Aim This study examines the relative influence of personal resilience, social support and organisational support in reducing COVID-19 anxiety in frontline nurses. Background Anxiety related to the COVID-19 pandemic is prevalent in the nursing workforce, potentially affecting nurses’ well-being and work performance. Identifying factors that could help maintain mental health and reduce coronavirus-related anxiety among frontline nurses is imperative. Currently, no studies have been conducted examining the influence of personal resilience, social support and organisational support in reducing COVID-19 anxiety among nurses. Methods This cross-sectional study involved 325 registered nurses from the Philippines using four standardised scales. Results Of the 325 nurses in the study, 123 (37.8%) were found to have dysfunctional levels of anxiety. Using multiple linear regression analyses, social support (β = −0.142, p = 0.011), personal resilience (β = −0.151, p = 0.008) and organisational support (β = −0.127, p = 0.023) predicted COVID-19 anxiety. Nurse characteristics were not associated with COVID-19 anxiety. Conclusions Resilient nurses and those who perceived higher organisational and social support were more likely to report lower anxiety related to COVID-19. Implication for Nursing Management COVID-19 anxiety may be addressed through organisational interventions, including increasing social support, assuring adequate organisational support, providing psychological and mental support services and providing resilience-promoting and stress management interventions.

https://medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.16.20141069v1.full.pdf

COVID-19 anxiety among frontline nurses: predictive role of organisational support, personal resilience and social support

Incremental validity of coronaphobia: Coronavirus anxiety explains depression, generalized anxiety, and death anxiety.

Modelling the contribution of the Big Five personality traits, health anxiety, and COVID-19 psychological distress to generalised anxiety and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The aim of the current study is to validate the Turkish version of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS). Participants were assessed across the CAS, Obsession with COVID-19 Scale (OCS) and Fear of COVID-19 Scale. We surveyed 1023 Turkish native speakers who participated online. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor structure of the CAS was satisfactory. The scale was internally consistent with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.80. Positive correlations of the CAS with the OCS and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale demonstrated adequate convergent validity. These findings suggest that the CAS is a valid and reliable measure to assess the severity of dysfunctional coronavirus related anxiety.

Measuring anxiety related to COVID-19: A Turkish validation study of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread morbidity and mortality as well as disruption to people’s lives and livelihoods around the world; this has occurred as a result of both infection with the virus itself and the health protection measures taken to curb its spread. There are concerns that rates of suicide, suicidal behaviours and self-harm may rise during and in the aftermath of the pandemic. Given the likely rapidly expanding research evidence base on the pandemic’s impact on rates of suicide, suicidal behaviours and self-harm and emerging evidence about how best to mitigate such effects, it is important that the best available knowledge is made readily available to policymakers, public health specialists and clinicians as soon as is possible. To facilitate this, we plan to undertake a living systematic review focusing on suicide prevention in relation to COVID-19. Method: Regular automated searches will feed into a web-based screening system which will also host the data extraction form for included articles. Our eligibility criteria are wide and include aspects of incidence and prevalence of suicidal behaviour, effects of exposures and effects of interventions in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, with minimal restrictions on the types of study design to be included. The outcomes assessed will be death by suicide; self-harm or attempted suicide (including hospital attendance and/or admission for these reasons); and suicidal thoughts/ideation. There will be no restriction on study type, except for single case reports. There will be no restriction on language of publication. The review will be updated at three-monthly intervals if a sufficient volume of new evidence justifies doing so. Conclusions: Our living review will provide a regular synthesis of the most up-to-date research evidence to guide public health and clinical policy to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on suicide. Protocol registration: PROSPERO CRD42020183326 01/05/2020

/pdf/the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-self-harm-and-i0xyr3351n.pdf

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-harm and suicidal behaviour: update of living systematic review

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) using an online survey of 398 adult Amazon MTurk workers in the U.S. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the CAS measures a reliable (α = 0.92), unidimensional construct with a structure that was shown to be invariant across gender, race, and age. Construct validity was demonstrated with correlations between CAS scores and demographics, coronavirus diagnosis, history of anxiety, coronavirus fear, functional impairment, alcohol/drug coping, religious coping, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, as well as social attitudes (e.g., satisfaction with President Trump). The CAS also demonstrated solid discrimination ability for functional impairment (AUC =0.88), while the original cut score of ≥9 (76% sensitivity and 90% specificity) showed the strongest diagnostic effectiveness among scores. Overall, these findings are largely consistent with the results of the first CAS investigation and support the validity of this mental health screener for COVID-19 related research and practice.

/pdf/clinically-significant-fear-and-anxiety-of-covid-19-a-49wi2kvdsw.pdf

Clinically significant fear and anxiety of COVID-19: A psychometric examination of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale.

The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with significant social changes due to legislative and public health requirements, has changed the way in which people experience grief. We examined whether dysfunctional grief symptoms, disrupted meaning, risk factors, and functional impairment differed between people bereaved from COVID-19 and from other natural or violent causes in this same period. A sample of 409 participants (67.73% male; M = 37.54 years) completed an online survey in June 2021. There were no statistically significant differences between the three groups on any of the outcome variables; all three groups manifested clinical levels of functional impairment equal to or greater than bereaved groups diagnosed with complicated or prolonged grief disorder prior to the pandemic. Disrupted meaning partially mediated the relationship between risk factors on the one hand and functional impairment and dysfunctional grief symptoms on the other. Findings indicate that deaths during COVID-19, rather than deaths from COVID-19, may precipitate symptoms of significant clinical concern.

Emily A. Pappalardo

Papers

Clinically significant fear and anxiety of COVID-19: A psychometric examination of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale.

Risk factors for dysfunctional grief and functional impairment for all causes of death during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of meaning.