Is Covid-19 a natural event? Covid-19 pandemic and conspiracy beliefs

Irandoost

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

ObjectiveGetting COVID-19 makes a person confront numerous individual, physical, psychological, family and social challenges. Therefore, the present study was conducted to explain the experiences, challenges and adaptation strategies in patients with COVID-19 in Tehran, Iran.MethodsThe present study was performed with a qualitative approach and phenomenological method among 33 patients with COVID-19. From July 20 to September 21, access to participants and data collection were done in person (15 people) and by phone (18 people) through targeted sampling and snowball and semi-structured interviews. Data management was carried out using MAXQDA-2018 software and its analysis was done by the Colaizzi analysis method. Guba and Lincoln's criteria were also observed to improve the quality of results.ResultsAfter analyzing the data, two main categories and 17 subcategories were obtained, including (1) experiences and challenges (ignoring the disease, blaming, physical health disorders, mental problems, guilt, and remorse, being blamed, living a life of disappointment and ambiguity, emotional challenges, frustrating reactions from others, helplessness and limitation) and (2) disease adaptation strategies (spirituality, learning about COVID-19, doing valuable and fun activities, participating in treatment, strengthening one's spirit and hope, trying to make up for past mistakes and virtual communication).ConclusionsBased on the results, interventions and policies such as increasing people's health knowledge and literacy to get acquainted with the symptoms of the disease and prompt referral for diagnosis and treatment, teaching stress and psychological pressure management techniques, instructing families to continue emotional and social support for patients and strengthening and reproducing the strategies patients use, along with teaching disease coping skills, harnessing the potential of cyberspace and the media can make it easier to tolerate illness and get back to life.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining Experiences, Challenges and Adaptation Strategies in COVID-19 Patients: A Qualitative Study in Iran

Irandoost

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

“…The results of this study can be interpreted in terms of compensatory strategies intended to restore people's perceptions of control over events when they have to deal with uncertainty and unpredictability (Pellegrini et al, 2021). In fact, expectations that even the COVID-19 crisis will have positive repercussions might be related to the widely shared assumption that the world is fundamentally just (Lerner, 1980;Tomaka and Blascovich, 1994), implying that good outcomes will somehow compensate for negative events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…In fact, expectations that even the COVID-19 crisis will have positive repercussions might be related to the widely shared assumption that the world is fundamentally just (Lerner, 1980;Tomaka and Blascovich, 1994), implying that good outcomes will somehow compensate for negative events. This reasoning can increase individuals' willingness to accept tragic events while reducing their need to appeal to other compensatory strategies, such as beliefs in conspiracy theories, to regain control over a threatening reality (Biddlestone et al, 2020;Moscatelli et al, 2021;Pellegrini et al, 2021). Such an account in terms of compensatory strategies does not undermine the novel findings that national and European identification can support individuals' coping by strengthening positive expectations for the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Everything Will Be All Right!” National and European Identification as Predictors of Positive Expectations for the Future During the COVID-19 Emergency

et al. 2021

During the first national lockdown imposed in a Western country to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Italians tried to boost their spirits by hanging hand-drawn rainbows with the slogan “Everything will be all right” from their windows. To understand which processes might have nurtured their positive views about the future during the pandemic, the present study (N=846), building upon social identity research, examined the relationships among Italians’ identification with their country and with the superordinate entity of the European Union (EU), trust in the main institutions in charge of managing the crisis (i.e., the Italian government, the EU, and the scientific community), and beliefs that the COVID-19 crisis would eventually result in the improvement of society. Structural equation modeling analyses showed that identification with Italians and Europeans had positive direct associations with positive expectations about humankind. Identification with Europeans was also directly related to positive expectations about Italian leaders and the strengthening of the EU through the crisis. Trust in the Italian government and, to a lower extent, trust in the EU mediated some of these associations. These findings suggest that governments should actively promote national and European identification to help citizens counter the negative psychological impact of the pandemic and maintain positive views of the future.

“…Unsurprisingly, similar effects have also been documented by burgeoning research about conspiracy theories concerning COVID-19 and the related vaccines. Pummerer et al (2021) [ 8 ] found that conspiracy beliefs are associated with reduced institutional trust and support for governmental regulations (see also Pellegrini et al, 2021 [ 7 ], for similar findings). Relatedly, intentions to vaccinate are negatively associated with believing in conspiracy theories [ 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Growing empirical evidence suggests that, in order to deal with these aversive feelings, conspiratorial explanations concerning COVID-19 and its treatments (with a particular emphasis on vaccines) spread and were widely endorsed in the population [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expectations about the “Natural Order of Things” and Conspiracy Beliefs about COVID-19

Giacomantonio

Pellegrini

Cristofaro

et al. 2022

IJERPH

Self Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic represents an event that unsettled the social and economic life of many people. When individuals are faced with shocking events, they may need to find plausible explanations for such events to restore control and make sense of reality. The adoption of conspiracy beliefs may represent a functional strategy for this purpose. The present study investigated whether the endorsement of conspiracy beliefs may be associated with the degree to which an upsetting event (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic) is perceived as incoherent with individuals’ general set of expectations about the world functioning (i.e., the natural order of things). Analyzing data from a community sample of 565 Italian participants, a path analysis model highlighted a mediation pattern where the natural order of things was negatively related to the adoption of conspiracy beliefs and, thus, was indirectly and positively related to support for the norms aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19, feelings of guilt about neglecting such norms, and intentions to be compliant with COVID-19 vaccination. Moreover, the natural order of things was indirectly and negatively related to attitudes focused on economic issues rather than public health and to negative attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines through reduced beliefs in conspiracies.