scholarly journals LOW PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AMONG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MEN (MSM) DURING THE SHELTER-IN-PLACE ORDERS TO PREVENT THE COVID-19 SPREAD: RESULTS FROM A NATIONWIDE STUDY

Author(s):  
Emerson Lucas Silva Camargo ◽  
Bruna Isabela Adolpho de Oliveira ◽  
Igor Fessina Siffoni ◽  
Anderson Reis de Sousa ◽  
Jules Ramon Brito Teixeira ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTIntroductionLittle is known about how sheltering in place to contain the spread of COVID-19 over extended periods affects individuals’ psychological well-being. This study’s objective was to analyze the factors associated with MSM’s (men who have sex with men) low psychological well-being in the COVID-19 pandemic context.MethodThis cross-sectional study was conducted online in the entire Brazilian territory (26 states and federal district) in April and May 2020. The participants were recruited using an adapted version of Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS), and Facebook posts. Data were collected using social media and MSM dating apps. We estimated the prevalence, crude prevalence ratio (PR), and respective confidence intervals (CI95%).ResultsThe prevalence of low psychological well-being found in the sample was 7.9%. Associated factors were belonging to the youngest group (PR: 2.76; CI95%: 1.90-4.01), having polyamorous relationships (PR: 2.78; CI95%: 1.51-5.11), not complying with social isolation measures (PR: 6.27; CI95%: 4.42-8.87), not using the social media to find partners (PR: 1.63; CI95%: 1.06-2.53), having multiple sexual partners (PR: 1.80; CI95%: 1.04-3.11), having reduced the number of partners (PR: 2.67; CI95%: 1.44-4.95), and group sex (PR: 1.82; CI95%: 1.23-2.69)ConclusionThe well-being of MSM living in Brazil was negatively affected during the social distancing measures intended to control the spread of COVID-19. The variables that contributed the most to this outcome include social isolation, relationships established with partners, and sexual behavior.Policy ImplicationsPlanning and implementing public policies and actions to promote psychological well-being are needed to improve MSM’s resilience by adopting safe strategies and behavior.

Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Keqiao Liu ◽  
Siqi Li ◽  
Man Shu

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the general population’s life worldwide. People may spend more time on social media because of policies like “work at home”. Using a cross-sectional dataset collected through an online survey in February 2020, in China, we examined (1) the relationships between social media activities and people’s mental health status and (2) the moderation effect of emotional-regulation strategies. The sample included people aged ≥18 years from 32 provinces and regions in China (N = 3159). The inferential analyses included a set of multiple linear regressions with interactions. Our results showed that sharing timely, accurate, and positive COVID-19 information, reducing excessive discussions on COVID-19, and promoting caring online interactions rather than being judgmental, might positively associate with the general public’s psychological well-being. Additionally, the relationships between social media activities and psychological well-being varied at different emotion-regulation strategy levels. Adopting the cognitive reappraisal strategy might allay the adverse relationships between certain social media activities and mental health indicators. Our findings expanded the theory of how social media activities can be associated with a human being’s mental health and how it can interact with emotion-regulation strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0248811
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ahmed Hammad ◽  
Turki Mahdi Alqarni

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been posing a substantial challenge to human survival and well-being, which rely on the actions and behaviors of individuals. It is essential that accurate information is distributed; however, misinformation has been spread via social media. Consequently, the resulting panic has to be addressed while putting essential public health measures in place. It is also important to explore the link between the social media exposure and well-being. Therefore, in the current study, we aimed to identify the levels of anxiety, depression, and social isolation among individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we explored the relationship between exposure to misleading social media news and anxiety, depression, and social isolation. A cross sectional design was employed to collect data from 371 Saudi participants (aged 16–60 years), using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Results showed that the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and social isolation was 47.82%, 47.57%, and 46.42%, respectively. Further, more than 83% of the participants reported using social media frequently during the pandemic. We found that exposure to misinformation via social media has a significant positive relationship with anxiety, depression, and social isolation. However, Due to the cross-sectional nature of this study it cannot be determined whether social media causes negative mental health outcomes, or if individuals experiencing greater depression, anxiety and social isolation turn to social media more than others, or if some third variable might explain both. Based on our findings, we present specific suggestions related to the COVID-19 pandemic to the government of Saudi Arabia. Minoring and filtering out misleading information with the cooperation of the World Health Organization (WHO) can promote the spread of accurate news in Saudi Arabia.


Author(s):  
Hudimova A.Kh.

Social media is an integral part of everyone’s life, meeting the needs of belonging and relaxation. Dur-ing the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for socialization increases, as a result of which the degree of user involvement increases. Thepur-poseoftheresearch was to theoretically substantiate the results of an empirical study of the relationship between the social media use and the psychological well-being of users (N = 516) in everyday life and dur-ing a global pandemic. Methods: standardized valid psychodiagnostic methods, author’s questionnaire, correlation and factor analyzes. Results: The research allowed to establish the following individual charac-teristics of the behavior of young users in social media in different life circumstances. One of the research hypotheses was the assumption that by limiting the ability to communicate and meet with friends and relatives during self-isolation, the share of vir-tual communication will increase. During quarantine, young people, as in everyday life, prefer to watch a vari-ety of videos and read posts, i.e. passive use, rather than communication. Spending time on various social media applications is a kind of coping strategy, which becomes a trigger for the formation of social media dis-order. Due to the uncontrolled social media use during the period of self-isolation, young people face changes in sleep, mostly dysomnia. Excessive involvement in the social media increases during quarantine, leading to insomnia. Paired correlation coefficients of the sub-jects’ complaints about “Negative changes in sleep” have 16 highly reliable relationships in the range from r = .156 to r = .444 or ρ ≤ .015 – .0000. Conclusions:The lack of hygienic and controlled spending time on social media in everyday life and during self-isolation provokes an exacerbation of anxiety, apathy, depressed mood and a sense of isolation from society. The desire of young people to endure forced isolation without negative experiences leads to excessive online involve-ment.Keyw ords:psychological well-being, passive use of social media, social media disorder, COVID-19, behavioral patterns, mental health, isolation. Соціальні мережі є невід’ємною складовою життя кожної людини, забезпечуючи задоволення потреб у приналежності та релаксації. У період прогресування пандемії COVID-19 необхідність у соціалізації зростає, внаслідок чого підвищується ступінь залученості користувачів. Мета: теоретично обґрунтувати отримані результати емпіричного дослідження зв’язку типу використання соцмереж з психологічним благополуччям користувачів (N = 516) у звичайному житті та в умовах всесвітньоїпандемії.Мет оди:стандартизовані валідні психодіагностичні методики, авторська анкета, кореляційний та факторний аналізи. Результати: Проведене дослідження дозволило встановити наступні індивідуальні особливості поведінки юних користувачів у соціальних мережах у різних життєвих обставинах. Однією з дослідницьких гіпотез було припущення, що через обмеження можливості спілкуватися та зустрічатися з друзями та близь-кими у період самоізоляції, збільшиться частка віртуальної комунікації. За час карантину юнаки, як і в звичайному житті, віддають перевагу перегляду різноманітних відео-роликів та читанню постів, тобто пасивному використанню, ніж спілкуванню. Проведення часу за різними додатками соцмереж є своєрідною копінг-стратегією, що стає тригером формування соціально-мережевого розладу. Внас-лідок неконтрольованого використання соцмереж в період самоізоляції юнаки наражаються на зміни сну, переважно дисомнію. Під час карантину надмірна залученість у соцмережі збільшується, призводячи до безсоння. Парні коефіцієнти кореляції скарг досліджуваних на “Негативні зміни сну” мають 16 високо достовірних зв’язків у діапазоні від r = .156 до r = .444 або ρ ≤ .015 – .0000. Висновки:Відсутність гігієнічного та контрольованого проведення часу у соцмережах у звичайному житті та під час самоізоляціїпровокує загострення тривоги, апатії, пригніченого настрою та відчуття відірваності від соціуму. Прагнення юнаків перенести вимушену ізоляцію без негативних переживань призводить до надмірної онлайн-залученості.Ключовіслова:психологічне благополуччя, пасивне використання соцмереж, соцмережевий розлад, психічне здоров’я, ізоляція.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Somya Agrawal ◽  
Shwetha M. Krishna

The current pandemic has modified how education, learning, and technology interact with one another inside universities. The usage of technology for instructional purposes raises the question of whether learning that happens in an online environment is as effective as traditional classroom models. Within this context, this study explores the psychological well-being of students during the COVID-19 pandemic, using an online cross-sectional survey. Data were collected from 246 university students currently studying at a private university in India. Hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modelling were used to study the mediating effects between communication apprehension, perceived learning, and psychological well-being under the moderating effects of intention to use social media and psychological stress. Results show that higher intentions to use social media alleviated the negative effects of communication apprehension on perceived learning. Interestingly, it was also found that perceived learning had a significant positive relationship with psychological well-being when students experienced higher levels of psychological stress (eustress). Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the transactional theory of stress and coping, we attempt to integrate the findings related to these theories, which can be considered distinct to previous studies. Implications, limitations, and future directions for research and practice have also been discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luís Gonzaga ◽  
Mário Silva ◽  
Maria do Carmo Figueiredo ◽  
Marta Rosa ◽  
Rui Matos ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The social restraints during the COVID-19 mandatory lockdown led young and undergraduate adults living remarkable changes in their daily lives, challenging the feeling of loneliness and the own perception of social isolation. This study aimed to assess and compare the levels of psychological well-being among students from both Santarém and Leiria Polytechnic Institutes. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional correlational study was performed in the period immediately after the first lockdown. Participants were 775 students (females = 73.5%), aged between 17 and 55 years. All of them completed measures of the Psychological Well-Being Manifestation Scale (PWBMS; or EMMBEP, in the Portuguese version, by Monteiro, Tavares e Pereira, 2012) measuring six dimensions, components of the eudaimonic model of well-being. Collected data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows software, Version 27.0. Results The results obtained revealed differences of quality in the scores of the six measured dimensions. If subjective experiences on Mental Balance and Sociability are the best indicators of the well-being, the perception of the lack of Social Involvement and low Happiness appear to be limitative factors to the perceived well-being. We also found significant differences in terms of polytechnic institute attended, gender, age categories, and marital status. Conclusions The obtained results provide the basis to design and develop a targeted intervention main program focused on the empowerment of higher education students. Build a literacy program with health education strategies, starting from their own perceptions and responses to the experienced situations, allows their easy engagement in the promotion of the psychological well-being.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Putu Sukma Megaputri

<p><em>Men who have sex with men (MSM) is the community that has become the largest epicenter in the transmission of HIV / AIDS. At present the MSM community is a marginalized community, so it is difficult to observe its development, this is because of the negative stigma from the community environment towards MSM. So they use social media in forming communities and offering sexual relations. The aim of study was to analyze the social media that were most often used by MSM in sexual transactions activity. A cross sectional approach was applied in this study with a sample of 58 people, selected by snowball and using a questionnaire to collect quantitative data. Respondent characteristics data were analyzed descriptively, then bivariate analysis to determine the relationship of independent variables with dependent variables and independent variables that could be included in multivariate analysis. Multivariate analysis with logistic regression was used to determine the effect of independent variables on sexual transactions conducted by MSM. The results found that, Grindr social media is the most dominant among Whatsapp, Facebook, Me Chat and other social media. Meanwhile, based on the technique of having sex, sex activeness is seen in MSM who have anal and oral relations. It was also reported in the results of research that getting younger MSM increasingly increases sexual desire. The conclusions of this study are MSM who use Grindr, with anal and oral sex techniques as well as young age, which increases sexual activity</em><em>.</em><em></em></p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Narendra Kumar Singh ◽  
Nishant Goyal

Background: Schizophrenia is associated with a high familial, social and economic burden. Schizophrenia is also associated with a high level of disability which may create impediments on the social and economic areas of the patients as well as on their respective family networks. Families with schizophrenia may encounter problems such as impairment of health and well being of other family members, restriction of social activities of the family members and shrinking of support from the social network. Aims: The present study examined the difference in perceived social support and burden of care between the male and female caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study examining the difference in perceived social support and burden of care between the male and female caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. The sample consisted of 60 (30 male and 30 female) caregivers of the patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia as per ICD-10-DCR. Results and Conclusion: This study revealed that male caregivers perceived more social support and less burden of care as compared to female caregivers. Key words: Gender, social support, burden


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