Frontiers in psychology
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2020
Determinants of the Financial Contribution to the NHS: The Case of the COVID-19 Emergency in Italy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has quickly become an unprecedented challenge for many countries at a global level, requiring a significant amount of financial resources to support the National Healthcare System (NHS). In Italy, most of these resources came from the general public through tax payments and monetary donations. The present work aims to investigate the antecedents of citizens' willingness to financially support the NHS in a situation of public emergency such as the one related to the COVID-19 outbreak. ⋯ Results showed that participants were more willing to give a financial contribution when it was framed as a one-off donation rather than as a one-off tax payment. Moreover, it was found that trust in money management was the most important factor in predicting the intention to make a financial contribution to the NHS, either through a tax payment or through charitable giving. The perceived risks with regard to the pandemic, in contrast, had no impact.
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2020
Kindness Media Rapidly Inspires Viewers and Increases Happiness, Calm, Gratitude, and Generosity in a Healthcare Setting.
Background and Objectives: Stress is a ubiquitous aspect of modern life that affects both mental and physical health. Clinical care settings can be particularly stressful for both patients and providers. Kindness and compassion are buffers for the negative effects of stress, likely through strengthening positive interpersonal connection. ⋯ No change was observed in self-reported compassion, although baseline levels were self-rated as very high. People who watched kindness media were also more generous, with 85% donating their honoraria compared to 54% of Standard viewers (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Kindness media can increase positive emotions and promote generosity in a healthcare setting.
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2020
Young Children's Indiscriminate Helping Behavior Toward a Humanoid Robot.
Young children help others in a range of situations, relatively indiscriminate of the characteristics of those they help. Recent results have suggested that young children's helping behavior extends even to humanoid robots. However, it has been unclear how characteristics of robots would influence children's helping behavior. ⋯ The findings indicate that young children's helping behavior extends largely indiscriminately across two important characteristics. These results increase our understanding of the development of children's altruistic behavior and animate-inanimate distinctions. Our findings also raise important ethical questions for the field of child-robot interaction.
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2020
Poor Sleep Quality and Its Consequences on Mental Health During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) seriously affected the whole of Italy. The extreme virulence and the speed of propagation resulted in restrictions and home confinement. This change was immediately perceived by people who found themselves exposed to feelings of uncertainty, fear, anger, stress, and a drastic change in the diurnal but above all nocturnal lifestyle. For these reasons, we aimed to study the quality of sleep and its connection to distress levels and to evaluate how lifestyle changed in the Italian population during the lockdown. ⋯ This is the first study designed to understand sleep quality and sleep habits during the whole of the lockdown period in the Italian population that provides more than 6,000 participants in a survey developed specifically for the health emergency related to COVID-19. Our study found that more than half of the Italian population had impaired sleep quality and sleep habits due to elevated psychological distress during the COVID-19 lockdown containment measures. A multidisciplinary action should be undertaken in order to plan appropriate responses to the current crisis caused by the lockdown for the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2020
Caring for Coronavirus Healthcare Workers: Lessons Learned From Long-Term Monitoring of Military Peacekeepers.
The current outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is of unprecedented proportions in several regards. Recent reports suggest that many frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) suffer from mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Previous studies have identified several key factors associated with short-term PTSS in pandemic HCWs, yet limited data is available on factors associated with long-term PTSS. Understanding the psychological impact of the pandemic on HCWs is important in planning for future outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. In the current study, we look to findings from a highly relevant subsection of the trauma field, the military domain. ⋯ Several factors linked to short-term PTSS in pandemic HCWs were associated with long-term PTSS in peacekeepers. We discuss how these findings may be used to prevent long-term PTSS in HCWs involved in the current COVID-19 outbreak.