The COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome and selective attentional bias towards COVID‐19‐related stimuli in UK residents during the 2020–2021 pandemic

Albery, Ian P.; Spada, Marcantonio M.; Nikčević, Ana V.

doi:10.1002/cpp.2639

Cited by 42 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…The current study sought to create a Persian version of the C19‐ASS and test its psychometric properties in a general community sample of Iranians so to examine the relevance of this construct in a non‐Western sample. The findings here corroborate preliminary evidence supporting the notion of COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome (Albery et al, 2021 ; Nikčević & Spada, 2020 ; Nikčević et al, 2021 ). The Persian C19‐ASS was similarly valid, with convergent and divergent validity, incremental validity, and a factor structure comparable to the parent study (Nikčević & Spada, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

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The Persian COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C‐19ASS): Psychometric properties in a general community sample of Iranians

Akbari

Seydavi

Zamani

et al. 2021

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

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There is a potential for a long‐lasting psychological and social impact from the COVID‐19 pandemic. Recently, the COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C19‐ASS) has been developed, which measures individuals' coping mechanisms in relation to the fear or threat of COVID‐19. The C19‐ASS was developed and has been used so far only in Western samples. Further psychometric evaluation is needed in ethnically diverse samples. Therefore, the current study sought to test the psychometric properties in a large sample of Iranians ( n = 1429; female = 52.1%; Mean age = 35.83, ±12.89) who completed a cross‐sectional survey. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the Persian C19‐ASS has a two‐factor structure corresponding to the perseveration and avoidance subscales of the original scale. Confirmatory factor analyses also supported a two‐factor solution, which showed a firm model fit and high internal consistencies. Furthermore, it showed excellent divergent validity from generalized anxiety, indicating that it is concerned explicitly with COVID‐19, supported by correlational analyses and exploratory factor analysis. Test of incremental validity indicated the Persian C19‐ASS explained more variance in functional impairment and COVID‐19 anxiety than the gender, marital and educational status, generalized anxiety, neuroticism, openness, consciousness and having lost someone close due to COVID‐19. Also, based on a mediation test, it was found that C19‐ASS mediates the relationship between the Big Five personality traits (except openness and consciousness) and health anxiety, generalized anxiety, depression and COVID‐19 anxiety. Overall, the current findings provide further evidence for the construct of the COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome. The COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome is discussed in light of the S‐REF model that provides an explanatory framework for this pandemic‐related construct.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Albery et al ( 2021 ) have provided further evidence for the validation of the C‐19ASS in a UK community sample. They found that the COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome correlates with generalized anxiety and depression.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The Persian COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C‐19ASS): Psychometric properties in a general community sample of Iranians

Akbari

Seydavi

Zamani

et al. 2021

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The vigilance-avoidance model, while supporting hypervigilance toward health-threatening stimuli, adds a supposition of later attention processes that individuals with high health anxiety are more likely to avoid health-threat than those with low health anxiety. One dot-probe study (Jasper & Witthöft, 2011) supported this model by revealing positive correlations of health anxiety levels with the orienting and disengagement index, which was not replicated by another dot-probe study by Albery et al (2021). By contrast, the attention maintenance model posits that health-anxious individuals' attention is not necessarily directed more efficiently to health-threatening stimuli, but that once captured by health-threat, their attention is more difficult to be disengaged from the stimulus, compared with non-health-anxious individuals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Cannito et al, 2020; Leonidou and Panayiotou, 2020), while others (e.g. Albery, Spada, & Nikčević, 2021; Lees, Mogg & Bradley, 2005; Zhang et al, 2021) reported null findings with both pictures and words.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Attentional bias toward health-threat in health anxiety: a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis

et al. 2022

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Attentional bias toward health-threat may theoretically contribute to the development and maintenance of health anxiety, but the empirical findings have been controversial. This study aimed to synthesize and explore the heterogeneity in a health-threat related attentional bias of health-anxious individuals, and to determine the theoretical model that better represents the pattern of attentional bias in health anxiety. Four databases (Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus) were searched for relevant studies, with 17 articles (N = 1546) included for a qualitative review and 16 articles (18 studies) for a three-level meta-analysis (N = 1490). The meta-analytic results indicated that the health anxiety group, compared to the control group, showed significantly greater attentional bias toward health-threat (g = 0.256). Further analyses revealed that attentional bias type, paradigm, and stimuli type were significant moderators. Additionally, compared to the controls, health-anxious individuals displayed significantly greater attention maintenance (g = 0.327) but nonsignificant attention vigilance to health-threat (g = −0.116). Our results provide evidence for the attention maintenance model in health-anxious individuals. The implications for further research and treatment of elevated health anxiety in the context of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) were also discussed.

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“…There is now gathering evidence that a number of different facets of mental wellbeing have suffered during the time of lockdowns across the globe, including but not limited to anxiety, depression, worry and rumination, stress, wellbeing and sleep [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. For example, early on in the course of the pandemic (May 2020), initial studies in the U.S. found psychological distress levels for the previous month as high as those estimated for the previous year [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental Health and Wellbeing in Young People in the UK during Lockdown (COVID-19)

Owens

Townsend

Hall

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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This study aimed to assess the levels of mental wellbeing and potential for clinical need in a sample of UK university students aged 18–25 during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also tested the dose-response relationship between the severity of lockdown restrictions and mental wellbeing. We carried out a prospective shortitudinal study (one month between baseline and follow up) during the pandemic to do this and included 389 young people. We measured a range of facets of mental wellbeing, including depression, depressogenic cognition (rumination), wellbeing, stress and sleep disturbance. Our primary outcome was ‘probable depression’ as indexed by a score of ≥10 on the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-8). The prevalence of probable depression was significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels (55%) and did not decrease significantly over time (52%). Higher levels of lockdown severity were prospectively associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Nearly all students had at least one mental wellbeing concern at either time point (97%). The evidence suggests that lockdown has caused a wellbeing crisis in young people. The associated long-term mental, social, educational, personal and societal costs are as yet unknown but should be tracked using further longitudinal studies.

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The COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome and selective attentional bias towards COVID‐19‐related stimuli in UK residents during the 2020–2021 pandemic

Cited by 42 publications

References 52 publications

The Persian COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C‐19ASS): Psychometric properties in a general community sample of Iranians

The Persian COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C‐19ASS): Psychometric properties in a general community sample of Iranians

Attentional bias toward health-threat in health anxiety: a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis

Mental Health and Wellbeing in Young People in the UK during Lockdown (COVID-19)

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