Vladimir Maizus
Bibliographic details:
Chasson, M., Taubman-Ben-Ari, O., & Abu-Sharkia, S. (2021). Jewish and Arab pregnant women’s psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: the contribution of personal resources. Ethnicity & Health, 26(1), 139-151.
Abstract:
Objective: The study sought to examine the psychological distress of Israeli pregnant women during the worldwide spread of COVID-19. As Israel has a diverse cultural-religious population, the sample included both Jewish and Arab women, allowing us to explore the differences between them. Furthermore, we examined the contribution of personal resources, both internal (self-mastery and resilience) and external (perceived social support), as well as the level of infection-related anxiety to the women’s psychological distress.
Method: A convenience sample of 403 Israeli women (233 Jewish and 170 Arab) was recruited through social media.
Results: Arab women reported significantly higher infection-related anxiety and psychological distress than Jewish women. In addition, Jewish women reported significantly higher self-mastery than Arab pregnant women. Finally, poorer health, being an Arab woman, and lower levels of self-mastery, resilience, and perceived social support, as well as a higher level of infection-related anxiety, contributed significantly to greater psychological distress.
Conclusions: The findings show that pregnant women in general may be at risk of psychological distress in times of crisis, and that minority populations in particular may be at greater risk than others. Moreover, the results highlight the contribution of women’s personal and environmental resources in the face of crisis, an understanding that may be used in targeted interventions to reduce distress in vulnerable populations.
Bibliographic details:
Taubman–Ben-Ari, O., Chasson, M., Abu Sharkia, S., & Weiss, E. (2020). Distress and anxiety associated with COVID-19 among Jewish and Arab pregnant women in Israel. Journal of reproductive and infant psychology, 38(3), 340-348.
Abstract:
Introduction: The fact that little is yet known about the possible implications of COVID-19 for pregnancy, puts pregnant women at greater risk of heightened anxiety and psychological distress. In this study, we sought to explore the psychological distress and COVID-19-related anxiety of pregnant women during the crisis.
Methods: Israeli Jewish and Arab pregnant women (n = 336) aged 20–47 completed a set of questionnaires during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Results: The levels of all COVID-19-related anxieties were quite high (much or very much), with the highest regarding public places and transportation (87.5%, 70%, respectively), followed by concerns over the possible infection of other family members and the health of the foetus (71.7%, 70%, respectively), going for pregnancy check-ups (68.7%,), being infected themselves, and the delivery (59.2%, 55.4%, respectively). Although COVID-19-related anxieties were shared by pregnant women characterised by diverse sociodemographic variables, with very small nuances, Arab women were more anxious about each of the issues than Jewish women.
Discussion: Our findings highlight the importance of assessing anxiety and distress in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the need to be attentive to the double stress of pregnant women in times of crisis and to the potential vulnerability of subgroups, such as cultural minorities.
Bibliographic details:
Taubman–Ben‐Ari, O., Chasson, M., & Abu‐Sharkia, S. (2020). Childbirth anxieties in the shadow of COVID‐19: Self‐compassion and social support among Jewish and Arab pregnant women in Israel. Health & Social Care in the Community.
Abstract:
The study examined two angles of childbirth anxieties of Jewish and Arab pregnant women in Israel during the COVID‐19 pandemic (March‐April, 2020). Specifically, we examined the contribution of personal resources: self‐compassion and perceived social support, as well as a couple of COVID‐19‐related fears of being infected and concern for the foetus, to both the woman's global fear of childbirth (FOC) and her COVID‐19‐related childbirth anxiety. Participants were Jewish and Arab pregnant women (n = 403) aged 20–47, who completed a set of structured self‐report questionnaires from 18 March to 9 April 2020. Findings indicated that Arab women reported higher level of COVID‐19‐related childbirth anxiety and COVID‐19‐related fears of being infected and concern for the foetus. In addition, poorer health, being an Arab woman, being in the third trimester, lower self‐compassion, and higher COVID‐19‐related fears contributed significantly to greater COVID‐19‐related childbirth anxiety. Furthermore, poorer health, being primiparous, at‐risk pregnancy, lower self‐compassion and higher fear of being infected contributed significantly to greater FOC. Importantly, social support was found to moderate the association between self‐compassion and FOC. The results highlight the need to be attentive to pregnant women in times of crisis, and in particular to especially vulnerable subgroups, such as cultural minorities. They also highlight the importance of personal resources that may be applied in targeted interventions to reduce distress in vulnerable populations.
Bibliographic details:
Ben-Yaakov, O., & Ben-Ari, O. T. (2021). COVID-19-Related anxieties and parenting stress among first-time mothers and fathers in their first year of parenthood. Psychology & Health, 1-15.
Abstract:
Introduction: The changes accompanying the transition to parenthood, joined by the fears aroused by the COVID-19 pandemic, may lead to high levels of parental anxieties and stress, particularly among parents of young infants. This study, conducted in the midst of the crisis, explores the level of COVID-19-related anxieties and parenting stress of Israeli parents in their first year of parenthood.
Methods: First-time mothers (n = 469) and fathers (n = 137), aged 21-50, completed self-report questionnaires in April, 2020. They were divided into two groups: parents of younger infants (aged 3-6 months); parents of older infants (aged 7-12 months).
Results: The levels of all COVID-19-related anxieties were quite high, with the greatest concern aroused by public transportation and public places, followed by concerns over the possible infection of family members and the infant, going for infant check-ups, getting the virus themselves, and the health of the infant. In both groups, mothers reported higher COVID-19-related anxieties than fathers. Fathers of older infants reported higher parenting stress than mothers.
Discussion: The results highlight the need to be attentive to the double stress of new parents in the first year of parenthood in a time of crisis, and to the potentially greater vulnerability of fathers of older infants.
Bibliographic details:
Gesser-Edelsburg, A., & Hijazi, R. (2020). When Politics Meets Pandemic: How Prime Minister Netanyahu and a Small Team Communicated Health and Risk Information to the Israeli Public During the Early Stages of COVID-19. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 13, 2985.
Abstract:
Background: The coronavirus brought the world’s leaders to the center of the media stage, where they not only managed the COVID-19 pandemic but also communicated it to the public. The means they used to communicate the global pandemic reveal their strategies and the narratives they chose to create in their nation’s social consciousness. In Israel, the crisis broke out after three election cycles, such that the government in charge of the crisis was an interim government under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was operating under three criminal indictments. This study sought to examine the ways in which Prime Minister Netanyahu and two senior Israel Ministry of Health officials—Director General Moshe Bar Siman Tov and Prof. Sigal Sadetsky, Head of Public Health Services —communicated information about the health crisis in Israel during what has been termed the first wave and the beginning of the second wave.
Methods and Sample: The research adopted qualitative methods (discourse, content and thematic analysis) to analyze the communication strategies and compare them to health and risk communication. Triangulated data collection from different data sources was used to increase the credibility and validity of the results. The research sample comprised the following sources from March 3 through June 21, 2020: transcripts of 19 press conferences and 12 press interviews, 95 emergency regulations signed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, and 52 articles in major Israeli newspapers.
Results: Netanyahu and the Health Ministry Director General used an apocalyptic narrative to communicate COVID-19 to the public. The main strategies used in constructing this narrative were intimidation, lack of information transparency, giving the public conflicting instructions contrary to the health and risk communicating approach, and using a health crisis to promote political intentions and actions.
Conclusion: Communicating health crises to the public, particularly ongoing crises like COVID-19, requires that leaders implement the health and risk communication approach and create a cooperative narrative that does not rely on a strategy of intimidation, but rather on empathy and on fact-based and transparent information.
Bibliographic details:
Lazarus, J. V., Ratzan, S., Palayew, A., Billari, F. C., Binagwaho, A., Kimball, S., ... & El-Mohandes, A. (2020). COVID-SCORE: A global survey to assess public perceptions of government responses to COVID-19 (COVID-SCORE-10). PloS one, 15(10), e0240011.
Abstract:
Background Understanding public perceptions of government responses to COVID-19 may foster improved public cooperation. Trust in government and population risk of exposure may influence public perception of the response. Other population-level characteristics, such as country socio-economic development, COVID-19 morbidity and mortality, and degree of democratic government, may influence perception.
Methods and findings We developed a novel ten-item instrument that asks respondents to rate key aspects of their government’s response to the pandemic (COVID-SCORE). We examined whether the results varied by gender, age group, education level, and monthly income. We also examined the internal and external validity of the index using appropriate predefined variables. To test for dimensionality of the results, we used a principal component analysis (PCA) for the ten survey items. We found that Cronbach’s alpha was 0.92 and that the first component of the PCA explained 60% of variance with the remaining factors having eigenvalues below 1, strongly indicating that the tool is both reliable and unidimensional. Based on responses from 13,426 people randomly selected from the general population in 19 countries, the mean national scores ranged from 35.76 (Ecuador) to 80.48 (China) out of a maximum of 100 points. Heterogeneity in responses was observed across age, gender, education and income with the greatest amount of heterogeneity observed between countries. National scores correlated with respondents’ reported levels of trust in government and with country-level COVID-19 mortality rates.
Conclusions The COVID-SCORE survey instrument demonstrated satisfactory validity. It may help governments more effectively engage constituents in current and future efforts to control COVID-19. Additional country-specific assessment should be undertaken to measure trends over time and the public perceptions of key aspects of government responses in other countries.
Bibliographic details:
Wong, C. M. L., & Jensen, O. (2020). The paradox of trust: perceived risk and public compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. Journal of Risk Research, 1-10.
Abstract:
Public trust in the authorities has been recognised in risk research as a crucial component of effective and efficient risk management. But in a pandemic, where the primary responsibility of risk management is not centralised within institutional actors but defused across society, trust can become a double-edged sword. Under these conditions, public trust based on a perception of government competence, care and openness may in fact lead people to underestimate risks and thus reduce their belief in the need to take individual action to control the risks. In this paper, we examine the interaction between trust in government, risk perceptions and public compliance in Singapore in the period between January and April 2020. Using social media tracking and online focus group discussions, we present a preliminary assessment of public responses to government risk communication and risk management measures. We highlight the unique deployment of risk communication in Singapore based on the narrative of ‘defensive pessimism’ to heighten rather than lower levels perceived risk. But the persistence of low public risk perceptions and concomitant low levels of compliance with government risk management measures bring to light the paradox of trust. This calls for further reflection on another dimension of trust which focuses on the role of the public; and further investigation into other social and cultural factors that may have stronger influence over individual belief in the need to take personal actions to control the risks.
Bibliographic details:
You, J. (2020). Lessons from South Korea’s Covid-19 policy response. The American Review of Public Administration, 50(6-7), 801-808.
Abstract:
In responding to the Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, some government policies have been more effective in containing, suppressing, and mitigating the disease than others. Government leaders and public administrators can learn from other countries and adapt these lessons to their crisis management and public health systems. South Korea has emerged as a model to emulate in fighting the pandemic. While South Korea endured devastating early outbreaks, the country flattened the coronavirus curve without paralyzing the national health and economic systems. The author reviews South Korea’s public health policy approaches and the embedded context, by using documents and materials written in Korean and English, to learn how the country managed coronavirus from January through April 2020. The critical factors in South Korea’s public health administration and management that led to success include national infectious disease plans, collaboration with the private sector, stringent contact tracing, an adaptive health care system, and government-driven communication. This article also proposes some key aspects to be considered to transfer lessons from country-level responses in South Korea to other contexts.
Bibliographic details:
Dunlop, Claire A., Edoardo Ongaro, and Keith Baker. "Researching COVID-19: A research agenda for public policy and administration scholars." Public Policy and Administration 35.4 (2020): 365-383.
Abstract:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) is one of the defining policy challenges of an era. In this article, we sketch some possible ways in which the public policy and administration community can make an enduring contribution about how to cope with this terrible crisis. We do so by offering some elements that delineate a tentative research agenda for public policy and administration scholars, to be pursued with epistemic humility. We outline the contours of seven analytical themes that are central to the challenges presented by COVID-19: policy design and instruments, policy learning, public service and its publics, organisational capacity, public governance, administrative traditions and public sector reforms in multi-level governance (MLG). The list is neither exhaustive nor exclusive to COVID-19. The knowledge we can generate must speak not only to the daunting challenge of COVID-19 itself but also to policymakers, and indeed humankind, trying to cope with future unexpected but high impact threats, by leveraging better public policies and building administrative capacities to enable more resilient, equitable and effective public services.
Bibliographic details:
Schwartz Pourrabbani Marla (2020). 15 years after Katrina: The tale of a changing risk landscape. Swiss Reinsurance Company
Abstract:
Though New Orleans’ hurricane exposure and vulnerability have changed since Katrina, hurricane wind and storm surge continue to present a key risk to the Gulf Coast region, despite extensive mitigation efforts. Reviews of historical natural hazards, such as this one, are crucial for understanding today’s risk and for validating probabilistic catastrophe loss modelling and related assessments.
The sample scenarios in this report illustrate how the risk landscape has changed in the last 15 years due to changing hazard, exposure and protection factors. It is crucial to consider such factors when evaluating the current risk landscape or in any modelling exercise at the local level. Additionally, the scenarios here demonstrate the effectiveness of natural-hazard mitigation efforts and flood defences, as well as the role of re/insurance in enabling resilience.
From the article:
If Hurricane Katrina were to hit the US in 2020 with the same wind and storm surge as 2005, but with current exposure information and updated flood protection and vulnerability assumptions, the privately insured losses in the US alone could rise to 60bn (excluding offshore losses in the Gulf of Mexico or losses to the NFIP). This is true, despite the city currently only having 80% of the population it did in 2005. The total economic toll from such an event could likely exceed USD 175bn. These figures illustrate that despite New Orleans’ lower population and strengthened flood protection system, economic losses from natural hazards like Katrina are expected to continue to increase.