In a worldwide study led by Harvard University, which included Üsküdar Üniversitesi, the psychological effects of COVID-19 were examined. According to the research, whose results were published in "Nature Human Behaviour," one of the esteemed journals of the scientific world, how people shape their thoughts about the pandemic affects the emotional consequences of COVID-19.
Associate Professor Dr. Asil Özdoğru, Üsküdar Üniversitesi coordinator of the research and Head of the English Psychology Department, provided the following information about the study: “Within the scope of the study coordinated by the research network called Psychology Science Accelerator, an online survey experiment was administered to over 21,000 participants from 87 countries, including Turkey. Researchers from 12 Turkish universities, including our university, took part in the study, which included 694 participants from our country. Participants who responded to the survey between May and October 2020 were shown photographs related to the pandemic. While participants randomly divided into experimental and control groups, those in the experimental group were taught cognitive reappraisal techniques such as changing perspective quickly and focusing on the positive, those in the control group were not taught these techniques. When the emotional responses of the participants to the photographs were examined, it was observed that the experimental group gave fewer negative and more positive emotional responses. These findings also indicate that the emotional and psychological resilience of patients and healthcare workers adversely affected by the pandemic can be improved with ‘rapid, low-cost, and scalable strategies’ like these.”
The article published in the journal and Harvard University's news about the topic can be accessed from the following links.
Article: A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x
News: Study across 87 countries shows simple intervention helps build emotional resilience during COVID-19
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/health/study-helping-people-rethink-their-response-covid-19-can-lead