Information seeking and health anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of catastrophic cognitions.
Clin Psychol Psychother
; 28(6): 1379-1390, 2021 Nov.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34734452
Cognitive-behavioural models of health anxiety propose a positive association between information seeking and health anxiety; however, it is unclear the extent to which cognitive mechanisms may mediate this relationship. Catastrophic cognitions are one type of cognition that may mediate this relationship, and the COVID-19 pandemic has presented an opportunity to examine these relationships within the context of a global health catastrophe. The current study investigated both cross-sectional (N = 797) and longitudinal (n = 395) relationships between information seeking, health anxiety and catastrophizing during the pandemic. Data were collected using Amazon Mechanical Turk during April and May 2020. Information seeking and health anxiety were positively associated both cross-sectionally and longitudinally (rs = .25-.29). Catastrophic cognitions significantly mediated the relationship between information seeking and health anxiety both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Developing effective methods of reducing information seeking and catastrophizing may serve to reduce health anxiety during global health crises such as the current pandemic.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Pandemias
/
COVID-19
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article