Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service, Organizzazione Sociopsichiatrica Cantonale, Mendrisio, Switzerland.
Department of Internal Medicine and Nephrology, Regional Hospital of Bellinzona and Valli, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, Switzerland.
Front Public Health. 2021 Jan 20;8:567337. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.567337. eCollection 2020.
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, and especially in the absence of availability of an effective treatment or a vaccine, the main health measure is neither chemical nor biological, but behavioral. To reduce the exponential growth of infections due to the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the resulting overburdening of the healthcare system, many European Countries, parts of the US and Switzerland gradually implemented measures of quarantine and isolation defined as lockdown. This consideration leads to the need to understand how individuals are motivated to protect themselves and others. Recent research suggested that prosocial mental dispositions, such as empathy, might promote adherence to social norms of distancing. Other research conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak indicates, however, that empathy levels might fluctuate according to anxiety linked to the risk of death, and this negatively predicted prosocial willingness. The present protocol proposes a study on whether people's empathic dispositions, interacting with the levels of risk, influence the psychological impact of lockdown. The rationale is that emphatic dispositions, encouraging the acceptance of the lockdown, determine a better psychological adaptation and less distress. One retrospective study will be developed in Switzerland and, if the pandemic conditions force a new wave of lockdown on the population, one prospective study as well. A total of 120 participants will be involved, distinguished by their level of objective risk: (1) high objective risk (COVID-19 positive patients, hospitalized in isolation in post-acute phase); (2) moderate objective risk (COVID-19 positive patients, isolated at home); (3) minimum objective risk (non-positive adults, in lockdown). Measures of perceived risk of being contagious for third parties, empathic dispositions and acceptance of lockdown will be collected. The expected results provide important answers related to the immediate impact of empathic dispositions, effective risk and risk perception on the psychological impact of lockdown during a pandemic outbreak. Data gathered from this study could inform policy makers and public health managers about the best communication strategies that will take into account the various stages of health risk and, in particular, to modulate messages to the population aimed at inducing self-isolation behaviors.
在当前的 COVID-19 大流行期间，特别是在缺乏有效治疗或疫苗的情况下，主要的卫生措施既不是化学的也不是生物的，而是行为的。为了减少新的冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）感染的指数增长以及由此导致的医疗保健系统负担过重，许多欧洲国家、美国部分地区和瑞士逐渐实施了隔离和隔离措施，这些措施被定义为封锁。这一考虑使得我们有必要了解个人如何受到激励来保护自己和他人。最近的研究表明，亲社会的心理倾向，如同理心，可能会促进对保持社交距离的社会规范的遵守。然而，在 COVID-19 爆发期间进行的其他研究表明，同理心水平可能会根据与死亡风险相关的焦虑而波动，而这会对亲社会意愿产生负面影响。本方案提出了一项研究，即人们的同理心倾向与风险水平相互作用，是否会影响封锁的心理影响。其基本原理是，同理心倾向鼓励接受封锁，从而实现更好的心理适应和减少困扰。将在瑞士开展一项回顾性研究，如果大流行情况迫使民众再次封锁，还将开展一项前瞻性研究。共有 120 名参与者参与其中，根据其客观风险水平进行区分：（1）高客观风险（COVID-19 阳性患者，处于急性后期隔离住院）；（2）中度客观风险（COVID-19 阳性患者，在家中隔离）；（3）最低客观风险（非阳性成年人，处于封锁状态）。将收集感知到的对第三方传染的风险、同理心倾向和对封锁的接受程度等方面的测量数据。预期结果提供了与同理心倾向、有效风险和风险感知对大流行爆发期间封锁的心理影响的直接影响有关的重要答案。本研究收集的数据可以为政策制定者和公共卫生管理者提供有关最佳沟通策略的信息，这些策略将考虑到健康风险的各个阶段，特别是针对向民众传递旨在诱导自我隔离行为的信息进行调整。
