Experience of Autistic Children and Their Families During the Pandemic: From Distress to Coping Strategies

10.21203/rs.3.rs-296754/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Claudine Jacques ◽

Geneviève Saulnier ◽

Agnès Ethier ◽

Isabelle Soulières

Keyword(s):

Social Isolation ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Online Survey ◽

Well Being ◽

Professional Services ◽

Autistic Children ◽

Academic Goals ◽

School Closures ◽

Parents And Children ◽

Children's Interests

Abstract Background. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded during Spring 2020, families experienced multiple upheavals, including lockdown, school closures and ruptures in professional services. We wanted to better understand the experience of autistic children and their families in times of crisis. Methods. 109 parents of autistic children (2.6–18 years) and 56 autistic children (5.75–18 years) from Quebec (Canada) completed an online survey about needs, barriers and facilitators to coping with the pandemic. Quantitative data were analyzed using ANOVA, chi-squares and open-ended questions with thematic analysis. Results. Half of the parents and children considered the pandemic to be a stressful time. Parents who expressed concerns about their child’s development and difficulty managing their child’s behaviors during the pandemic were significantly more likely than other parents to report these concerns before the pandemic, along with the following challenges during the pandemic: social isolation, having to pursue academic goals, feeling powerless over their child’s behaviors and no routine during the pandemic (all p < 0.05). Maintaining social relationships and implementing appropriate strategies, such as a routine, were identified as facilitators by both parents and children. Among children, 92.9% associated technologies with their well-being, but many parents saw too much access to electronics by their child as a barrier, suggesting a need to better understand and use autistic interests. Conclusion. Both autistic children and their parents identified social isolation as one of the main difficulties during the pandemic. We also need to consider autistic characteristics and children’s interests to implement emergency accommodations and services.

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Young adults’ coping strategies against loneliness during the COVID-19-related quarantine in Greece

Health Promotion International ◽

10.1093/heapro/daab053 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Adrianos Golemis ◽

Panteleimon Voitsidis ◽

Eleni Parlapani ◽

Vasiliki A Nikopoulou ◽

Virginia Tsipropoulou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Young Adults ◽

Social Responsibility ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Online Survey ◽

Adult Population ◽

Psychological Impact ◽

Well Being ◽

Daily Routine ◽

Cross Sectional

Summary COVID-19 and the related quarantine disrupted young adults’ academic and professional life, daily routine and socio-emotional well-being. This cross-sectional study focused on the emotional and behavioural responses of a young adult population during the COVID-19-related quarantine in April 2020, in Greece. The study was conducted through an online survey. A total of 1559 young adults, aged 18−30 years, completed Steele’s Social Responsibility Motivation Scale and the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, and answered questions about compliance with instructions, quarantine-related behaviours and coping strategies. According to the results, participants displayed a relatively high sense of social responsibility (M = 16.09, SD = 2.13) and a trend towards moderate feeling of loneliness (M = 2.65, SD = 1.62); young women reported significantly higher levels of loneliness than men. The majority complied with instructions often (46.4%) or always (44.8%). Significantly more women created a new social media account and used the social media longer than 5 h/day, compared with men. Resorting to religion, practicing sports and sharing thoughts and feelings about COVID-19 with others predicted higher levels of social responsibility; humour, practicing sports and sharing thoughts and feelings about COVID-19 with others predicted lower levels of loneliness. Conclusively, COVID-19 is expected to have a significant psychological impact on young adults. Currently, Greece is going through the second quarantine period. This study raises awareness about loneliness in young adults during the COVID-19-related quarantine and highlights the importance of developing online programmes, attractive to younger people, to nurture adaptive coping strategies against loneliness.

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Coping strategies among medical professionals during COVID-19 outbreak

INDIAN JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH AND NEUROSCIENCES ◽

10.32746/10.32746/ijmhns.2021.v4.i1.43 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (01) ◽

pp. 28-33

Author(s):

Vaishali Shanmugam

Keyword(s):

Coping Strategies ◽

Online Survey ◽

Coping Styles ◽

Well Being ◽

Sociodemographic Factors ◽

Medical Professionals ◽

Stressful Situation ◽

Sociodemographic Variables ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Brief Cope

BACKGROUND: COVID -19 pandemic is a very stressful situation for doctors, who face the risk of infection in daily life. Coping is the process by which a person deals with stressful situations or demands. Identifying the coping strategies of our medical professionals will help us to understand their coping styles and to deliver effective interventions to enhance their mental well-being. METHODS: An online survey form with socio-demographic profile and BRIEF COPE tool for assessing different coping strategies was sent to interns, residents, and teaching faculty. The coping strategies were divided into emotion-based, problem-based, and dysfunctional coping, and spearman's correlation was done to determine any correlation between sociodemographic variables and the coping strategies. RESULTS: A total of 84 valid and complete responses were included in the study. There is a variable distribution of mean scores for problem-focused, emotion-focused, and dysfunctional strategies. Age and marital status had a positive correlation with problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies meaning that older adults and married people used these strategies predominantly. Higher designation used problem-focused coping predominantly. Dysfunctional coping strategies had no correlation with any of the sociodemographic variables. CONCLUSION: Sociodemographic factors affecting the coping mechanisms in medical professionals differ from those of the general population seen in previous studies. Within the group of medical professionals, those with higher age, higher designation and married had predominantly adaptive strategies. Interventions targetting maladaptive components of emotion-focused strategies and dysfunctional strategies should be aimed at a younger age group, unmarried people, interns, and residents among the medical professionals to better cope with this COVID scenario.

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Dealing With the Pandemic of COVID-19 in Portugal: On the Important Role of Positivity, Experiential Avoidance, and Coping Strategies

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647984 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Maria José Ferreira ◽

Rui Sofia ◽

David F. Carreno ◽

Nikolett Eisenbeck ◽

Inês Jongenelen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Psychological Distress ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Experiential Avoidance ◽

Online Survey ◽

Critical Role ◽

Well Being ◽

Coping With Stress ◽

Self Blame ◽

And Coping

The global COVID-19 pandemic crisis has caused an unprecedented impact on most areas of people’s lives. Thus, framed within the scope of Existential Positive Psychology (PP2.0), this study aimed at assessing the psychological distress of adults living in Portugal during the first national lockdown, how they are coping with stress, as well to contribute to a deeper understanding about the role that positivity, experiential avoidance, and coping strategies have in psychological distress and well-being. For this purpose, 586 Portuguese adults (73% females) ranging between 18 and 78 years old (M = 38.96, SD = 12.20) completed an online survey during the initial phase of the pandemic crisis in Portugal. Findings suggest that experiential avoidance was the strongest predictor of a negative response (depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and negative emotions), whereas positivity was a better predictor of psychological well-being and lower levels of depression. Additionally, self-blame, behavioral disengagement, and emotional venting were strong risk factors for psychological distress, whereas positive reframing, planning, and acceptance were associated with more positive outcomes. These findings highlight the critical role of experiential avoidance on individuals’ psychological distress and the essential contribution of positive life orientation in promoting flourishing. By offering a better understanding of the complex navigation through the dialectics between positive and negative life features, this study provides important and useful cues for psychological interventions directed at promoting a more positive and adaptive human functioning even through such potential adverse and painful life events.

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Coping Strategies and Psychopathological Responses Among Medical and Non-medical Professionals – a Cross-Sectional Online Survey

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.663224 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Marta Ciułkowicz ◽

Julian Maciaszek ◽

Błażej Misiak ◽

Anna Pałȩga ◽

Joanna Rymaszewska ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Coping Strategies ◽

Online Survey ◽

General Health Questionnaire ◽

Well Being ◽

Medical Professionals ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Event Scale ◽

Medical Career ◽

The Impact

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was announced on March 11th, 2020, due to a surge of newly confirmed cases that significantly impacted populations worldwide, both directly and indirectly. Based on past epidemics research, the mental health implications of introduced restrictions should be expected and adequately addressed irrespective of the practiced profession.Objective: The study aimed to explore psychopathological responses, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), concerning coping strategy clusters during the COVID-19 pandemic among medical and non-medical workers.Methods: A cross-sectional web survey of the general population of internet users was performed from March 16th to April 26th, 2020, in Poland during the first peak of COVID-19 cases. A sample of 1,831 professionally active respondents, 64.0% of which pursuing a medical career, filled out General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and MiniCOPE, along with the socio-demographic questionnaire exploring personal as well as the work-related possibility of direct exposure to contagion and availability of proper protection, contact with the infected without accurate protective measures as well as the adequacy of workers when compared settings.Results: Individuals labeled with specific clusters had significantly different psychopathological manifestations. Irrespective of performed job maladaptive cluster was associated with significantly higher GHQ-28 and IES-R scores on total subscales and all subscales compared to those representing the non-specific and adaptive cluster. Similar findings were observed concerning the frequency of the GHQ-28 positive score. Moreover, the non-specific cluster was associated with significantly higher GHQ-28 total scores among medical professionals. However, GHQ-28 positive scores were significantly more frequent in medical workers using adaptive clusters when compared to non-specific. Such relations were not observed in the non-medical group.IES-R total and subscales' scores did not significantly vary within medical and non-medical groups when adaptive and non-specific clusters were compared. Pursuing a non-medical career was found to be a determinant of lower scores, while female sex was observed to be determinant of higher scores in both GHQ-28 and IES-R scales.Conclusions: Positive screening for psychopathological and PTSD symptoms was expected regardless of the analyzed groups' coping strategies. Given the dramatically developing situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, support initiatives grounded in research evidence may be essential for maintaining the mental well-being and resilience of both the medical and non-medical workforce.

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Well-Being and Loneliness in Swiss Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Social Relationships

The Gerontologist ◽

10.1093/geront/gnaa194 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Birthe Macdonald ◽

Gizem Hülür

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Adverse Effects ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Online Survey ◽

Well Being ◽

Stressful Event ◽

Functional Feature ◽

Social Distancing ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background and Objectives The current COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures are an extreme stressor that might result in negative emotional experiences and feelings of loneliness. However, it is possible that social relationships might have a protective effect. In the present study, we examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected older adults’ well-being and loneliness, and the role of structural and functional characteristics of social relationships. Research Design and Methods We use data from 99 older adults in Switzerland who participated (a) in a three-week micro-longitudinal study on social relationships and well-being in 2019 and (b) in a weekly online survey during four weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown. Results Our findings show that the global pandemic had substantial adverse effects on older adults’ emotional well-being and loneliness. In addition, aspects of social relationships were related to loneliness both before and during the pandemic. Only one functional feature of social relationships (satisfaction with communication during the pandemic) buffered adverse effects of the major stressful event. Discussion and Implications Although the social distancing measures during COVID-19 presented a major stressor for older adults’ well-being and loneliness, being able to maintain social communication to a satisfactory level during that time reduced this effect. Therefore, enabling older adults to stay in touch with their social circle based on their personal preferences might reduce the impact that any future lockdown might have on their well-being.

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Coping strategies among medical professionals during COVID-19 outbreak

INDIAN JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH AND NEUROSCIENCES ◽

10.32746/ijmhns.2021.v4.i1.43 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (01) ◽

pp. 28-33

Author(s):

Vaishali Shanmugam

Keyword(s):

Coping Strategies ◽

Online Survey ◽

Coping Styles ◽

Well Being ◽

Sociodemographic Factors ◽

Medical Professionals ◽

Stressful Situation ◽

Sociodemographic Variables ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Brief Cope

BACKGROUND: COVID -19 pandemic is a very stressful situation for doctors, who face the risk of infection in daily life. Coping is the process by which a person deals with stressful situations or demands. Identifying the coping strategies of our medical professionals will help us to understand their coping styles and to deliver effective interventions to enhance their mental well-being. METHODS: An online survey form with socio-demographic profile and BRIEF COPE tool for assessing different coping strategies was sent to interns, residents, and teaching faculty. The coping strategies were divided into emotion-based, problem-based, and dysfunctional coping, and spearman's correlation was done to determine any correlation between sociodemographic variables and the coping strategies. RESULTS: A total of 84 valid and complete responses were included in the study. There is a variable distribution of mean scores for problem-focused, emotion-focused, and dysfunctional strategies. Age and marital status had a positive correlation with problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies meaning that older adults and married people used these strategies predominantly. Higher designation used problem-focused coping predominantly. Dysfunctional coping strategies had no correlation with any of the sociodemographic variables. CONCLUSION: Sociodemographic factors affecting the coping mechanisms in medical professionals differ from those of the general population seen in previous studies. Within the group of medical professionals, those with higher age, higher designation and married had predominantly adaptive strategies. Interventions targetting maladaptive components of emotion-focused strategies and dysfunctional strategies should be aimed at a younger age group, unmarried people, interns, and residents among the medical professionals to better cope with this COVID scenario.

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Coping Strategies and Subjective Well-being: Context Matters

Journal of Happiness Studies ◽

10.1007/s10902-021-00372-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Rabea Fischer ◽

Jakob Scheunemann ◽

Steffen Moritz

Keyword(s):

Factor Analysis ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Online Survey ◽

Satisfaction With Life ◽

Coping Styles ◽

Well Being ◽

Satisfaction With Life Scale ◽

Adaptive Coping ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Expressive Suppression

AbstractA growing body of research suggests that the functionality of coping strategies may in part depend on the context in which they are executed. Thus far, functionality has mostly been defined through the associations of coping strategies with psychopathology, particularly depression. Whether associations of coping strategies with proxies for happiness such as subjective well-being (SWB) are simply inverse remains to be shown. A total of n = 836 individuals from the U. S. general population participated in an online survey that included a revised version of the Maladaptive and Adaptive Coping Styles Questionnaire (MAX-R) that incorporates context-specific items, the Scale of Positive and Negative Affect (SPANE), the Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale (TSWLS), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and the Web Screening Questionnaire (WSQ). The MAX-R was submitted to an exploratory factor analysis. The factor analysis of the MAX-R yielded four subscales: adaptive, maladaptive, avoidance, and expressive suppression coping. Similar strategies in different contexts at times loaded on the same (e.g., maladaptive) or different (e.g., adaptive and avoidance) dimensions. Hierarchical multiple linear regression revealed significant associations of adaptive coping with SPANE (ß = 0.21), TSWLS (ß = 0.03), and PHQ-9 (ß = 0.07), all ps < .001, of maladaptive coping with SPANE (ß = − 0.19), TSWLS (ß = − 0.10), and PHQ-9 (ß = 0.02), all ps < .01, of avoidance with PHQ-9 (ß = 0.01, p < .001), and of expressive suppression with SPANE (ß = − 0.06) and TSWLS (ß = − 0.16), ps < .005. Final models explained 64.6% of variance in SPANE, 41.8% of variance in TSWLS, and 55% of variance in PHQ-9 score. In some instances, the functionality of coping strategies appears to be impacted by contextual factors. When investigating the overall benefit of use versus nonuse of coping strategies, their association with psychopathology measures and with subjective well-being should both be considered.

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Consequences of Lockdown During COVID-19 Pandemic in Lifestyle and Emotional State of Children in Argentina

Frontiers in Pediatrics ◽

10.3389/fped.2021.660033 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

María Victoria Fasano ◽

Marcela Padula ◽

María Ángeles Azrak ◽

Ana Julia Avico ◽

Marisa Sala ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Online Survey ◽

Emotional State ◽

Economic Status ◽

Well Being ◽

Demographic Information ◽

Socio Economic Status ◽

Parental Characteristics ◽

Important Concern ◽

Children And Parents ◽

The Impact

The implications of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown measurements and social isolation in children and their parents are still unknown. The aims of this study were to examine the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on emotional state, feelings and lifestyle of children and their parents, to explore the association between parental characteristics and child well-being and to examine whether the impact of lockdown depends on socio-economic status. Parents completed an online survey including data about socio-demographic information, parent and child feelings and lifestyle during lockdown. Logistic regression and correlation analysis were used to establish associations between variables. In total, 814 parents with children between 4 and 11 were included in the study. According to parents, 69.5% of the children showed changes in their emotional state, 55.3% altered their routine and 62.6% showed sleep disorders. Families with lower socio-economic status were more worried about health, shortage of food and household income (p < 0.01). Parent and children concern about food/essential items were highly associated [OR (CI 95%) 13.0 (6.81, 26.5), p < 0.01]. Adverse children's emotional state was associated with parental feeling of loneliness (r = 0.35) and inversely associated with keeping a routine (r = −0.11). Sleep changes were inversely associated with keeping a routine and having a balcony/garden (r = −0.53 and −0.16). We conclude that lockdown affected emotional state and lifestyle of children and parents, which were strongly related. Routine and positive parental attitude supported children's well-being. Economic issues were an important concern in families with lower socio-economic status. Our findings can help to promote child health during lockdown.

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Psychological Wellbeing and Personal Coping Strategies during COVID-19 Lockdown: An Empirical Study

Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International ◽

10.9734/jpri/2021/v33i43a32471 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 103-116

Author(s):

Swati Bajpai ◽

Swati Vispute

Keyword(s):

Coping Strategies ◽

Online Survey ◽

Well Being ◽

Psychological Wellbeing ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Defence Mechanisms ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Brief Cope ◽

Positive Reframing ◽

Self Worth

This study analyzes the factors affecting psychological wellbeing and personal coping strategies adopted by individuals, “during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic”. Ox CAP-MH and Brief COPE was used to develop an online survey. Using the data collected from 351 respondents of the Indian general population, it was found that psychological well-being was affected by activity levels & social involvement; endogenous & exogenous sense of influence; leisure, bias & self worth; adaptability & mindfulness; and mental stress & sleep. Factors associated with personal coping strategies included positive reframing & active coping; defence mechanisms & self-doubt; use of emotional support & planning for the recovery of the pandemic covid-19 by personal coping; substance use & humour; spirituality; persistence threshold; using social support system. Finally result obtained is “the attitude of females and males varies”, towards the majority of the factors. The implications theoretically and in practice have been discussed.

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