The research teams from the 11 ESTSS member societies representing 11 European countries participate in the study (Austria, Croatia, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden).
The study explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maladaptive psychological adjustment across eleven European countries.
Objective: This longitudinal online cohort study aims (1) to explore psychosocial reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic across eleven European countries; (2) to examine the relationships between risk and resilience factors, stressors, and maladaptive adjustment during the pandemic; and (3) to investigate whether these relationships are moderated by coping behaviors.
Method: In eleven countries (Austria, Croatia, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden) at least 1,000 participants will be recruited. Participants will be assessed at two time points (T1, T2 6-month follow-up). Following a conceptual framework based on the WHO’s social framework of health, an assessment of risk and resilience factors, COVID-19 related stressors, and pandemic-specific coping behavior will be measured to estimate their contribution to maladaptive adjustment. As indicators of maladaptive adjustment, symptoms of adjustment disorder and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder will be measured at T1 and T2.
Data analysis: Applying multilevel analyses, the relative contribution of risk factors, resilience factors, and stressors on symptoms of adjustment disorder or symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder will be estimated. To determine the moderating effects of different types of coping behavior on these relationships, a multilevel mediation analyses will be carried out.
Principle Investigator: Annett Lotzin, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
Study steering committee members:
Annett Lotzin, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
Elena Acquarini, Center for Research and Treatment of Trauma, Italian Red Cross, Milano
Dean Ajdukovic, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Vittoria Ardino, Center for Research and Treatment of Trauma, Italian Red Cross, Milano
Maria Böttche, Devision of Clinical Psychological Intervention, Free University of Berlin, Germany
Filip Arnberg, National Centre for Disaster Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Maria Bragesjö, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Małgorzata Dragan, Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland
Margarida Maria Carvalho de Figueiredo Ferreira Braga, Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Portugal; Trauma Centre, Centre for Social Studies (CES), University of Coimbra, Portugal
Odeta Gelezelyte, Center for Psychotraumatology, Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University
Piotr Grajewski, Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw
Jana Darejan Javakhishvili, Institute of Addiction Studies, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
Evaldas Kazlauskas, Center for Psychotraumatology, Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University
Brigitte Lueger-Schuster, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
Nino Makhashvili, Mental Health Resource Center, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
Trudy Mooren, Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Luisa Sales, Trauma Centre, Centre for Social Studies (CES), University of Coimbra, Portugal
Ingo Schäfer, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
Aleksandra Stevanovic, Department of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Croatia
Irina Zrnic, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
