Corona Research Collaboration

Title: Individual and national coping resources and their relationships with mental health and anxiety:
A comparative study in Israel, Italy, Spain, and Netherlands during the Corona crisis 

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Adi Mana[i], Sabina Super[ii], Claudia Sardu[iii], Dolors Juvinya Canal[iv], Shifra Sagy[v]

 

Abstract

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of millions worldwide, causing great uncertainty and anxiety. Although the pandemic is global, it appears each nation has developed its own way of managing the crisis.

Employing the salutogenic model (Antonovsky, 1987) we ask how individuals cope with this crisis in an effort to maintain their health and wellbeing. We hypothesized that individual as well as national resources could explain levels of mental health and anxiety.

Understanding the contribution of individual and national coping resources to the level of mental health can suggest ways national and global decision-makers might deal with the crisis in a way that promotes health.

 

The individual resources include sense of coherence and social support of family, friends, and virtual contacts. We are especially interested in the individuals’ perception of national resources such as sense of national coherence, trust in governmental institutions, compliance with instructions, and common attitudes towards the Corona virus. Relevant demographic variables (socioeconomic status, gender, religion, political orientation) will be explored.

 

A pilot study was carried out from March 23 to the 25th, 2020 amongst a sample of 600 (289 males) Israeli adults. Questionnaires were administered via an online survey platform. Questionnaires included several standard tools (MHC-SF, Keyes, 2005; GAD-7, Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams & Löwe, 2006; SOC, Antonovsky, 1987; SONC, Mana, Srour, & Sagy, 2019) as well as other questions relevant in this context. The results confirm significant importance of both individual and national resources and also raise a special interest in SONC as a potential predictor of the individual's mental health and anxiety (Mana & Sagy, in press).
 

Based on this pilot study, the questionnaire has been translated and the next stage of data collection will take place during April and May 2020 in four countries: the sample will include 600 Italian, 600 Dutch, 600 Spanish and 600 Israeli participants. 

 

References

Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unraveling the Mystery of Health: How People Manage Stress and Stay Well. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Keyes, C. L. (2005). Mental illness and/or mental health? Investigating axioms of the complete state model of health. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73(3), 539-548. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/0022-006X.73.3.539

Mana, A & Sagy, S. (in press). Can political orientation explain mental health in the time of a global pandemic? Voting patterns, personal and national coping resources, and mental health during the Coronavirus crisis. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 

Mana, A., Srour, A., & Sagy, S. (2019). A sense of national coherence and openness to the “other’s” collective narrative: The case of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 25(3), 226–233. https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000391

Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B. W., and Löwe, B. (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder the GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166, 1092–1097. doi: 10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092

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[i] Adi Mana, Department of Psychology, Peres Academic Center, Israel

[ii] Sabina Super, Health and Society, Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands

[iii] Claudia Sardu, Department of Medical Science and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Italy

[iv] Dolors Juvinya Canal, Health Promotion Chair, University of Girona, Spain

[v] Shifra Sagy, Martin Springer Center for Conflict Studies, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

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