Publicação
The effect of psychological flexibility on wellbeing during an adverse global situation : the multiple mediation role of mindfulness and coping strategies
| Resumo: | Background: Adverse global situations, such the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, are characterized by a complex number of changes in the population’s health and organization of daily life, occurring in a large scale, with consequences often difficult to cope with, such as physical, psychological, and social long-term uncertainty. Most notably, one of the main concerns has been the changes that occurred in the levels of mental health and wellbeing of the population affected by the pandemic. It is important, then, to investigate which psychological processes could be promoted and enhanced in order to safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of the general population during the pandemic as well as in upcoming global adverse situations. One of such psychological processes, that has gained prominence in the research arena, is psychological flexibility. Understanding how psychological flexibility affects wellbeing will help on determining how one should navigate complex adverse situations. Objective: This study investigates the effect of psychological flexibility on wellbeing, both directly and indirectly via mindfulness and coping strategies in a multiple parallel mediation model. We aim at understanding whether psychological flexibility indeed affects wellbeing because of the individual’s level of mindfulness and their ability to effectively select coping responses suitable to the situation, therefore potentially resulting in an outcome of wellbeing. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which we aim at assessing the correlations between the study variables as well as testing a multiple mediation model. After assessing whether psychological flexibility has a direct effect on wellbeing, the multiple mediation model aims at testing whether there are conditional indirect effects of mindfulness and coping strategies on wellbeing, in a Portuguese sample of 334 individuals, from a larger research project named COVID_IMPACT. Participants were asked to complete a series of online questionnaires that measure psychological flexibility, wellbeing, mindfulness and coping strategies. Results: Results showed statistically significant correlations between psychological flexibility, wellbeing, mindfulness and coping strategies. Furthermore, we have found that mindfulness and coping strategies part-mediate the relationship between psychological flexibility and wellbeing. Conclusions: The findings of this study provide data that could guide health professionals to design community-wide interventions aimed at helping the general population become more psychologically flexible and mindfully select the appropriate coping strategies to deal with global adverse situations and achieve a higher level of wellbeing. |
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| Autores principais: | Paiva, Thiago Monteiro |
| Assunto: | Flexibilidade Mindfulness Estratégias de coping Saúde mental Bem-estar Pandemia Covid-19 Dissertações de mestrado - 2022 |
| Ano: | 2022 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Resumo: | Background: Adverse global situations, such the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, are characterized by a complex number of changes in the population’s health and organization of daily life, occurring in a large scale, with consequences often difficult to cope with, such as physical, psychological, and social long-term uncertainty. Most notably, one of the main concerns has been the changes that occurred in the levels of mental health and wellbeing of the population affected by the pandemic. It is important, then, to investigate which psychological processes could be promoted and enhanced in order to safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of the general population during the pandemic as well as in upcoming global adverse situations. One of such psychological processes, that has gained prominence in the research arena, is psychological flexibility. Understanding how psychological flexibility affects wellbeing will help on determining how one should navigate complex adverse situations. Objective: This study investigates the effect of psychological flexibility on wellbeing, both directly and indirectly via mindfulness and coping strategies in a multiple parallel mediation model. We aim at understanding whether psychological flexibility indeed affects wellbeing because of the individual’s level of mindfulness and their ability to effectively select coping responses suitable to the situation, therefore potentially resulting in an outcome of wellbeing. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which we aim at assessing the correlations between the study variables as well as testing a multiple mediation model. After assessing whether psychological flexibility has a direct effect on wellbeing, the multiple mediation model aims at testing whether there are conditional indirect effects of mindfulness and coping strategies on wellbeing, in a Portuguese sample of 334 individuals, from a larger research project named COVID_IMPACT. Participants were asked to complete a series of online questionnaires that measure psychological flexibility, wellbeing, mindfulness and coping strategies. Results: Results showed statistically significant correlations between psychological flexibility, wellbeing, mindfulness and coping strategies. Furthermore, we have found that mindfulness and coping strategies part-mediate the relationship between psychological flexibility and wellbeing. Conclusions: The findings of this study provide data that could guide health professionals to design community-wide interventions aimed at helping the general population become more psychologically flexible and mindfully select the appropriate coping strategies to deal with global adverse situations and achieve a higher level of wellbeing. |
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