Psychological distress of COVID-19: using a positive psychology approach for mental health promotion in the general population

ABSTRACT Τhe present study aimed to generate evidence on the role of core elements of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) such as empathy, resilience, gratitude and hope in mitigating the psychological distress of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (N = 203) were recruited from the island of Ireland (mean age = 37.7 years, ± 13.2) and completed an online questionnaire including measures of resilience, hope, gratitude, empathy, depression, stress, anxiety and the subjective distress of COVID-19. A four-step hierarchical regression model was applied. Resilience showed positive significant correlations with gratitude, hope and empathy. Age, gender, presence/absence of a chronic health condition (CHC) and country of residence were not predictors of the subjective distress of COVID-19. Resilience and empathy were a negative and a positive predictor of the subjective distress respectively, while gratitude and hope had no predictive value in this model. Upon adding depression, stress and anxiety, the explained variance in scores of the distress of COVID-19 increased considerably from 16% to 55%. Individuals who experience higher levels of depression and anxiety without necessarily the presence of a CHC and regardless of age, gender, and country of residence, may be more susceptible to experience the subjective distress of COVID-19. These findings can be used to inform the design and delivery of PPIs either as a public health prevention measure or as a treatment programme within a broader context of a public mental health promotion strategy to tackle the psychological impact of this pandemic in adults of the general population.