical memories by prompting users 3 times per day with mindfulness techniques. These are termed Ecological Momentary Intervention (EMI) prompts. EMIs are mostly smartphone-based applications that deliver interventions to people while being engaged in their daily life activities. During these exercises, users are asked to recall memories of problem-solving and success, which in Dr. Bandura's (1977) Self-Efficacy Theory, are referred to as mastery experiences. Our work is also informed by Dr. Brown’s (2019; 2012) induction studies, which demonstrated that enhancing perceived self-efficacy can reduce intrusive recollections of aversive events. Users are cued an additional 3 times per day with Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs) to capture their feelings and behavior in real time. An initial pilot study demonstrated promising results, with more participants reporting positive emotions and fewer negative emotions post-intervention. Given the small scope of the pilot, there was a lack of statistically significant changes in General Self-Efficacy (GSE) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) scores (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995; Cohen et al., 1983). This is expected to change as we progress to the full study. For the full study, N = 160 students with heightened levels of perceived stress will be recruited. 80 participants will be included in the intervention group, which will receive both EMI and EMA prompts, and 80 in the control group, which will solely receive EMA prompts. With the exploratory aim to investigate cross-cultural differences in memory descriptions, each group will be composed of a subset of n = 40 international students from East Asian nations attending US universities remotely and n = 40 US national students to explore cross-cultural differences. In testing the impact of daily memory-based training via smartphone app on individuals' daily self-efficacy and motivation, as well as its ability to reduce perceived stress, we hope to support students, a vulnerable population both physically and mentally, during the time of COVID-19. Eventually, we would be interested in adapting the app as an intervention for forcibly displaced persons in transit.
Understanding the mental health impact of the fear of Covid-19 amongst low-income women in rural India.
COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound societal impact in India where more than 9 million people have been infected and 132,000 people have died. It has been argued that public health interventions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19 may exacerbate mental health challenges. While there has been some research documenting the mental health impact in India amongst educated and technology-literate populations, limited research has been done to understand the impact on vulnerable groups such as rural and illiterate women. Prior research has demonstrated that fear of coronavirus and perceived loneliness can be significantly detrimental to mental health. The present study proposes a model where perceived loneliness mediates the relationship between fear of coronavirus and mental health. Participants were 317 women from Bahraich District in the northeast Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Data on mental wellbeing, loneliness and fear of coronavirus was collected using a snowball sampling method and the women were interviewed in their homes by trained enumerators. Path analysis through a series of regressions was conducted in Jamovi software. Loneliness fully mediated the relationship between fear of coronavirus and mental health. There was a total effect of fear of coronavirus on mental health (B = .35, SE = 0.07, p < .01) such that greater fear of coronavirus was associated with worse mental health. Examination of the individual paths demonstrated a non-significant direct effect of fear of coronavirus on mental health when controlling for loneliness (B = .12, SE = 0.07, p = .07) but a significant positive indirect effect such that loneliness accounted for 66.1% of the relationship between fear of coronavirus and mental health outcomes (B = .23, SE = 0.04, p < .01). Findings indicate that perceived loneliness plays an important role in how fear of coronavirus impacts mental wellbeing and may be an important factor to consider in supporting vulnerable populations from the mental health impact of the pandemic.
Stress, Academic Motivation, and Resilience Among International and Domestic Students during COVID-19.
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) pandemic poses a global threat to mental well-being to world population. Not only domestic students but also international students have been adversely impacted by the outbreak due to travel restrictions, delay in academic events, and financial instability. To fill the critical gap that the unprecedented COVID-19 and its rapid transmission led, the study investigated the links between stress and academic motivation, and resilience. Mental health status was assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), motivation was assessed by the Achievement Motives Scale-Revised (AMS-10), and resilience was assessed by the Resilience Appraisals Scale (RAS) among 106 Turkish graduate students. The findings demonstrated that female graduate students have higher stress levels than male graduate students during the outbreak. Perceived stress level and academic motivation were significantly negatively correlated among local students while perceived stress level and resilience were significantly negatively related among international Turkish students. Also, international students who had higher resilience were more likely to have higher academic motivation. The findings addressed the negative impacts of the disease on graduate students’ mental health and academic education and highlighted the need for psychological and social support that universities can provide for graduate students.
Perceptions and projections of Covid-19 in the US and China.
The present research aimed to investigate how people remember the initial phase of the Covid-19 crisis, how they perceive it in the present, and how they imagine it will progress in the future. We collected data in the United States (4/15/20 – 4/23/20) and in China (4/27/20-5/23/20). In the US, we used Mechanical Turk, whereas in China we used snowball sampling to contact participants. Six weeks after the initial wave, we collected the second-wave data with the same set of questions. At Phase 1, we surveyed 237 participants from the U.S and 233 participants from China. At Phase 2, we managed to follow up with 157 American participants and 176 Chinese participants. The study included four main sections: memory (6 weeks ago), present, future (in 6 weeks), and future (end of pandemic). In the first three sections, there were questions measuring emotions, attributions of preparedness, agency, efficacy to various entities (self, government, state, nation), communication and media use, and precautionary practices. For all three temporal units, we also asked participants to make estimations for the number infections and number of deaths for their state, nation, and the world. In the final section, we asked participants to make estimations about the end of the pandemic (when it will end, when there will be a vaccine, proportion of infected etc.) We are interested to see how people's memory influences their predictions about the future of the pandemic. We are also interested in tracking the changes in people’s memories and future projections as time passes. Finally, we want to investigate the cultural differences between the US and China in terms of their perceptions and regarding Covid-19.
Meeting ID: 927 4910 4744
Abstracts
The impact of Covid-19 on patient symptom severity.
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused worldwide societal upheaval. Individuals now face a constant threat of illness, loss of loved ones, mounting unemployment rates, childcare challenges, and social isolation. The lasting psychological impacts of these traumatic experiences and lifestyle changes are not yet known. Early studies suggest that Covid-19 has caused an increase in stress levels, depression and anxiety symptoms, and loneliness across the general population (Serafini et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). While the research to-date generally shows that an increase in psychological distress is likely to be widespread, some studies have suggested that individual factors, such as psychological flexibility, may account for variance in distress and greater resilience (Dawson & Golijani-Moghaddam, 2020). We have yet to see published data examining the impact of Covid-19 on symptom severity within clinical populations. The current study examined the changes in symptom severity in individuals already receiving psychotherapy treatment at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that patients would report greater levels of symptom severity due to the pandemic, and that this effect would differ depending on the strength of patients’ therapeutic alliance (TA), with stronger TAs acting as a protective factor against symptom deterioration.
State boredom, boredom proneness, and psychological distress during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout the United States (US), individuals across the country remained locked inside their homes while businesses, schools, and place of recreation remained closed for weeks at a time. Such conditions are conducive to numerous psychological problems (Panchal et al., 2020), including increased experiences of boredom. At first glance, boredom may seem to be a relatively innocuous, albeit unpleasant, emotional state, and one that is to be expected given the current conditions. However, boredom is associated with a number of undesirable outcomes (Todman, 2003), including psychological problems such as increased depression (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986), binge-eating (Havermans et al., 2015), and addictions (LePera et al., 2011). Moreover, individuals differ in their propensity to experience boredom, and highly boredom-prone individuals may be at an increased risk for negative consequences associated with the pandemic lockdowns. It was expected that boredom rates would rise as the pandemic continued to spread through the US, and we aimed to examine the associations between boredom and several markers of psychological distress. Moreover, although the subjective experience of boredom (state boredom [SB]) and boredom proneness (BP), the proclivity to experience boredom, are highly related constructs, they are in fact, distinct (Todman, 2003). While it is expected that individuals who are easily bored (i.e., highly boredom-prone) are likely to be more frequently bored, it does not necessarily follow that all individuals who have been frequently bored in the recent past are also highly boredom-prone. The protracted lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 public health directives allowed us to explore this distinction and ask two important questions about boredom and the propensity to bored. Specifically, we wanted to ascertain the extent to which negative outcomes associated with a high level of boredom-proneness were dependent on the co-occurrence of high levels of SB. Also, because previous research had suggested that high levels of recent SB are associated with a more hopeful outlook about the future when BP is held constant (Weiss et al., 2019), we conjectured that SB, when decoupled form BP, might positively impact individuals’ psychological health and decision making during these times of uncertainty.
The biopsychosocial impact of a pandemic: Understanding Covid-19 as a potentially morally injurious experience.
COVID-19 continues to make a devastating impact on public health worldwide. The impacts of this pandemic on mental health have yet to be fully uncovered. While there has been some preliminary research documenting the rates of psychological distress, few studies have investigated the factors that may account for differences in individual functioning. The current research aimed to understand how sense of self impacts clinical outcomes such as anxiety, depression and traumatic stress. An online snowball sampling approach was used to collect data from 170 individuals living in the US between April and June 2020. A semi-structured self report interview was conducted to assess a variety of Covid-19 related demographic information in addition to cognitive and clinical measures. Results suggest that moral injury and rumination mediate the relationships between loss of employment and clinical outcomes such as increased depression, anxiety and traumatic stress. These findings suggest that individuals who believe their morals were greatly compromised during the pandemic are more likely to endure psychological distress.
The associations between boredom and increased substance use during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in devastating consequences across the United States (US) and around the world. The stress associated with the pandemic’s numerous impacts have also resulted in detrimental consequences for mental health (Czeisler et al., 2020; Panchal et al., 2020), with a recent survey (n = 5,000) reporting that 13% of individuals had increased their substance use to cope with pandemic-related stress (Czeisler et al., 2020). Another report found a 12% increase in substance use between March and July (Panchal et al., 2020) Boredom is one factor that may make some individuals more susceptible to turning to substances to cope with these difficult circumstances. As individuals spend increasing amounts of time in isolation, with limited options for recreation, experiences of boredom are likely to increase and persist. Both the tendency to experience boredom, or boredom proneness (BP), as well as the subjective experience of boredom, or state boredom (SB), have been consistently linked to increased substance use (e.g., LePera, 2011; Spaeth et al., 2015). It is possible that increases in boredom have interacted with other stressors to contribute to increased substance use across the country. This study aimed to explore changes in substance use across the pandemic, and to determine the impact of boredom on substance use patterns.
PAUSE in the New York state of mind: Emotion dysregulation and extraversion as potential risk factors for psychotherapy patients in NYC during Covid-19.
COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020 (World Health Organization, 2020). On March 20, 2020, the Governor of New York State signed the "New York State on PAUSE" Executive Order banning non-essential gatherings (Governor of New York State, 2020), effectively confining residents to their homes. Studies of non-U.S. populations found that COVID-19 has adversely impacted psychological well-being (Bao et al. 2020; Mazza et al., 2020; Traunmuller et al. 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Further, forced self-isolation required for containment of the SARS virus was associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms (Hawryluck et al., 2004). While recent studies have investigated the effect of COVID-19 on psychological outcomes, none appear to have explored the risk of symptom deterioration in patients receiving psychotherapy during COVID-19, nor sought to identify the characteristics of psychotherapy patients that may place them at greater risk of symptom deterioration during COVID-19. Emotion regulation, the process through which emotions are experienced and expressed (Gross, 1998), may be an important mechanism in protecting against the adverse psychological effects of COVID-19, including forced-isolation (Restubog et al., 2020), in part because it reflects resilience in the face of major stressors (Tory & Mauss, 2011). Extraversion, a Big Five personality trait reflecting the tendency to be more sociable, assertive, and optimistic (Vollrath, 2001), may also increase symptom severity during COVID-19. Extraverts have lower isolation tolerance (Francis, 1969), potentially increasing the risk of psychological distress during self-isolation. Indeed, recent research by Liu et al. (2020) found that high extraversion was associated with greater stress during COVID-19.
Non-partisan uncertainty during COVID-19: conspiracy beliefs mediate disease precautionary behaviors in New York City. The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to have a profound impact on every division of society and New York City (NYC) emerged as an early epicenter of the virus. Give the global proportions and novelty of the disease, accurate information surrounding COVID-19 has been marked with confusion and uncertainty. While factors have been associated with COVID-19 stress and precautionary behavior outcomes, little is known about the connectedness between levels of intolerance of uncertainty (IU), political partisanship, and conspiracy beliefs. This cross-sectional study sought to examine potential correlates and pathways between levels of intolerance of IU (prospective and inhibitory), political partisanship, conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19, and the impact on precautionary behaviors. Individuals from NYC (N = 99) participated in this study through an Amazon Mechanical Turk online survey. Findings revealed no significant direct effect of any predictors (partisanship, religious affiliation, or inhibitory or prospective IU) on the outcome, precaution adherence behaviors. However, the indirect effects of these variables are significant when mediated through conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19. Further, conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 are significantly greater among individuals showing symptoms of inhibitory IU (uncertainty paralysis). These results suggest that irrespective of partisanship, religiosity, and degree of IU, the inclination to engage with conspiracy theories during a global crisis event may have negative real-world effects on disease prevention behaviors, particularly among individuals who may experience too much uncertainty to take appropriate action.
Effect of transition to teletherapy on therapeutic alliance during Covid-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic made telehealth psychotherapy the rule rather than the exception. Previous literature has raised concerns about the impact of virtual conferencing on the psychotherapy process (Vincent, et al., 2017) and psychologists have predicted that teletherapy would have detrimental effects on the development of the therapeutic alliance (Rees & Stone, 2005). The current study sought to evaluate the effect of the transition to teletherapy on the therapeutic alliance, as measured by the Therapeutic Alliance (TA) subscore of the Outcome Questionnaire 30.2 (OQ 30.2). We predicted that the abrupt change to teletherapy due to the COVID-19 pandemic would negatively impact TA scores.
What was lost and what was gained?: Trainee perspectives on switching to telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We examined how clinical psychology doctoral students perceived the shift to telehealth due to Covid-19 on their clinical training. We hypothesized that respondents would report a negative impact overall on clinical training, but the acquisition of new clinical skills. Eighteen participants completed a mixed-methods survey assessing the training impact of the move to telehealth. Results showed no consensus on whether the Covid-19 pandemic had affected training in a positive or negative way, but the majority of respondents felt they were able to develop more clinical skills. Further exploration is necessary to understand the influences of individual and contextual differences on the perspective of the switch from in-person therapy vs. telehealth. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020 (World Health Organization, 2020). On March 20, 2020, the Governor of New York State signed the "New York State on PAUSE" Executive Order banning non-essential gatherings (Governor of New York State, 2020), effectively confining residents to their homes. Studies of non-U.S. populations found that COVID-19 has adversely impacted psychological well-being (Bao et al. 2020; Mazza et al., 2020; Traunmuller et al. 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Further, forced self-isolation required for containment of the SARS virus was associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms (Hawryluck et al., 2004). While recent studies have investigated the effect of COVID-19 on psychological outcomes, none appear to have explored the risk of symptom deterioration in patients receiving psychotherapy during COVID-19, nor sought to identify the characteristics of psychotherapy patients that may place them at greater risk of symptom deterioration during COVID-19. Emotion regulation, the process through which emotions are experienced and expressed (Gross, 1998), may be an important mechanism in protecting against the adverse psychological effects of COVID-19, including forced-isolation (Restubog et al., 2020), in part because it reflects resilience in the face of major stressors (Tory & Mauss, 2011). Extraversion, a Big Five personality trait reflecting the tendency to be more sociable, assertive, and optimistic (Vollrath, 2001), may also increase symptom severity during COVID-19. Extraverts have lower isolation tolerance (Francis, 1969), potentially increasing the risk of psychological distress during self-isolation. Indeed, recent research by Liu et al. (2020) found that high extraversion was associated with greater stress during COVID-19.
Self-efficacy app study (SeApp): Feasibility in the context of Covid-19.
This “SeApp” study aims to test the feasibility of a mobile app designed to boost users’ self-efficacy and reduce perceived stress in response to COVID-19 as a global mental health crisis. The app harnesses the power of self-efficacy autobiographical memories by prompting users 3 times per day with mindfulness techniques. These are termed Ecological Momentary Intervention (EMI) prompts. EMIs are mostly smartphone-based applications that deliver interventions to people while being engaged in their daily life activities. During these exercises, users are asked to recall memories of problem-solving and success, which in Dr. Bandura's (1977) Self-Efficacy Theory, are referred to as mastery experiences. Our work is also informed by Dr. Brown’s (2019; 2012) induction studies, which demonstrated that enhancing perceived self-efficacy can reduce intrusive recollections of aversive events. Users are cued an additional 3 times per day with Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs) to capture their feelings and behavior in real time. An initial pilot study demonstrated promising results, with more participants reporting positive emotions and fewer negative emotions post-intervention. Given the small scope of the pilot, there was a lack of statistically significant changes in General Self-Efficacy (GSE) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) scores (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995; Cohen et al., 1983). This is expected to change as we progress to the full study. For the full study, N = 160 students with heightened levels of perceived stress will be recruited. 80 participants will be included in the intervention group, which will receive both EMI and EMA prompts, and 80 in the control group, which will solely receive EMA prompts. With the exploratory aim to investigate cross-cultural differences in memory descriptions, each group will be composed of a subset of n = 40 international students from East Asian nations attending US universities remotely and n = 40 US national students to explore cross-cultural differences. In testing the impact of daily memory-based training via smartphone app on individuals' daily self-efficacy and motivation, as well as its ability to reduce perceived stress, we hope to support students, a vulnerable population both physically and mentally, during the time of COVID-19. Eventually, we would be interested in adapting the app as an intervention for forcibly displaced persons in transit.
Understanding the mental health impact of the fear of Covid-19 amongst low-income women in rural India.
COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound societal impact in India where more than 9 million people have been infected and 132,000 people have died. It has been argued that public health interventions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19 may exacerbate mental health challenges. While there has been some research documenting the mental health impact in India amongst educated and technology-literate populations, limited research has been done to understand the impact on vulnerable groups such as rural and illiterate women. Prior research has demonstrated that fear of coronavirus and perceived loneliness can be significantly detrimental to mental health. The present study proposes a model where perceived loneliness mediates the relationship between fear of coronavirus and mental health. Participants were 317 women from Bahraich District in the northeast Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Data on mental wellbeing, loneliness and fear of coronavirus was collected using a snowball sampling method and the women were interviewed in their homes by trained enumerators. Path analysis through a series of regressions was conducted in Jamovi software. Loneliness fully mediated the relationship between fear of coronavirus and mental health. There was a total effect of fear of coronavirus on mental health (B = .35, SE = 0.07, p < .01) such that greater fear of coronavirus was associated with worse mental health. Examination of the individual paths demonstrated a non-significant direct effect of fear of coronavirus on mental health when controlling for loneliness (B = .12, SE = 0.07, p = .07) but a significant positive indirect effect such that loneliness accounted for 66.1% of the relationship between fear of coronavirus and mental health outcomes (B = .23, SE = 0.04, p < .01). Findings indicate that perceived loneliness plays an important role in how fear of coronavirus impacts mental wellbeing and may be an important factor to consider in supporting vulnerable populations from the mental health impact of the pandemic.
Stress, Academic Motivation, and Resilience Among International and Domestic Students during COVID-19.
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) pandemic poses a global threat to mental well-being to world population. Not only domestic students but also international students have been adversely impacted by the outbreak due to travel restrictions, delay in academic events, and financial instability. To fill the critical gap that the unprecedented COVID-19 and its rapid transmission led, the study investigated the links between stress and academic motivation, and resilience. Mental health status was assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), motivation was assessed by the Achievement Motives Scale-Revised (AMS-10), and resilience was assessed by the Resilience Appraisals Scale (RAS) among 106 Turkish graduate students. The findings demonstrated that female graduate students have higher stress levels than male graduate students during the outbreak. Perceived stress level and academic motivation were significantly negatively correlated among local students while perceived stress level and resilience were significantly negatively related among international Turkish students. Also, international students who had higher resilience were more likely to have higher academic motivation. The findings addressed the negative impacts of the disease on graduate students’ mental health and academic education and highlighted the need for psychological and social support that universities can provide for graduate students.
Perceptions and projections of Covid-19 in the US and China.
The present research aimed to investigate how people remember the initial phase of the Covid-19 crisis, how they perceive it in the present, and how they imagine it will progress in the future. We collected data in the United States (4/15/20 – 4/23/20) and in China (4/27/20-5/23/20). In the US, we used Mechanical Turk, whereas in China we used snowball sampling to contact participants. Six weeks after the initial wave, we collected the second-wave data with the same set of questions. At Phase 1, we surveyed 237 participants from the U.S and 233 participants from China. At Phase 2, we managed to follow up with 157 American participants and 176 Chinese participants. The study included four main sections: memory (6 weeks ago), present, future (in 6 weeks), and future (end of pandemic). In the first three sections, there were questions measuring emotions, attributions of preparedness, agency, efficacy to various entities (self, government, state, nation), communication and media use, and precautionary practices. For all three temporal units, we also asked participants to make estimations for the number infections and number of deaths for their state, nation, and the world. In the final section, we asked participants to make estimations about the end of the pandemic (when it will end, when there will be a vaccine, proportion of infected etc.) We are interested to see how people's memory influences their predictions about the future of the pandemic. We are also interested in tracking the changes in people’s memories and future projections as time passes. Finally, we want to investigate the cultural differences between the US and China in terms of their perceptions and regarding Covid-19.