University of Twente Student Theses
Anxiety, Sleep Problems and Positive Emotions (Gratitude and Happiness) in Long-Covid Patients : an Experience Sampling Study
Korkut, B. (2022) Anxiety, Sleep Problems and Positive Emotions (Gratitude and Happiness) in Long-Covid Patients : an Experience Sampling Study.
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| Abstract: | Background: In many patients, the infection with the covid-19 virus has led to persistent symptoms, such as anxiety and sleep problems, which last weeks to months after the initial recovery. So far, few studies focused on the interaction between sleep problems and anxiety in long-covid patients. It is also unknown what role positive emotions take in the progression of these symptoms and their potential for long-covid interventions. Objective: The current study explored the predictive relationship between sleep problems and anxiety on within and between level. Further, the momentary association between anxiety and positive emotions (happiness and gratitude) over two weeks in long-covid patients after hospital discharge was assessed. Method: In this study, the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) was used to collect data for 14 consecutive days. The Ethica app was used to collect the longitudinal data in a convenience sample of ten Dutch ex-hospitalized participants with long-covid (Mage= 59.7, SD = 6; 50% women, 80% one or more comorbidities). Participants filled out a daily morning questionnaire, which examined their sleep problems the previous night. Further, they answered six times per day one questionnaire which examined their anxiety, gratitude, and happiness. Multiple linear mixed models were conducted to analyze the temporal relationships between sleep problems, anxiety, and positive emotions. Results: It was found that there was neither a bidirectional nor one-directional relationship between anxiety and sleep problems. Moreover, the analyses for between-person and within- person associations were not significant. Finally, it was found that gratitude was not related to anxiety, but happiness was found to be related to anxiety. The association of happiness and anxiety was relatively small (β=-.07, p=.04). Conclusion: In contrast to previous studies in other conditions, this study could not detect a relationship between anxiety and sleep problems in long-covid patients. The distinct outcomes might be related to the new field of long-covid and the design of this study. However, the severity of anxiety and sleep problems strongly fluctuated for some participants. Further, it was found that happiness and gratitude did not influence anxiety. This indicated that anxiety was influenced by other internal or environmental factors, which should be investigated further. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92011 |
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