Chong, YY;
Chien, WT;
Cheng, HY;
Kassianos, AP;
Gloster, AT;
Karekla, M;
(2021)
Can psychological flexibility and prosociality mitigate illness perceptions toward COVID-19 on mental health? A cross-sectional study among Hong Kong adults.
Global Health
, 17
, Article 43. 10.1186/s12992-021-00692-6.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: The negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on public mental health can be persistent and substantial over a long period of time, but little is known regarding what psychological factors or processes can buffer such impact. The present study aimed to examine the mediating roles of coping, psychological flexibility and prosociality in the impacts of perceived illness threats toward COVID-19 on mental health. METHOD: Five-hundred and fourteen Hong Kong citizens (18 years or above) completed an online survey to measure illness perceptions toward COVID-19, coping, psychological flexibility, prosociality, and mental health, together with their socio-demographic variables. Structural equation modelling was used to explore the explanatory model that was the best-fit to illustrate the relationships between these constructs. RESULTS: Serial mediation structural equation model showed that only psychological flexibility (unstandardised beta coefficient, β = - 0.12, 95% CI [- 0.20, - 0.02], p = 0.031) and prosociality (unstandardised β = 0.04, 95% CI [0.01, 0.08], p = 0.001) fully mediated the relationship between illness perceptions toward COVID-19 and mental health. In addition, psychological flexibility exerted a direct effect on prosociality (standardised β = 0.22, 95% CI [0.12, 0.32], p < 0.001). This best-fit model explained 62% of the variance of mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Fostering psychological flexibility and prosocial behaviour may play significant roles in mitigating the adverse effects of COVID-19 and its perceived threats on public mental health.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Can psychological flexibility and prosociality mitigate illness perceptions toward COVID-19 on mental health? A cross-sectional study among Hong Kong adults |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12992-021-00692-6 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12992-021-00692-6 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Coronavirus, Mental health, Prosociality, Psychological flexibility |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Applied Health Research |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10126492 |
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