Surviving the COVID-19 pandemic: An examination of adaptive coping strategies

Psychological readiness of football players for the match and its connection with self-esteem and competitive anxiety

For athletes, failure in a match is psychologically difficult. Since the movement abilities of athletes are often comparable, it is assumed that one of the key elements of victory is also their psychological readiness. Many experts recommend rigorously examining all factors affecting the performance of football players, especially in matches. The aim of our study is to determine whether a football player's coping with adversity, coachability, motivation to succeed, goal setting, peaking under pressure, or fear of failure are significantly predicted by their self-esteem or a specific aspect of competitive anxiety, which can be crucial for the direction of psychological preparation in collective sports. The research sample consisted of 107 male football players in the age range of 18-29 years registered with the Slovak Football Association, who actively participated in the team's matches. Football players filled out a booklet of psychological tests, including the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory, the Sport Anxiety Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The results of the regression analysis showed that the self-esteem of football players is a significant predictor of achievement motivation and their ability to listen to the coach's instructions. Along with the somatic component of anxiety, it also predicts goal-setting. Cognitive anxiety of football players, characterized by negative thoughts, turned out to be a significant predictor of coping with adversity during a football match and their peaking under pressure, and together with concentration disruption, it also predicts the ability of football players to free themselves from worries about what the audience thinks about their sporting performance in the match.

A Pilot Multisensory Approach for Emotional Eating: Pivoting from Virtual Reality to a 2-D Telemedicine Intervention during the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Emotional eating (EE), or eating in response to negative emotions or stress, can be understood as a manifestation of difficulties regulating emotions among individuals with eating disorders. To date, many virtual reality treatments for eating disorders have focused on body image or exposure methods and have not exclusively targeted EE. There has been a call made by experts in the field for a "new generation" of virtual reality interventions, capable of utilizing virtual reality's potential more fully. We developed a novel emotion regulation (ER) intervention based upon virtual reality to improve EE among adults with an eating disorder diagnosis. The study hypothesized that a novel ER protocol utilizing evidence-based strategies, as well as innovative techniques, would be feasible and acceptable and show preliminary signals of effectiveness for EE.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Due to COVID-19, the study pivoted from the original completely immersive intervention to a 2-D intervention deliverable over telehealth. Twenty-one patients were recruited from the Adult Eating Disorders Program within Stanford University to receive seven weekly one-hour virtual experiences (VEs) focusing on ER. Participants were not randomized but, as part of a pragmatic study design, chose between the novel VE-Emotion Regulation (VE-ER) intervention or continuing their treatment as usual. Before and after the seven sessions, participants completed an assessment by filling out online questionnaires.

RESULTS

Overall, VE-ER treatment was feasible, and the participant and therapist acceptability of VE-ER treatment was fairly high. In terms of preliminary effectiveness, the results showed a significant reduction in the frequencies of disordered eating behaviors in both groups, but a greater improvement in EE in the VE-ER group and a significant reduction in emotion dysregulation after the treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

This novel pilot study makes a valuable contribution to the scant literature by demonstrating the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of combining somatic, multisensory, and cognitive manipulations delivered via telemedicine to help patients with EE to manage their emotions. The findings can serve as the basis for larger, controlled studies evaluating the translation of the somatic marker theory from the research literature into real-world U.S. clinic settings.

Lived experiences and meanings of the COVID-19 pandemic: A case of the elderly survivors

The extent of risk brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of the elderly has emphasized the need to investigate their experiences during these challenging times. This study was conducted to explore the elderly's lived experiences as COVID-19 patients and to understand how they make sense of and cope with what happened to them when infected with COVID-19. Using Husserl's descriptive phenomenology, 13 elderly from Naval, Biliran Province, Philippines were chosen as participants using purposive sampling. The total number of participants was determined through theoretical saturation. In-depth interviews and the writing of field notes were done to collect information on the participants' experiences. The transcripts were analyzed following Colaizzi's steps in descriptive phenomenological method of analysis. Four general themes emerged for the elderly's lived experiences during the pandemic. These included discrimination, social isolation, anxiety and stress, and fear. Findings revealed that despite the challenges the elderly encountered during the pandemic and when they tested positive for COVID-19, they had seen it as an opportunity to improve and change their practices. The strategies that the elderly employed to cope with the pandemic were all adaptive and have resulted in positive outcomes. Results of the study emphasize the need for more programs and policies to enhance the care and support provided to the elderly during a health crisis.

Anxiety Levels and Coping Strategies to Deal with COVID-19: A Cross-Cultural Study among the Spanish and Latin American Healthcare Populations

Given its impact, COVID-19 has engendered great challenges in terms of health, highlighting the key role of health personnel. This study aims to analyze the level of anxiety, as well as coping strategies, among the health personnel in Latin American countries and Spain. An exploratory, descriptive, quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted with 584 participants from the healthcare population. No significant differences were observed in anxiety levels due to COVID-19 between Latin American countries and Spain. In Spain, an active and passive coping style is used, while in Latin American countries, an avoidance coping style is employed; there is a direct correlation between anxiety levels and the avoidance coping style. There exists an inverse correlation between anxiety levels and the use of an active coping style; moreover, there are no significant differences in the anxiety level of health personnel depending on whether they have cared for patients with COVID-19. Low cognitive activity, use of the avoidance method and Spanish geography were the main predictive coping styles of anxiety. Effective measures are required for preserving the mental health of health professionals during pandemics.

The influence of resilience on stress reaction of college students during COVID-19: the mediating role of coping style and positive adaptive response

The COVID-19 pandemic was a stressful event for all. It threatened people's physical and mental health. Previous studies have found that resilience can help people deal with stress and difficulties more effectively and prevent them from mental health problems. Coping style mediates the relationship between resilience and psychological well-being. Given the novelty and recency of the COVID-19, it is unknown whether resilience can also protect individuals in new difficulties, and whether the previous effective coping styles can be applied to new situations. The current study aimed to explore the influence mechanism of college students' resilience on negative stress response during the pandemic, and the chain mediation of coping style and positive adaptive response. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 910 college students (Mage = 20.58 years; 41.1% men, 58.9% women) studying in Shanghai by stratified random cluster sampling. At that time, they were in 27 different provinces and cities because of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The research tools included Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), Positive Adaptive Response Questionnaire (PARQ), and Negative Stress Reaction Questionnaire (NSRQ). The results showed that: (1) College students' resilience, coping style, positive adaptive response and negative stress reaction were significantly correlated with each other; (2) Resilience could not directly affect negative stress reaction, but it could affect negative stress reaction through the chain mediation of coping style and positive adaptive response. These findings suggest that resilience enhancement intervention programs need to focus on the cultivation of individual positive coping style; In response to major emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, officials can help people reduce negative stress reaction by disseminating positive coping strategies through the media.

Age and sex differences in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and coping mechanisms in Latin American youth

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has had negative effects on mental health. Understanding sex and age differences in the perception of stressors, the use of coping strategies, and the prevalence of depression and anxiety can lead to detecting at-risk groups.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online study surveyed perceived stressors, coping strategies, and the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 rating scales for symptoms of depression and anxiety. The study was open from Spring 2020 to Spring 2021 and was aimed at children, adolescents and young adults of Latin America.

RESULTS

The survey was completed by 3965 participants (63.8% females). The sample was divided into children (N = 621, 15.7%), adolescents (N = 1123, 28.3%) and young adults (N = 2021, 56%). Moderate to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety were found in 43.53% and 27%, respectively, being more frequent in females. Children of both sexes showed the lowest scores in rating scales. Adult females reported a higher level of stress in regards to pandemic news, having someone close diagnosed with COVID-19,the possibility of getting sick, academic delays, economic impact, and depression, while female adolescents reported a higher level of stress regarding the lockdown, losing contact with peers and anxiety. In juxtaposition, females also reported a higher frequency of positive coping strategies. A multivariate analysis confirmed the association of several variables with the presence of depression and anxiety.

CONCLUSION

A high prevalence of depression and anxiety was found among young people. Specific intervention programs must be created taking into account age and sex differences.

Exploring quality of life in Australian adults during a pandemic

Many aspects of society changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many individuals experienced the introduction of travel bans and restrictions, COVID-19 related anxiety, greater risk to their health and an increased need for adaptive coping. Research has shown health-related quality of life was negatively affected during the time. However, the influence that these restrictions and experiences had on other various quality of life domains (physical, psychological, environmental, and social) is not yet known. Therefore, we aimed to examine the relationships between COVID-19-related variables, health variables, psychological variables and five domains of quality of life in Australian adults. Data was collected via cross-sectional online surveys from 264 Australian participants (M age = 29.76 years, SD = 12.40). Five hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. The findings showed better adaptive coping, decreased COVID-19 anxiety, and lower perceived health risk were all associated with better quality of life during this time. Neither having travel plans during 2020-2021 nor engaging in compensatory behaviours were associated with quality of life. During times of uncertainty, such as pandemics, natural disasters or war, providing anxiety-reducing coping strategies may be beneficial for reducing the negative impacts on quality of life. In line with these findings and similar research, we have provided several directions and recommendations for governments and media organisations for when future events, similar to COVID-19, occur.