A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic
Journal
Nature Human Behaviour
Date Issued
August 2021
Author(s)
Adetula, Adeyemi
Baklanova, Ekaterina
House, Thea
Çoksan, Sami
Khaoudi, Ahmed
Iyer, Aishwarya
Van Steenkiste, I. M.M.
Chuan-Peng, Hu
Topor, Marta
Stoyanova, Alina
Manunta, Efisio
Aruta, John Jamir Benzon
Mioni, Giovanna
Chen, Sau Chin
Beaudry, Jennifer L.
Collins, W. Matthew
Hricova, Monika
Rahal, Rima-Maria
Garcia, Elkin Oswaldo Luis
Urban , Jan
Šakan, Dušana
Verbruggen, Frederick
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
Subjects
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