Association Between the Time Spent on and Sources of the News of Russo-Ukrainian War and Psychological Distress Among Individuals in Poland and Ukraine: The Mediating Effect of Rumination.

Background: The Russo-Ukrainian War has resulted in massive social, economic, and psychological burdens worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the associations between time spent on the war-related news and psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the mediating effects of rumination on the associations in people residing in Poland and Ukraine. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 1438 internet users in Poland and Ukraine, and collected data on levels of rumination, psychological distress, and the amount of time spent on and sources of the news of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping methods was used to evaluate the mediation effect. Multivariate linear regression was used to identify predictive effect of the source of the war-related news on psychological distress and rumination. Results: The results showed a mediating effect of rumination on the association between the amount of time spent on the war-related news and psychological distress among participants in Poland (ß = 0.16, p < 0.001) and Ukraine (ß = 0.15, p < 0.001). Approaching the news from television was associated with rumination (ß = 0.607, p < 0.001) and PTSD symptoms in Poland (ß = 2.475, p = 0.009), while approaching news from the internet was associated with rumination in Poland (ß = 0.616, p = 0.001). Conclusion: The study identified the mediating effect of rumination and the associations of approaching the war-related news from television and the internet with mental health.

Association between mental health, psychological characteristics, and motivational functions of volunteerism among Polish and Ukrainian volunteers during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

The Russo-Ukrainian War has led to a humanitarian crisis, and many people volunteered to help affected refugees. This cross-sectional survey study investigates the relationships between the psychological impact of participation, coping mechanisms, and motivational functions of volunteering during the Russo-Ukrainian War among 285 Ukrainian and 435 Polish volunteers (N = 720). Multivariate linear regression was used to examine relationships between motivational functions and psychosocial and demographic characteristics. Ukrainian volunteers reported significantly higher Hyperarousal and Avoidance, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress, Problem-focused, Emotion-focused, and Avoidant coping, as well as total scores of Hardiness and Psychological Capital than Polish counterparts. Linear regression analysis found that Impact of the Event Scale results, Coping with Stress, being a female, unemployed, and religious were significantly associated with higher motivational functions. Ukrainian volunteers could significantly reduce negative feelings and strengthen social networks and religious faith by volunteering, while Polish volunteers were significantly more likely to gain skills and psychosocial development from helping others.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORK CHARACTERISTICS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION MANAGERS AND EMPLOYEES.

OBJECTIVE: Aim: To empirically investigate the relationship between work characteristics and subjective well-being of managers and employees in educational organizations. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and Methods: Analysis of work characteristics was done using The Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ). The modified BBC Subjective Well-being scale (BBC-SWB) was used to analyze educational staff's well-being. The research data were processed using mathematical statistics: descriptive statistics (mean, std. deviation), Pearson correlation, and independent samples t-test. 345 respondents from the Central region of Ukraine participated in the survey. RESULTS: Results: Although educational staff had a generally positive assessment of work characteristics, there were certain disproportions in their assessments of individual work characteristics: work autonomy characteristics were rated lower than task characteristics, while social characteristics and work context characteristics were rated lower than knowledge characteristics. In addition, educational organization managers rated the vast majority of work characteristics higher than employees, which suggests a more favorable organizational environment for managers than employees. There were three work characteristics groups in the context of their associations with staff's subjective well-being: 1) work characteristics that had a positive statically significant relationship with both managers and employees' subjective well-being indicators; 2) work characteristics that had positive and negative statistically significant relationships with employees' subjective well-being indicators; 3) work characteristics that had positive and negative statistically significant relationships with managers' subjective well-being indicators. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The obtained findings may be helpful for managers and employees of educational organizations in promoting staff's subjective well-being and increasing educational organizations' effectiveness.

Rumination about the Russo-Ukrainian War and its related factors among individuals in Poland and Ukraine.

The present study aimed to investigate the factors associated with the level of rumination about the war among people living in Poland and Ukraine. This cross-sectional study recruited internet users from advertisements on social media. Levels of rumination, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), time spent on news of the war, and related demographic variables were collected. The reliability and construct validity of rumination were estimated. Potential factors associated with the level of rumination were identified using univariate linear regression analysis, and further entered into a stepwise multivariate linear regression model to identify independent factors. Due to the non-normality of distribution, multivariate linear regression with 5000 bootstrap samples was used to verify the results. A total of 1438 participants were included in the analysis, of whom 1053 lived in Poland and 385 lived in Ukraine. The questionnaires on rumination were verified to have satisfactory reliability and validity. After analysis with stepwise and bootstrap regression, older age, female gender, higher DASS and IES-R scores, and longer time spent on news of the war were significantly associated with higher levels of rumination for both people living in Poland and Ukraine. Lower self-rated health status, history of chronic medical illness and coronavirus disease 2019 infection were also positively associated with rumination for people living in Poland. We identified several factors associated with the level of rumination about the Russo-Ukrainian War. Further investigations are warranted to understand how rumination affects individuals' lives during crises such as war.

Associations between coping strategies and psychological distress among people living in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan during the initial stage of the 2022 War in Ukraine.

Background: The 2022 War in Ukraine has significantly affected the psychological well-being and daily lives of people in many countries.Objective: Two aims of this transnational study were (1) to compare psychological distress and coping strategies among people living in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan, (2) to examine whether the associations between various coping strategies (ie. problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and avoidance) and psychological distress (ie. depression, anxiety, stress, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and hopelessness about the ongoing war) differed among people of various countries during the initial stage of the 2022 War in Ukraine.Method: In total, 1,598 participants (362 from Ukraine, 1,051 from Poland, and 185 from Taiwan) were recruited using an online advertisement to complete online survey questionnaires, including the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced inventory; the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale; the Impact of Event Scale-Revised; and a questionnaire devised to assess the level of hopelessness about the ongoing war.Results: Psychological distress and adoption of coping strategies differed across people of various countries. Among Taiwanese and Polish respondents, avoidant coping strategies were most strongly associated with all categories of psychological distress compared with problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies. However, the associations of various coping strategies with psychological distress differed to a less extent among Ukrainian respondents. In addition, problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies had comparable associations with psychological distress among the people of Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan.Conclusions: The 2022 War in Ukraine has affected the psychological well-being of people, especially the Ukrainians. Because of the strong association between the adoption of avoidance coping strategies and psychological distress, despite a less extent among Ukrainian respondents, adaptive coping strategies such as (problem- and emotion-focused) are suggested to help people during times of war.

The 2022 War in Ukraine affected the psychological well-being in Ukraine and elsewhere.Compared with problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies, avoidant coping strategies had stronger association with psychological distress, but it varied among different cultures.

Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress during the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war, a comparison between populations in Poland, Ukraine, and Taiwan.

Ukraine has been embroiled in an increasing war since February 2022. In addition to Ukrainians, the Russo-Ukraine war has affected Poles due to the refugee crisis and the Taiwanese, who are facing a potential crisis with China. We examined the mental health status and associated factors in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan. The data will be used for future reference as the war is still ongoing. From March 8 to April 26, 2022, we conducted an online survey using snowball sampling techniques in Ukraine, Poland, and Taiwan. Depression, anxiety, and stress were measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress (DASS)-21 item scale; post-traumatic stress symptoms by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and coping strategies by the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (Brief-COPE). We used multivariate linear regression to identify factors significantly associated with DASS-21 and IES-R scores. There were 1626 participants (Poland: 1053; Ukraine: 385; Taiwan: 188) in this study. Ukrainian participants reported significantly higher DASS-21 (p < 0.001) and IES-R (p < 0.01) scores than Poles and Taiwanese. Although Taiwanese participants were not directly involved in the war, their mean IES-R scores (40.37 ± 16.86) were only slightly lower than Ukrainian participants (41.36 ± 14.94). Taiwanese reported significantly higher avoidance scores (1.60 ± 0.47) than the Polish (0.87 ± 0.53) and Ukrainian (0.91 ± 0.5) participants (p < 0.001). More than half of the Taiwanese (54.3%) and Polish (80.3%) participants were distressed by the war scenes in the media. More than half (52.5%) of the Ukrainian participants would not seek psychological help despite a significantly higher prevalence of psychological distress. Multivariate linear regression analyses found that female gender, Ukrainian and Polish citizenship, household size, self-rating health status, past psychiatric history, and avoidance coping were significantly associated with higher DASS-21 and IES-R scores after adjustment of other variables (p < 0.05). We have identified mental health sequelae in Ukrainian, Poles, and Taiwanese with the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war. Risk factors associated with developing depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress symptoms include female gender, self-rating health status, past psychiatric history, and avoidance coping. Early resolution of the conflict, online mental health interventions, delivery of psychotropic medications, and distraction techniques may help to improve the mental health of people who stay inside and outside Ukraine.

STUDY ON SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING OF DIFFERENT GROUPS OF POPULATION DURING THE 2022 WAR IN UKRAINE.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To explore the peculiarities of subjective well-being (psychological well-being, physical health and well-being, relationships) and total well-being of the population during the 2022 war in Ukraine. To analyze the differences in subjective well-being of different population groups during the 2022 war in Ukraine according to the socio-demographic (gender, age, marital status) and socio-professional (social sphere of the work, position) characteristics and place of residence and security (territorial location and security level). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: Subjective well-being was studied using the modified BBC Subjective Well-being scale (BBC-SWB). A specially designed questionnaire was used to study the characteristics of the population. The study was conducted in May 2022. 344 respondents from Central region (Kyiv and Dnipro cities, Kyiv region) of Ukraine participated in the survey using a Google Form. RESULTS: Results: The population's subjective well-being the during the 2022 war in Ukraine was found to be at a moderate level. The differences in subjective well-being between the population groups (differentiated by their socio-demographic, socio-professional characteristics and characteristics of the place of residence and safety) were found. The most striking differences can be seen between the groups that differed by such criteria as gender, age, and place of residence during the war. The greatest differences were observed in the 'psychological well-being' and 'physical health and well-being' subscales, while the least differences in the 'relationships' subscale. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The research findings can be helpful for local governments, social services, volunteer organizations, and psychological centers, as well as the described categories of the population in increasing the subjective well-being of the population in conditions of the 2022 war in Ukraine.

MENTAL HEALTH OF TEACHERS IN UKRAINIAN EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To research the indicators of teachers' mental health in a destabilizing organization of professional activities. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The study was conducted at the Poltava M. V. Ostrogradsky Regional Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education, Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University, Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central State Pedagogical University and Poltava State Medical University in 2018-2020. The sample size of 1817 respondents (Ukraine) included 388 men and 1429 women aged 20 to 57 years. The following methods were used: "Scale of threats to occupational health" (Dziuba, 2015) and "Scale of subjective well-being" (Sokolova, 2007) adapted by T. Dziuba. The study used mathematical and statistical analysis (descriptive statistics, correlation analysis) using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 21.0). RESULTS: Results: It was found that an unstable level of emotional comfort is dominant (57.2%). This is shown by the following indicators: "self-assessment of mental health" 61.0%, "tension and sensitivity" 54.3% and "signs of psychiatric symptoms" 53.0%. Correlation analysis revealed a significant negative impact of the threat factors "daily and weekly overtime" (p <0.01) and "overwork" (p <0.01) on mental health. There is an increase in emotional discomfort in a situation of daily and weekly overtime and overwork. There is a positive correlation between the teachers' mental health and the indicator "significance of the professional environment" (p <0.01). CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The study showed that teachers' mental health in Ukrainian educational organizations is characterized by unstable emotional comfort and increased emotional discomfort, which is a consequence of unbalanced (destabilizing) working conditions: overwork, overtime. The obtained data motivates the need to conduct targete psychotherapeutic and corrective work with teachers who demonstrate professional distress.