Open AccessThe role of emotional competencies in psychological responding to COVID-19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Ana Kozina,
Maša Vidmar,
Manja Veldin,
Tina Pivec,
Igor Peras
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
psihologija
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1451-9283
pISSN - 0048-5705
DOI - 10.2298/psi200723006k
Subject(s) - psychology , mindfulness , anxiety , psychological intervention , meditation , clinical psychology , covid-19 , emotional exhaustion , pandemic , burnout , psychiatry , medicine , philosophy , theology , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
With stress related to the COVID?19 pandemic, an increase in anxiety and a decrease in overall mental well-being is expected. We investigated the role of emotional competencies (mindfulness and emotional self-efficacy) for psychological responding (mental well-being, general anxiety, and COVID?19 anxiety) during the COVID?19 pandemic. We also examined whether practising mindfulness with inner (meditation-based) and body (yoga-based) exercises supports emotional competencies. Our sample consisted of 364 participants (83.5% females, M = 37.21 years, SD = 12.92 years). Findings showed that emotional competencies are a viable source of support in psychological responses to COVID?19, with Emotional self-efficacy and Accept without judgement playing the strongest roles. Moreover, practising mindfulness was shown to foster several aspects of emotional competencies (i.e., Observe, Describe, and Emotional self-efficacy). There is an ambiguous finding regarding Observe scale that was also found problematic in other studies. The implications for possible interventions are discussed.