Areej ElSayary, Juan Calmaestra, Mercedes Gómez-López
Technological advances have reshaped the ways in which young people interact, giving rise to a complex digital landscape with implications for their well-being. Despite the growing body of research on cyber behaviors, their potential for both positive and negative well-being outcomes is not yet fully understood, nor is the role of gender in shaping these relationships. The present study aimed to explore the relationship between online moral disengagement, problematic internet use, online disinhibition, and cyberbullying dimensions and emotional, social, and psychological well-being among 671 emerging adults, as well as to examine the potential moderator role of gender. The results revealed a structural equation model that adequately explained this association for both the overall sample and the male and female subsamples, finding both positive and negative associations between cyber behaviors and well-being. Among females, online moral disengagement and toxic disinhibition showed stronger negative associations with well-being, particularly psychological well-being, whereas mood regulation and benign disinhibition demonstrated stronger positive associations across all well-being dimensions. Among males, well-being was more strongly and positively associated with preference for online social interaction, cognitive preoccupation, and negative outcomes, with the latter exhibiting positive associations in males but negative associations in females. Cyber aggression and cyber victimization were negatively associated with well-being in both genders, with stronger associations observed among males. Compulsive internet use showed weak associations in both groups, with variation in direction and magnitude by gender. However, gender only moderated the relationships between well-being and preference for online social interaction, mood regulation, and cyber aggression, with a more pronounced effect observed in males. These results provide new empirical evidence for understanding the relationship between cyber behaviors and well-being and highlight the relevance of implementing universal digital literacy strategies that address both damaging and adaptive cyber behaviors.
Erna Multahada, Agnis Sombuling, Pawestri Mukti Hidayati
et al.
Student mental health is facing a growing crisis, with rising rates of psychological distress and suicide reported among university populations in Indonesia. This study investigates the influence of three key psychosocial factors—family health, psychological well-being, and social support—on student mental health. A total of 140 university students were selected using an accidental sampling technique. Mental health was assessed using the GHQ-28, psychological well-being was measured with the Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWB), social support was evaluated using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and family health was assessed through the Family Health Scale–Long Form. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression to determine both the individual and combined effects of the predictor variables on student mental health outcomes. The results revealed a significant combined effect of family health, psychological well-being, and social support on student mental health (p = 0.000, R = 0.620, R² = 38.4%). When examined individually, family health (p = 0.000) and psychological well-being (p = 0.049) were significant predictors, while social support was not (p = 0.405). However, a post-hoc analysis showed that family-based social support had a statistically significant impact on student mental health (p = 0.001). The novelty of this study lies in its holistic approach, which integrates three major psychosocial predictors within a culturally grounded framework while emphasizing the need for university-based mental health screening systems. The findings underscore the critical role of campuses as supportive microsystems in promoting student mental health through preventive strategies, early detection, and responsive programming. Developing a psychologically safe and inclusive learning environment is essential to improving students’ overall well-being.
Orientation: Employee engagement (EE) has been identified as a key aspect driving employee and organisational performance outcomes. Personality traits could assist in predicting levels of EE, while the moderating effect of age and gender could assist in determining whether these two biographical groups should be managed differently. However, overemphasis on these biographical distinctions could undermine an organisation’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) by reinforcing stereotypes or fostering inequitable practices.
Research purpose: The purpose was to determine the moderation effect of age and gender on the relationship between personality traits and EE.
Motivation for the study: Understanding the moderation effect of age and gender on the relationship between personality traits and EE could provide a deeper understanding of whether employees with different personality traits possess different levels of engagement given their age and gender.
Research approach/design and method: Data obtained from a random sample of 124 employees in a financial organisation were subjected to multiple regression moderation analyses to determine whether age and gender moderated the relationship between personality traits and EE. Additional biographic variables measured were not controlled during the regression analyses.
Main findings: The results of the study found that age and gender did not moderate the relationship between personality traits and EE.
Practical/managerial implications: The use of the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ32r) to measure personality traits to determine their relationship with EE should be done with caution. Age and gender play no role in determining whether employees with different personality traits will possess different levels of EE.
Contribution/value-add: This study contributed to existing knowledge about the use of personality traits for determining employees’ level of EE and the role of age and gender in this relationship.
This study employs bibliometric analysis to provide a comprehensive overview of research on the circular economy in e-commerce, utilizing visual scientific mapping to track developments and emerging trends. The research analyzes 151 Scopus-indexed publications from 2008 to 2024 using Biblioshiny within R for the evaluation of research scope and impact analysis and identification of key authors and thematic clusters. Research entrepreneurship in circular e-commerce comprises three chronological phases starting from 2008 to 2012 before transitioning to 2013–2020 and then 2021–2024 focusing on six main topics including circular e-commerce, consumer behavior and SDGs, resource optimization, e-government and green policies, AI-driven government data processing, and carbon and sustainability. Current interest in the research field needs improvement through stronger interdisciplinary work and policy evaluation methodologies and complete bibliometric research mapping. This study delivers important knowledge that researchers and practitioners can use to formulate future investigations that will boost e-commerce in sustainable development.
Background:
Substance dependence (SuD) has emerged as a focal point of concern among healthcare professionals, particularly those specializing in mental health. Hence, exploring the psychological factors linked to SuD is crucial.
Aim:
To evaluate the role of alexithymia, emotion regulation strategies (ERS), psychological well-being (PSW), and internet addiction (IA) in individuals with SuD and those without SuD.
Materials and Methods:
The study employed a cross-sectional design, enrolling 75 male individuals diagnosed with SUD and 75 male participants without SuD from the general population, aged between 18 and 40 years, selected using a purposive sampling technique. The assessment tools utilized in this study included the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Drug Abuse Screening Tool (DAST), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale.
Results:
The findings indicated that alexithymia was found to be more prevalent in individuals with SuD in comparison to those without SuD. Those with SuD tended to utilize expressive suppression to regulate their emotions, while individuals without SuD tended to employ cognitive reappraisal as an ERS. PSW was lower in individuals with SuD as opposed to those without SuD. Individuals with SuD exhibited higher levels of IA compared to their non-SuD counterparts. Additionally, the results indicated that among all variables, Alexithymia significantly positively predicted the severity of SuD, which was measured using the DAST accounting for 70% of the variance in severity of SuD among individuals with SuD.
Conclusions:
The research emphasizes significant psychological distinctions between individuals with and without SuD, with alexithymia serving as a crucial predictor of the severity of dependence.
B. M. Kurtiak, M. S. Romanovych, O. P. Rudenko
et al.
For more than a quarter of a century, the transformation of the agro-industrial sector of the economy of Ukraine (as well as other sectors of the economy) has been taking place under market conditions. These changes directly concern both animal husbandry and the veterinary medicine industry. The ownership system, gene pool and number of animals, herd structure, breed characteristics, etc. are changing. Accordingly, the requirements for the range and quality of veterinary services are changing. Practically, our country's initial market relations stage in veterinary medicine has been completed. At present, all the necessary components of the veterinary market exist: private property; the absence of a centralized distribution and supply system; a set of existing and potential buyers (consumers); a set of competing sellers (suppliers) of veterinary goods and services. Today, the labor market for veterinary medicine specialists has also begun to operate (replacing state employment). There are many unemployed veterinary specialists. One of the essential reasons for this phenomenon is the unpreparedness of young specialists to work in market conditions. To work successfully in the market system, it is not enough to have only veterinary professional knowledge; additional knowledge of market economics, entrepreneurship, finance, legislation, management and marketing, psychology, etc., is necessary. The main direction and ultimate goal of reforming the agrarian sector of our country's economy, which directly concerns the veterinary medicine service, is to provide a complex of veterinary services to animal owners. To solve this problem, Ukraine envisages reorganizing the network of state veterinary medicine institutions so that a veterinary service point would operate in the territory of each village council and, in the future, in each large settlement. Providing veterinary services under licenses forces veterinary medicine specialists to master the basics of entrepreneurship and market laws, better organize their work, and build relationships with colleagues and animal owners following modern requirements. Some answers to these questions are highlighted in the presented article.
Rahman Pranovri Putra, Farida Agus Setiawati, Auliya Ramadhanti
Hope is important in mediating the relationship between optimism and grit in adolescents. Optimism, believing in positive future outcomes, can promote constructive attitudes. However, hope helps to direct such optimism into concrete actions in the form of grit in achieving goals. This study examined the effect of optimism on grit, with hope as a mediating among adolescents in Islamic boarding schools. This study used a quantitative, ex-post facto approach involving 367 adolescents selected through multistage random sampling. Data were collected using the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S), Optimism Scale, and Adult Dispositional Hope Scale. Data was analyzed using multiple regression with Process v4.2 macro of Hayes Model 4 through SPSS. The findings showed a significant positive influence between optimism and grit through hope, with complete mediation. Therefore, it is crucial for boarding schools to foster optimism and set realistic goals, as this can improve students' fortitude and academic achievement. The practical implications of these findings are that teachers and Islamic boarding school administrators can teach and promote an optimistic attitude and realistic and positive goal setting, reward small achievements, and goal visualization exercises can help increase adolescent hope and grit.
Anusha S. Garg, Deepak S. Tiwari, Viral R. Shah
et al.
Background:
During the COVID-19 pandemic prolonged lockdowns, school closures requiring online education support, and uncertainty about examinations caused stress in students.
Aim:
To estimate the levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and fear of COVID-19 in adolescent students of Jamnagar and its relationship with possible predictors.
Materials and Methods:
This is a cross-sectional study using a proportionate probability sampling method during the third wave of COVID-19 of 4423 adolescent students of Jamnagar, Gujarat. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) measured the main construct. T-tests for two independent samples and multiple linear regression analysis were used to assess the relationship.
Results:
Among the adolescent students, 14.81% had moderate fear, while severe fear was found in 3.37%. Moderate or severe depression was observed in 1.31% and 0.16% of students, respectively; severe and extremely severe anxiety was present in 0.65% and 0.11% of students; and stress was found to be moderate in 0.23%. Depression was associated with education, anxiety with education, gender, and a history of COVID-19 in the family and stress with a history of COVID-19 infection in the family and fear of COVID-19 with gender, standard of class, geographical area, socioeconomic class, and father’s education.
Conclusion:
In our study, the students having a higher fear of COVID-19 were found to have higher depression, anxiety, and stress. The factors associated with a lower level of psychological impact can be used to formulate the interventions needed for the betterment of adolescent mental health.
Piotr Próchniak,* Adam Ossowski* Institute of Psychology, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, 70-453, Poland*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Piotr Próchniak, Email piotr.prochniak@usz.edu.plIntroduction: As it is stated by researchers from multiple scientific fields, climate change has real consequences both for the natural environment but also for the human beings, but not everyone is interested in fighting the global warming and its implications. Yet, there are people who are curious about climate change and became invested in the cause of fighting it. Taking this into account, the aim of this study was to create a questionnaire that would enable to measure curiosity about climate change and as such be an useful tool in research regarding this matter.Methods: After examination of existing literature and the evaluation of competent judges, we created a questionnaire which structure and reliability was determined in conducted studies. We also investigated possible correlations between introduced in this paper the Curiosity of Climate Changes Scale (CCCS) and other diagnostic tools: The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory II, The Need for Cognitive Closure Scale, The Elements of Nature Curiosity Scale, The Climate Anxiety Scale, The Environmental Identity Scale and The Generational Time Perspective Scale.Results: The results of the factor analyses verified a one-factor structure. The CCCS showed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.95). The validity of the CCCS was indicated by correlations with different scales. The CCCS correlates with general curiosity, curiosity of elements of nature, need for cognitive closure, environmental identity, climate anxiety and generational time perspective.Conclusion: The results indicate that the Curiosity of Climate Changes Scale is a valid and reliable tool. The Curiosity of Climate Changes Scale can be used in future research but also has its practical use – for teachers and environmental educators who thanks to the CCCS can obtain information regarding one’s interest in climate change, which can be used in educational programs.Keywords: curiosity, climate change, measurement
Background: Aging is a normal biological process, and its dynamic changes are beyond the control of human beings. The role of depression, fear, and anxiety in old age is preoccupied with unhappy thoughts, and loneliness leads to early deterioration in their cognitive performance which makes it difficult to perform daily activities and hence affects their quality of life. Aim: The present study was done to assess the effectiveness of cognitive retraining in elderly depressives and its effect on their quality of life. Materials and Methods: The study was done on a sample of 20 depressive elderly patients with an age range above 60 years diagnosed with ICD-10 criteria. The study was pre- and post-intervention, and the sampling method was purposive. Firstly to screen handedness, Annet's hand preference battery was used, to assess the depression in elderly, the geriatric depression scale was done, and for attention and memory, Digit Span Test (WAIS-R) and Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) were administered, respectively. WHO-QOL BREF was done to know the quality of life of the patient. After preassessment, cognitive retraining tasks were introduced to the patients. A total of 15 sessions were taken within three months of follow-up and after that to evaluate the efficacy of an outcome of the cognitive retraining, post-assessment was done. Results: Improvement was noticed in elderly depressive patients in the area of cognitive domain, i.e., attention, recognition, shifting, fixedness, recall, and planning which showed improvement in quality of life and daily activities. Conclusion: In the remediation of cognitive deficits, cognitive retraining plays a very important role, and it helps the elderly population to live their life healthily and hence enhance their coping skills.
Peter Muris,1,2 Henry Otgaar1,3 1Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; 2Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa; 3Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law and Criminology, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumCorrespondence: Peter Muris, Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, Maastricht, 6200 MD, the Netherlands, Email peter.muris@maastrichtuniversity.nlAbstract: The present review addressed the relationship between two self-related concepts that are assumed to play a role in human resilience and well-being: self-esteem and self-compassion. Besides a theoretical exploration of both concepts, a meta-analysis (k = 76, N = 35,537 participants) was conducted to examine the magnitude of the relation between self-esteem and self-compassion and their links to indices of well-being and psychological problems. The average correlation between self-esteem and self-compassion was strong (r = 0.65, effect size = 0.71), suggesting that – despite some distinct features – the overlap between both self-related constructs is considerable. Self-esteem and self-compassion displayed relations of a similar magnitude to measures of well-being and psychological problems, and both concepts accounted for unique variance in these measures once controlling for their shared variance. Self-esteem and self-compassion can best be seen as complementary concepts and we invite researchers to look more at their joint protective role within a context of well-being and mental health as well as to their additive value in the treatment of people with psychological problems.Keywords: self-esteem, self-compassion, resilience, well-being, psychological problems, interventions
Aryo Bima Fathoni, Nisrina Zulfa, Ila Nurlaila Hidayat
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in various problems in almost all aspects of life, one of which is education. As one of the educational institutions, universities have finally implemented distance learning to reduce the spread of the virus on campus. However, this policy can also cause several new problems for students, including unpreparedness and boredom when implementing distance learning. This study aimed to determine the effect of readiness to change on university students’ academic burnout and to prove that religious coping as an internal resource can strengthen its influence. This research used quantitative research, especially correlational research design, using a hierarchical regression test to compare the results of the effect with and without the moderating variable. The sampling technique used in this study was a non-probability sampling with an accidental sampling technique in which it was obtained 300 active university students from the provinces of DKI Jakarta, West Java, and Yogyakarta. The results of the analysis showed that readiness to change could explain the academic burnout variance by 27%. Religious coping can be a moderator and strengthen the effect of readiness to change on academic burnout with a beta coefficient of -.003, which means an increase in one readiness to change score and religious coping can reduce academic burnout by 3%.
Stoffers-Winterling JM, Storebø OJ, Simonsen E
et al.
Jutta M Stoffers-Winterling,1 Ole Jakob Storebø,2,3 Erik Simonsen,4,5 Mie Sedoc Jørgensen,2 Johanne Pereira Ribeiro,2,3 Mickey T Kongerslev,2,3,5 Klaus Lieb1 1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany; 2Psychiatric Research Unit, Psychiatry Region Zealand, Slagelse, Denmark; 3Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; 4Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; 5Mental Health Services East, Psychiatry Region Zealand, Roskilde, DenmarkCorrespondence: Ole Jakob Storebø, Psychiatric Research Unit, Psychiatry Region Zealand, Fælledvej 6, Slagelse, 4200, Denmark, Tel +45 24965917, Email ojst@regionsjaelland.dkAbstract: Current evidence suggests that individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are likely to benefit from specialized, or BPD-specific, treatments. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and mentalization-based treatment (MBT) are currently the most intensively researched BPD treatments. Reviewing the current research, this paper highlights similarities and differences between the two treatments, and discusses possible ways they could complement each other. As the effectiveness of specialized treatments for BPD in general has been determined with some certainty, research now tends towards individualized approaches, identifying predictors of optimal treatment response. However, it is still to be settled who might profit from a combination of or sequential treatment with DBT and MBT.Keywords: psychotherapy, treatment, dialectical behavior therapy, DBT, mentalization-based therapy, MBT, borderline personality disorder
Lauren Staples, Olav Nielssen, Rony Kayrouz
et al.
Background: The MindSpot Clinic provides services to Australians with anxiety and depression. Routine data collection means that MindSpot has been able to monitor trends in mental health symptoms and service use prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and these have been reported in two earlier studies. This third study describes user characteristics and volumes in the first 8 months of COVID-19, including a comparison between users from states and territories with significantly different COVID-19 infection rates. Methods: We examined trends in demographics and symptoms for participants starting an online assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic, from March to October 2020. Participants from the state of Victoria (n = 4203), which experienced a significantly larger rate of COVID-19 infections relative to the rest of Australia, were compared to participants from the rest of Australia (n = 10,500). Results were also compared to a baseline “comparison period” prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: A total of 14,703 people started a mental health assessment with MindSpot between 19th March and 28th October 2020. We observed two peaks in service demand, one in the early weeks of the pandemic, and the second in August–September when COVID-19 transmission was high in Victoria. Mean symptom scores on standardised measures of distress (K-10), depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7) were lower during this second peak in service demand, but there were significantly higher levels of concern about COVID-19 in participants from Victoria, and a higher proportion of Victorian respondents reported that they had made significant changes in response to the pandemic. Many respondents reported changes to their mental health, such as increased feelings of worry. Most respondents reported implementing strategies to help manage the psychological impact of COVID-19, such as maintaining social connections and limiting exposure to news or social media. Conclusions: We did not observe increased levels of clinical anxiety or depression on standardised symptom measures. However, there were increases in service demand, and increased levels of concern and difficulties related to COVID-19, particularly in Victoria. Encouragingly, a significant proportion of participants have implemented coping strategies. These results continue to suggest that the mental health impacts of COVID-19 represent a normal response to an abnormal situation rather than an emerging mental health crisis. This distinction is important as we develop individually appropriate and proportional mental health system responses.
Ashleigh Schweinsberg, Matthew E. Mundy, Kyle R. Dyer
et al.
Supporting students to develop transferable skills and gain employment is a vital function of Universities in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. A key area is work readiness, which has steadily grown in importance over the last 2 decades as tertiary institutions increasingly aim to produce graduates who perceive and are perceived as work ready. However, a large majority of graduates report a lack of skills and confidence needed for the effective transition from study to work. This may be particularly problematic for disciplines that impart both discipline-specific and transferrable skills, such as psychology. The aim of this paper is to addresses the concept of work readiness within Australian psychological training and explores the need to shed light on and integrate work readiness within the pedagogy of psychology within Australia. Specifically, this paper calls for a review of work readiness skills developed in psychological courses to ensure industry needs are met. Beyond such a review, it is suggested that tertiary centres need to facilitate students in capturing and reflecting upon the transferable skills that they develop; and build assessments that allow students to demonstrate transferable skills in a meaningful way. Further, this paper proposes that work readiness skills be routinely mapped onto graduate attributes and course learning outcomes to be readily available by students so as to increase students’ potential to articulate their learnt work readiness skills once in the workplace.
Yuqiao Ye,1,2,* Xiuyu Huang,2,3,* Yang Liu4,* 1Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Center for Smart Health, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon City, Hong Kong; 4Department of Physical Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yang LiuDepartment of Physical Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail liuyang0330@snnu.edu.cnYuqiao YeShaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail yuqiaoye@outlook.comPurpose: An increasing number of studies have been carried out to investigate the relationship between social support and study motivation among university students, but underlying mechanisms behind this pathway have not been fully verified. In the present study, we aimed to test the effect of social support on academic burnout (decrease in study motivation); examine the mediating effect of life satisfaction on the association between social support and academic burnout; and explore whether this mediating effect varied across (moderated mediation) students of different socioeconomic status (SES).Materials and Methods: Data for 503 students were collected in a Chinese university through a composited survey regarding social support, life satisfaction, SES, and academic burnout. Data analysis and the investigation of combined effects in the model were carried out via conditional process modeling.Results: Results indicated that social support was negatively associated with academic burnout. In addition, life satisfaction had a partial mediation effect on the relationship between social support and academic burnout, and SES moderated this mediation effect. Specifically, the mediation effect was found to be more significant among students in the high SES group than those in the lower one.Conclusion: This study is novel in that it establishes empirically how academic burnout is associated with a typical society analytical variable (ie, social support) among students in tertiary education. It also investigates an alternative scenario to explain the underlying mechanism of social support on academic burnout against the most popular explaining model. Implications of the study for effective elimination of the decrease in study motivation across students with different SES are discussed.Keywords: social support, life satisfaction, socioeconomic status, academic burnout, mediation effect, moderated mediation effect
Yuanbo Fu,1,* Mina Wang,1,2,* Bingcong Zhao,1,* Baoli Liu,3 Jie Sun,4 Yaohui Feng,3 Zhengfang Wang,3 Qian Li,3 Chunhong Shi,3 Yabo Xuan,3 Siqi Long,3 Huan Liu,4 Tiange Chi,5 Zehuan Liao,6,7 Bin Li,1 Qingquan Liu3 1The Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Neuromodulation, Beijing 100010, People’s Republic of China; 2Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, People’s Republic of China; 3Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100010, People’s Republic of China; 4Beijing Xiao Tang Shan Hospital, Beijing 102200, People’s Republic of China; 5The First Clinical Medical School, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, People’s Republic of China; 6School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; 7Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Bin LiBeijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Neuromodulation, No. 23 Gallery Street, Beijing 100010, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail libin0314a@126.comQingquan LiuBeijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, No. 23 Gallery Street, Beijing 100010, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail liuqingquan2003@126.comPurpose: To investigate the psychological impact of cases of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) on medical staff of Beijing Xiaotangshan Hospital.Methods: The 287 online questionnaires were distributed to medical staff working at Beijing Xiaotangshan Hospital, comprising three main sections and 17 questions: basic information, current departmental position, and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The threshold for emotional distress was defined to be a total score of 4 on the GHQ-12 and above.Results: A total of 255 members of medical staff participating in this study presented an emotional distress rate of 17%. Members who were male, aged 50– 59, married with children, positioned as doctors, and in administration were the population with the highest rate of emotional distress. Furthermore, the severity of emotional distress among those under 30 was significantly lower than those aged 30– 39 and 50– 59. Doctors and other occupations shared a lower level of satisfaction on routine activities compared with nurses, so did staff in the administration compared with those who were working in screening or logistic departments. Besides, males and staff of the confirmation department had more difficulty in concentrating than females and those of the screening department, respectively.Conclusion: Medical staff working at Xiaotangshan Hospital underwent relatively low levels of emotional distress thanks to sufficient medical and psychological preparations. However, special attention should be paid to those who were male, married with children, senior, doctors, in administration, and in the confirmation department.Keywords: COVID-19, psychological impact, medical staff, Beijing, GHQ-12
Objective: While adherence is an important factor influencing the effectiveness of internet interventions, many studies operationalize adherence only by the number of sessions and do not report adherence to specific treatment components. The goal of this study was to investigate adherence to treatment components as well as outcome in outpatients and self-referred participants who participated in an internet intervention targeting anxiety. Method: Outpatients (N = 50) were compared to self-referred (N = 37) participants and a matched outpatient waitlist sample (based on nearest neighbor matching): Using t-test and χ2 tests adherence to treatment components based on the number of completed exercises was compared between participant groups. A 2 × 2 repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare pre-to post symptom change between participant groups. Primary measures included the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7) and the Mini Social Phobia Inventory (Mini-SPIN). Using nonparametric bootstrap analyses number of sessions and adherence to treatment components were investigated as potential mediators of the relationship between participant group and outcome. Finally, predictors of adherence to treatment components in outpatient participants were investigated using LASSO and logistic regression. Results: Self-referred participants were more adherent than outpatient participants, however the groups did not differ significantly in outcome. Outpatient participants who adhered to relaxation showed greater improvement during the waiting period than the matched outpatient waitlist sample. The effect of participant group on outcome was mediated via adherence to exposure and number of sessions. Conclusions: In internet interventions adherence to treatment components differs between participant groups and has a mediating effect on treatment outcome. Therefore, it should be fostered, especially when participants are not self-referred. In line with these findings more studies should investigate relevant participant characteristics in more depth.