. 2021 Apr 14:12:640955.

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.640955. eCollection 2021.

Illness Perceptions of COVID-19 in Europe: Predictors, Impacts and Temporal Evolution

David Dias Neto^{1

2}, Ana Nunes da Silva³, Magda Sofia Roberto³, Jelena Lubenko⁴, Marios Constantinou⁵, Christiana Nicolaou⁶, Demetris Lamnisos⁷, Savvas Papacostas⁸, Stefan Höfer⁹, Giovambattista Presti¹⁰, Valeria Squatrito¹¹, Vasilis S Vasiliou¹², Louise McHugh¹³, Jean-Louis Monestès¹⁴, Adriana Baban¹⁵, Javier Alvarez-Galvez¹⁶, Marisa Paez-Blarrina¹⁷, Francisco Montesinos¹⁸, Sonsoles Valdivia-Salas¹⁹, Dorottya Ori²⁰, Raimo Lappalainen²¹, Bartosz Kleszcz²², Andrew Gloster²³, Maria Karekla²⁴, Angelos P Kassianos^{24

25}

Affiliations

¹ ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Lisboa, Portugal.
² Applied Psychology Research Center Capabilities & Inclusion, Lisboa, Portugal.
³ Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
⁴ Psychological Laboratory, Faculty of Public Health and Social Welfare, Riga Stradiṇš University, Riga, Latvia.
⁵ Department of Social Sciences (Cyprus), School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁶ Department of Nursing (Cyprus), Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.
⁷ Department of Health Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁸ The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, The University of Nicosia Medical School, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁹ Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
¹⁰ Department of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University Behavioral Lab (KUBeLab), Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy.
¹¹ Kore University Behavioral Lab (KUBeLab), Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy.
¹² School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
¹³ School of Psychology (Ireland), University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
¹⁴ LIP/PC2S, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
¹⁵ Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
¹⁶ Department of Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Public Health, University of Cadiz, Cádiz, Spain.
¹⁷ Instituto ACT, Madrid, Spain.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, European University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
¹⁹ Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
²⁰ Vadaskert Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital, Budapest, Hungary.
²¹ Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
²² Private Practice, Warsaw, Poland.
²³ Division of Clinical Psychology & Intervention Science, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
²⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
²⁵ Department of Applied Health Research, University College London (UCL), London, United Kingdom.

PMID: 33935893
PMCID: PMC8079952
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.640955

Illness Perceptions of COVID-19 in Europe: Predictors, Impacts and Temporal Evolution

David Dias Neto et al. Front Psychol. 2021.

. 2021 Apr 14:12:640955.

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.640955. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Lisboa, Portugal.
² Applied Psychology Research Center Capabilities & Inclusion, Lisboa, Portugal.
³ Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
⁴ Psychological Laboratory, Faculty of Public Health and Social Welfare, Riga Stradiṇš University, Riga, Latvia.
⁵ Department of Social Sciences (Cyprus), School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁶ Department of Nursing (Cyprus), Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.
⁷ Department of Health Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁸ The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, The University of Nicosia Medical School, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁹ Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
¹⁰ Department of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University Behavioral Lab (KUBeLab), Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy.
¹¹ Kore University Behavioral Lab (KUBeLab), Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy.
¹² School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
¹³ School of Psychology (Ireland), University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
¹⁴ LIP/PC2S, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
¹⁵ Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
¹⁶ Department of Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Public Health, University of Cadiz, Cádiz, Spain.
¹⁷ Instituto ACT, Madrid, Spain.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, European University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
¹⁹ Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
²⁰ Vadaskert Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital, Budapest, Hungary.
²¹ Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
²² Private Practice, Warsaw, Poland.
²³ Division of Clinical Psychology & Intervention Science, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
²⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
²⁵ Department of Applied Health Research, University College London (UCL), London, United Kingdom.

PMID: 33935893
PMCID: PMC8079952
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.640955

Erratum in

Corrigendum: Illness perceptions of COVID-19 in Europe: predictors, impacts and temporal evolution.
Dias Neto D, Nunes da Silva A, Roberto MS, Lubenko J, Constantinou M, Nicolaou C, Lamnisos D, Papacostas S, Höfer S, Presti G, Squatrito V, Vasiliou VS, McHugh L, Monestès JL, Baban A, Alvarez-Galvez J, Paez-Blarrina M, Montesinos F, Valdivia-Salas S, Ori D, Lappalainen R, Kleszcz B, Gloster A, Karekla M, Kassianos AP. Dias Neto D, et al. Front Psychol. 2023 Jun 13;14:1227506. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1227506. eCollection 2023. Front Psychol. 2023. PMID: 37384172 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Objective: Illness perceptions (IP) are important predictors of emotional and behavioral responses in many diseases. The current study aims to investigate the COVID-19-related IP throughout Europe. The specific goals are to understand the temporal development, identify predictors (within demographics and contact with COVID-19) and examine the impacts of IP on perceived stress and preventive behaviors. Methods: This was a time-series-cross-section study of 7,032 participants from 16 European countries using multilevel modeling from April to June 2020. IP were measured with the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Temporal patterns were observed considering the date of participation and the date recoded to account the epidemiological evolution of each country. The outcomes considered were perceived stress and COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Results: There were significant trends, over time, for several IP, suggesting a small decrease in negativity in the perception of COVID-19 in the community. Age, gender, and education level related to some, but not all, IP. Considering the self-regulation model, perceptions consistently predicted general stress and were less consistently related to preventive behaviors. Country showed no effect in the predictive model, suggesting that national differences may have little relevance for IP, in this context. Conclusion: The present study provides a comprehensive picture of COVID-19 IP in Europe in an early stage of the pandemic. The results shed light on the process of IP formation with implications for health-related outcomes and their evolution.

Keywords: COVID-19; common sense model; illness perceptions; illness representations; stress.

Copyright © 2021 Dias Neto, Nunes da Silva, Roberto, Lubenko, Constantinou, Nicolaou, Lamnisos, Papacostas, Höfer, Presti, Squatrito, Vasiliou, McHugh, Monestès, Baban, Alvarez-Galvez, Paez-Blarrina, Montesinos, Valdivia-Salas, Ori, Lappalainen, Kleszcz, Gloster, Karekla and Kassianos.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Common-sense model of self-regulation. Adapted from Diefenbach and Leventhal (1996).

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Illness Perceptions of COVID-19 in Europe: Predictors, Impacts and Temporal Evolution

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Illness Perceptions of COVID-19 in Europe: Predictors, Impacts and Temporal Evolution

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