Previous studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in different countries found an increase in anxiety, stress, and an exacerbation of previous mental health problems. This research investigated some of the protective and risk factors of distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, among which were the perception of receiving social support from family members and friends, and a chronic tendency to worry. The study was conducted in three European countries: Italy, Serbia, and Romania. A total of 1100 participants (Italy n = 491; Serbia n = 297; Romania n = 312) responded to a questionnaire. Results from this study show that distress during the COVID-19 pandemic is higher for people who are chronic worriers and those who have higher levels of fear of COVID-19. More specifically, it is confirmed that a chronic tendency to worry exacerbates the relationship between fear and distress: it is stronger for people who have a greater tendency to worry.
Families that have children with disabilities are faced with numerous difficulties in Serbia mostly due to the prolonged effect of social and economic crises. Besides insufficient adequate and diverse community-based services, they often experience social isolation and poverty, too. During the last decades, there were efforts to improve support for parents by introducing community-based services for their children with disabilities. This chapter is based on the findings of the study that explored the effect of those services on the families' quality of life. Although the findings confirmed that the services generally improved their life quality, particularly for those who perceived the lowest quality of life before, there are some additional observations about "side effects" that should be useful guidelines for developing flexible individually tailored service that support families' needs and suit them best.
This chapter is a description of results of a study conducted in Italy involving Italians (N = 491), Romanian immigrants (N = 275), and Romanians in Romania (N = 312) with aim to explore the principal sources of anxiety and uncertainty during COVID-19 pandemic, and the differences between the groups. In addition, the study analysed the role of resilience as a potential moderator between perception of sources of anxiety during COVID-19 and distress. A questionnaire was administered containing several scales. Results showed that Italians and immigrants have similar concerns and that the perception of resilience play significant role in determining emotional distress.
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