PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DURING THE COVID – 19 PANDEMIC: BULGARIAN PERSPECTIVE

Nowadays our global society faces big challenges and threats in the times of the first major pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced governments to impose the lock-down policies around the world. Social isolation became a new normal form of living. After the first confirmed case on the 8th of...

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Main Author: Zornitza P. Mladenova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Scientific Publishing House. NSA Press 2021-07-01
Series:Journal of Applied Sports Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.nsa.bg/pdf/vol1_2021/8%20PSYCHOLOGICAL%20RESPONSES,%20COPING%20STRATEGIES,%20AND%20PHYSICAL%20ACTIVITY%20DURING%20THE%20COVID%2019%20PANDEMIC%20BULGARIAN%20PERSPECTIVE.pdf
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author Zornitza P. Mladenova
author_facet Zornitza P. Mladenova
author_sort Zornitza P. Mladenova
collection DOAJ
description Nowadays our global society faces big challenges and threats in the times of the first major pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced governments to impose the lock-down policies around the world. Social isolation became a new normal form of living. After the first confirmed case on the 8th of March in Bulgaria, the government announced on the 14th of March the lock-down as a preventive strategy for the whole Bulgarian population. Under such circumstances, the big issue became the question of how to maintain the physical and mental health of people, and how to cope with the new reality. Based on this evidence the aim of the joint research study with Ohio State University, USA, entitled “Psychological Responses, Coping Strategies, and Physical Activity during the COVID – 19 Pandemic” has been proposed from the Bulgarian perspective as follows: 1. Investigate psychological responses, coping strategies, and physical activity during the COVID – 19 lock-down periods. 2. Examine the influence of physical activity as a coping strategy in psychological health and overall well-being during social isolation. To this end, an online questionnaire containing an adapted version of the short-form of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) has been used to assess the practiced level of physical activity and Metabolic Equivalents (MET) energy expenditure, PROMIS Item Bank v1.0 Emotional distress-Anxiety, Herth Hope Index (HHI) (Herth, 1992), and Brief Resilient Coping Scale BRCS (Sinclaire, Wallston, 2004) to evaluate psychological well-being during the social isolation. Evidence suggests that regular participation in physical activity helps decrease overall levels of anxiety and depression as a reliable coping strategy to overcome the social isolation and, as a whole, the negative aspects of lock-down.
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spelling doaj.art-505b5c42ce604aa494e378f0fd43b6612023-01-02T16:06:53ZengScientific Publishing House. NSA PressJournal of Applied Sports Sciences2534-95972535-01452021-07-01120219310510.37393/JASS.2021.01.8PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DURING THE COVID – 19 PANDEMIC: BULGARIAN PERSPECTIVEZornitza P. Mladenova0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1776-4600The Foundation for Global Community HealthNowadays our global society faces big challenges and threats in the times of the first major pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced governments to impose the lock-down policies around the world. Social isolation became a new normal form of living. After the first confirmed case on the 8th of March in Bulgaria, the government announced on the 14th of March the lock-down as a preventive strategy for the whole Bulgarian population. Under such circumstances, the big issue became the question of how to maintain the physical and mental health of people, and how to cope with the new reality. Based on this evidence the aim of the joint research study with Ohio State University, USA, entitled “Psychological Responses, Coping Strategies, and Physical Activity during the COVID – 19 Pandemic” has been proposed from the Bulgarian perspective as follows: 1. Investigate psychological responses, coping strategies, and physical activity during the COVID – 19 lock-down periods. 2. Examine the influence of physical activity as a coping strategy in psychological health and overall well-being during social isolation. To this end, an online questionnaire containing an adapted version of the short-form of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) has been used to assess the practiced level of physical activity and Metabolic Equivalents (MET) energy expenditure, PROMIS Item Bank v1.0 Emotional distress-Anxiety, Herth Hope Index (HHI) (Herth, 1992), and Brief Resilient Coping Scale BRCS (Sinclaire, Wallston, 2004) to evaluate psychological well-being during the social isolation. Evidence suggests that regular participation in physical activity helps decrease overall levels of anxiety and depression as a reliable coping strategy to overcome the social isolation and, as a whole, the negative aspects of lock-down.http://journal.nsa.bg/pdf/vol1_2021/8%20PSYCHOLOGICAL%20RESPONSES,%20COPING%20STRATEGIES,%20AND%20PHYSICAL%20ACTIVITY%20DURING%20THE%20COVID%2019%20PANDEMIC%20BULGARIAN%20PERSPECTIVE.pdfcovid-19physical and mental healthcoping strategies
spellingShingle Zornitza P. Mladenova
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DURING THE COVID – 19 PANDEMIC: BULGARIAN PERSPECTIVE
Journal of Applied Sports Sciences
covid-19
physical and mental health
coping strategies
title PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DURING THE COVID – 19 PANDEMIC: BULGARIAN PERSPECTIVE
title_full PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DURING THE COVID – 19 PANDEMIC: BULGARIAN PERSPECTIVE
title_fullStr PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DURING THE COVID – 19 PANDEMIC: BULGARIAN PERSPECTIVE
title_full_unstemmed PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DURING THE COVID – 19 PANDEMIC: BULGARIAN PERSPECTIVE
title_short PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DURING THE COVID – 19 PANDEMIC: BULGARIAN PERSPECTIVE
title_sort psychological responses coping strategies and physical activity during the covid 19 pandemic bulgarian perspective
topic covid-19
physical and mental health
coping strategies
url http://journal.nsa.bg/pdf/vol1_2021/8%20PSYCHOLOGICAL%20RESPONSES,%20COPING%20STRATEGIES,%20AND%20PHYSICAL%20ACTIVITY%20DURING%20THE%20COVID%2019%20PANDEMIC%20BULGARIAN%20PERSPECTIVE.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT zornitzapmladenova psychologicalresponsescopingstrategiesandphysicalactivityduringthecovid19pandemicbulgarianperspective