Background: Poland is one of Europe’s most religious societies. Methods: The article presents the results of an online survey conducted in April 2020 during the period of the Polish government’s strictest restrictions to date in response to the pandemic. A quota sample of 1001 adult Poles was surveyed. Results: Around one-fifth (21.3%) of people declared that they spent more time praying and engaging in other religious practices than previously. As many as 61.3% of people who previously practiced religion several times a week spent more time on these practices, and, more interestingly, religious observance also increased among people who had previously practiced only once every few years (15.9%) and those who had not previously practiced at all (7.4%). People who previously practiced sporadically or not at all, but who began to pray more during the pandemic, are found to be distinguished from others by a greater fear of losing their job. Spending more time on religious observance is shown to be related to, e.g., disregard for some government restrictions, possession of less knowledge about COVID-19, and a greater tendency to believe in conspiracy theories. Conclusions: Overall, religious practices increased during the Polish spring lockdown. Although these increases are unlikely to be long-lasting, changes in religiosity caused by COVID-19 appear to be a real phenomenon. As the pandemic continues, more research on different aspects of this phenomenon is needed.

(1) Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has changed the functioning of Polish health systems. Telemedicine has been developed and access to prescription drugs (Rx) has been facilitated. This study examined whether these changes and the imposition of a three-month lockdown caused Polish people to engage in more self-medication-related behaviors. (2) Method: After the fourth (final) stage of defrosting the Polish economy, an online survey of a quota sample of 1013 Polish respondents was conducted. (3) Results: Almost half of the respondents (45.6%) indicated that they had engaged in at least one behavior associated with inappropriate self-medication during the lockdown (e.g., 16.6% took medication as a precaution, and 16.8% took an Rx formulation without consultation). Some of these people had never engaged in such behaviors prior to the lockdown. Linear regression showed that higher values of a composite (“lockdown”) index of self-medication-related behaviors occurring during lockdown were predicted by greater religiosity and the presence of children in a household. Also, independent samples t-tests showed that people who were afraid for their financial future and people who feared for their health obtained higher lockdown index scores than people not having such worries. (4) Conclusions: Self-medication-related behaviors were more common among Poles before lockdown than during the lockdown (which is unsurprising given that the lengths of the periods compared were hugely different), worryingly, many people exhibited such behaviors for the first time during the lockdown.

(1) Objective: To explore Poles’ attitudes during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as a contribution toward the creation of effective health policies. (2) Method: Computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) was used to survey a sample of 1001 Poles selected using quota sampling. (3) Results: Using cluster analysis, three types of attitudes were distinguished, people being classified as “involved” (48.1%), “cautious” (27.4%), or “indifferent” (24.6%). The result of greatest interest was the absence of any attitude indicating an extremely dismissive posture toward COVID-19. Three logistic regression analyses, comparing people displaying each attitude with those comparing the other two attitudes combined, showed that an involved attitude was likely to be associated with being female, being in a poorer financial situation, but having relatively high life satisfaction. A cautious attitude was more likely to appear in places with fewer residents and among people in a favorable financial situation, and that an indifferent attitude was more likely to be associated with being male and having lower life satisfaction. (4) Conclusions: The attitudes identified may help to explain why, during the spring of 2020, the virus was spreading slightly more slowly, and on a narrower scale, in Poland than in other countries.

Objective: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts have faced the challenge of convincing people to change their everyday habits. This study aims to evaluate the impact of trust in medicine on Polish citizens’ adherence to recommended behaviors. Methods: An online survey was conducted on a quota sample of adult Poles (n = 1072) during the second wave of COVID-19. Results: The trust-in-medicine index was created from statements relating to trust in healthcare professionals, vaccines, and medicines. This index showed that 27.1% of respondents expressed low trust, 36.7% expressed moderate trust, and 36.3% expressed high trust. The recommended behavior index was created from nine statements. This index showed that 15.8% of respondents had low adherence, 38.2% had moderate adherence, and 46.0% had high adherence to the healthcare experts’ recommendations. One-way analysis of variance showed that people with a high trust had significantly higher scores on the recommended behavior index when compared to people with a moderate or low trust. Conclusions: This study suggests that those responsible for health policy should put more effort into building trust not only in health professionals, but also in pharmaceutical companies. We also determined the socio-demographic features of people to whom such actions of trust building should be directed.

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Introduction The emergence of the virus Sars-CoV-2, and subsequent COVID-19 pandemic, caused a global threat to public health. In such challenging and worrying situations it can be expected that people will seek comfort in religion. However, before the pandemic there were never such wide world disruptions of religious practice–because of social distancing regulations, religiosity cannot be practiced in the same way as it was before the pandemic. Methods Two anonymous online surveys were conducted of adult Poles, one during the second wave (N = 1072; November 2020) and one during the third wave of the pandemic (N = 1080; April 2021). The survey samples of participants reflected the Polish population structure in terms of age, sex, size of place of residence, education, and province. Results Participation in institutional religious practices fell threefold to 11.9% during the pandemic, as compared to pre-pandemic times (31.2%). The number of people who did not go to church at all increased from 23.1% to 57.0%. Between the second and third waves, there was a small return to regular practice (from 10.1% to 14.1%). Based on the subjective assessment of the amount of time devoted to prayer, fewer people reporting an increase (10.6%) than a decrease (20.1%) in religious commitment during the pandemic. Logistic regressions showed that an increase in religious commitment can be predicted by older age, more frequent participation in religious practices before the pandemic, and higher life satisfaction. A decrease in religious commitment can be predicted by younger age, less frequent participation in religious practices before the pandemic, and greater number of children in the household. Conclusion Our research indicates a deintensification of religious practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. The pandemic has accelerated process of polarization of Polish religiosity.

Aim: The first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic was an event that fundamentally changed the way people live and the functioning of the health system in Poland. The study aimed to examine whether the pandemic and the associated lockdown caused Polish people to engage in more selfmedication-related behaviors. Method: An online survey of a quota sample of 1013 people was obtained, the sample being representative of the Polish adult population with respect to gender, age, place of residence (in terms of population size), province of residence, and education. The survey was carried out just after implementation of the last stage of the Polish government's defrosting process on June 6, which allowed Poles to return to a "new normality". Results: Almost half of the respondents (45.6%) indicated that they had engaged in at least one behavior associated with inappropriate self-medication during lockdown: 17.9% had taken medication for the enhancement of physical/cognitive performance; 16.9% had taken prescription medication without consulting a doctor; 15.2% had refrained from consulting a doctor despite having worrying symptoms; 19.4% had bought prescription medications just in case they might need them in the near future; 8.3% had talked a doctor into prescribing medication; 16.6% had taken medication as a precaution against becoming ill. Unsurprisingly, Pole's self-medication-related behaviors had occurred more often before the lockdown (in the whole of their lives up to lockdown) than during the lockdown (a period of only 3 months), but such behaviors occurred in many people for the first time during the lockdown (from 7% to 15.5%). Conclusion: The issue of self-medication requires discussion if appropriate public health programs are to be developed. The availability of doctors is still limited and there is a possibility of further lockdowns, this possibility presenting a risk that the often dangerous practice of self-medication will become more prevalent. This is probably an issue in other countries in addition to Poland.

Tło. Dom stanowi miejsce niezmiernie ważne w życiu człowieka. O jego znaczeniu w kulturze świadczyć może wielość terminów, wyrażeń, synonimów używanych w języku polskim do opisu domu. Związek instytucji jaką jest dom z człowiekiem na przestrzeni wieków jest niekwestionowany. Dlatego warto przyjrzeć się problematyce związanej z domem z perspektywy nauk społecznych.Cele. Autorzy zwrócili uwagę na różnorodne interpretacje pojęcia dom oraz jego znaczenie odnosząc się do obrazu domu w oczach Polaków. Przedstawiono wyniki badań wskazujące na to, z czym słowo dom kojarzy się Polakom i jakie ma dla nich znaczenie z perspektywy realizacji potrzeby bezpieczeństwa, intymności i miłości. Artykuł odpowiada na pytanie, czy to właśnie z tymi pojęciami kojarzy się Polakom dom, a także dom rodzinny, w którym dorastali.Metodyka. W artykule autorzy przedstawiają wyniki badań przeprowadzonych w okresie 24–27 listopada 2020r. na próbie 1072 respondentów. Próba została dobrana w sposób kwotowy, z panelu internetowego SW Panel administrowanego przesz firmę SW Research. Sondaż został przeprowadzony przy użyciu techniki CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview).Wyniki. Badania pokazują że słowo dom kojarzy się Polakom przede wszystkim z rodziną, bezpieczeństwem, schronieniem i intymnością. Aż 84% badanych Polaków wskazało właśnie na rodzinę jako słowo, które kojarzą z pojęciem dom.Dom rodzinny, w którym badani dorastali w większości (68%) kojarzy im się przede wszystkim właśnie z bezpieczną przystanią. To dom, który kojarzy się z radością (62%) i miłością(63%). To dom, który po prostu badani lubią (67%)Wnioski. Dom to przede wszystkim rodzina, to miejsce, które pozwala poczuć się bezpiecznie. Rzadziej Polacy utożsamiają słowo dom jedynie z budynkiem mieszkalnym, miejscem stałego zamieszkania (34%), czy symbolicznie z ojczyzną (18%). Znaczenie domu z perspektywy analizy życia rodzinnego wydaje się zatem niekwestionowane. Ważną kwestią pozostaje fakt, iż dla Polaków obecnie dom kojarzy się z pozytywnymi emocjami, bezpieczeństwem (70%), ciszą i spokojem (54%), nie zaś z hałasem, niedomówieniem, tajemnicą, czy kłamstwem (3%).