A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e. a controlling message) compared to no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly-internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared to the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly-internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing: Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

Midwifery - a vital path to quality maternal and newborn care:the story of the Lancet Series on Midwifery

Objective: To re-assess the work and workload of primary care midwives in the Netherlands. Background: In the Netherlands most midwives work in primary care as independent practitioners in a midwifery practice with two or more colleagues. Each practice provides 24/7 care coverage through office hours and on-call hours of the midwives. In 2006 the results of a time registration project of primary care midwives were published as part of a 4-year monitor study. This time registration project was repeated, albeit on a smaller scale, in 2010. Method: As part of a larger study (the Deliver study) all midwives working in 20 midwifery practices kept a time register 24 hours a day, for one week. They also filled out questionnaires about their background, work schedules and experiences of workload. A second component of this study collected data from all midwifery practices in the Netherlands and included questions about practice size (number of midwives and number of clients in the previous year). Findings: In 2010, primary care midwives actually worked on average 32.6 hours per week and approximately 67% of their working time (almost 22 hours per week) was spent on client-related activities. On average a midwife was on-call for 39 hours a week and almost 13 of the 32.6 hours of work took place during on-call-hours. This means that the total hours that an average midwife was involved in her work (either actually working or on-call) was almost 59 hours a week. Compared to 2004 the number of hours an average midwife was actually working increased by 4 hours (from 29 to 32.6 hours) while the total number of hours an average midwife was involved with her work decreased by 6 hours (from 65 to 59 hours). In 2010, compared to 2001–2004, the midwives spent proportionally less time on direct client care (67% vs. 73%), although in actual number of hours this did not change much (22 vs. 21). In 2009 the average workload of a midwife was 99 clients at booking, 56 at the start of labour, 33 at childbirth, and 90 clients in postpartum care. Conclusion: The midwives worked on average more hours in 2010 than they did in 2004 or 2001, but spent these extra hours increasingly on non-client-related activities. (aut.ref.

Collaboration of midwives in primary care midwifery practices with other maternity care providers.

Background Inter-professional collaboration is considered essential in effective maternity care. National projects are being undertaken to enhance inter-professional relationships and improve communication between all maternity care providers in order to improve the quality of maternity care in the Netherlands. However, little is known about primary care midwives’ satisfaction with collaboration with other maternity care providers, such as general practitioners, maternity care assistance organisations (MCAO), maternity care assistants (MCA), obstetricians, clinical midwives and paediatricians. More insight is needed into the professional working relations of primary care midwives in the Netherlands before major changes are made Objective To assess how satisfied primary care midwives are with collaboration with other maternity care providers and to assess the relationship between their ‘satisfaction with collaboration’ and personal and work-related characteristics of the midwives, their attitudes towards their work and collaboration characteristics (accessibility). The aim of this study was to provide insight into the professional working relations of primary care midwives in the Netherlands. Methods Our descriptive cross-sectional study is part of the DELIVER study. Ninety nine midwives completed a written questionnaire in May 2010. A Friedman ANOVA test assessed differences in satisfaction with collaboration with six groups of maternity care providers. Bivariate analyses were carried out to assess the relationship between satisfaction with collaboration and personal and work-related characteristics of the midwives, their attitudes towards their work and collaboration characteristics. Results Satisfaction experienced by primary care midwives when collaborating with the different maternity care providers varies within and between primary and secondary/tertiary care. Interactions with non-physicians (clinical midwives and MCA(O)) are ranked consistently higher on satisfaction compared with interactions with physicians (GPs, obstetricians and paediatricians). Midwives with more work experience were more satisfied with their collaboration with GPs. Midwives from the southern region of the Netherlands were more satisfied with collaboration with GPs and obstetricians. Compared to the urban areas, in the rural or mixed areas the midwives were more satisfied regarding their collaboration with MCA(O)s and clinical midwives. Midwives from non-Dutch origin were less satisfied with the collaboration with paediatricians. No relations were found between the overall mean satisfaction of collaboration and work-related and personal characteristics and attitude towards work. Conclusions Inter-professionals relations in maternity care in the Netherlands can be enhanced, especially the primary care midwives’ interactions with physicians and with maternity care providers in the northern and central part of the Netherlands, and in urban areas. Future exploratory or deductive research may provide additional insight in the collaborative practice in everyday work setting

Posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression following pregnancies conceived through fertility treatments: the effects of medically assisted conception on postpartum well-being

OBJECTIVE: To compare the postpartum prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression in women who conceived via medically assisted conception (MAC) and women who conceived naturally. STUDY DESIGN: All women (n = 907) who delivered under supervision of four independent midwifery practices and three hospitals in the Netherlands during a 3-month period were asked to complete questionnaires on demographic, logistic, psychosocial and obstetric characteristics two to six months postpartum. In this cross-sectional study PTSD was measured with the Traumatic Event Scale-B; anxiety and depression were measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. RESULTS: The response rate was 47% (428 participants). No significant differences were found in the prevalence of PTSD (0.0% vs. 1.3%; odds ratio [OR] = 0.0, confidence interval [CI]: 0-infinity), anxiety (28.1% vs. 22.2%; OR = 1.4, CI: 0.6-3.1) and depression (9.4% vs. 14.6%; OR = 0.6, CI: 0.8-2.0) between the 32 women who conceived via MAC and the 396 women who conceived naturally. CONCLUSION: We did not find significant differences in the prevalence of PTSD, anxiety and depression between women who conceived via MAC and women who conceived naturally

An explorative study of factors contributing to the job satisfaction of primary care midwives

Objective The main objectives of our study was to gain an understanding of how primary care midwives in the Netherlands feel about their work and to identify factors associated with primary care midwives׳ job satisfaction and areas for improvement. Design A qualitative analysis was used, based on the constructivist/interpretative paradigm. Three open-ended questions in written or online questionnaire, analysed to identify factors that are linked with job satisfaction, were as follows: ‘What are you very satisfied with, in your work as a midwife?’, ‘What would you most like to change about your work as a midwife?’ and ‘What could be improved in your work?’. Setting 20 of the 519 primary care practices in the Netherlands in May 2010 were included. Participants At these participating practices 99 of 108 midwives returned a written or online questionnaire. Findings In general, most of the participating primary care midwives were satisfied with their job. The factors positively associated with their job satisfaction were their direct contact with clients, the supportive co-operation and teamwork with immediate colleagues, the organisation of and innovation within their practice group and the independence, autonomy, freedom, variety and opportunities that they experienced in their work. Regarding improvements, the midwives desired a reduction in non-client-related activities, such as paperwork and meetings. They wanted a lower level of work pressure, and a reduced case-load in order to have more time to devote to individual clients׳ needs. Participants identified that co-operation with other partners in the health care system could also be improved. Key conclusions Our knowledge, our study is the first explorative study on factors associated with job satisfaction of primary care midwives. While there are several studies on job satisfaction in health care; little is known about the working conditions of midwives in primary care settings. Although the participating primary care midwives in the Netherlands were satisfied with their job, areas for improvement were identified. The results of our study can be relevant for countries that have a comparable obstetric system as in the Netherlands, or are implementing or scaling up midwifery-led care. (aut. ref.

Author Correction: A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Correction to: Nature Human Behaviour https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x, published online 2 August 2021. In the version of this article initially published, the following authors were omitted from the author list and the Author contributions section for “investigation” and “writing and editing”: Nandor Hajdu (Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary), Jordane Boudesseul (Facultad de Psicología, Instituto de Investigación Científica, Universidad de Lima, Lima, Perú), Rafał Muda (Faculty of Economics, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland) and Sandersan Onie (Black Dog Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia & Emotional Health for All Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia). In addition, Saeideh FatahModares’ name was originally misspelled as Saiedeh FatahModarres in the author list. Further, affiliations have been corrected for Maria Terskova (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia), Susana Ruiz Fernandez (FOM University of Applied Sciences, Essen; Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, and LEAD Research Network, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany), Hendrik Godbersen (FOM University of Applied Sciences, Essen, Germany), Gulnaz Anjum (Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, and Department of Economics & Social Sciences, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan). The changes have been made to the HTML and PDF versions of the article

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world. Protocol registration: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 12 May 2020. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4878591.v1 © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited