Parallel mediating effects of sleep quality, psychological distress, and self‐stigma in the associations between long COVID symptoms and quality of life among Taiwanese individuals with mental health illness

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Chang, K, Ahorsu, DK, Tsai, H, Strong, C, Ko, N, Chen, J, Yen, C, Üztemur, S, Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524 and Lin, C, 2024. Parallel mediating effects of sleep quality, psychological distress, and self‐stigma in the associations between long COVID symptoms and quality of life among Taiwanese individuals with mental health illness. Brain and Behavior, 14 (10): e70094. ISSN 2162-3279

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.70094

Abstract

Background: Long COVID symptoms (i.e., experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 for 3 months post-COVID-19) affect individuals’ health and their quality of life (QoL). However, the pathways through which it does so are not fully known.

Aim: The present study examined the mediating roles of sleep quality, psychological distress, and self-stigma in the associations between long COVID symptoms and QoL among individuals with mental illness.

Method: Individuals with mental illness (n = 333) were recruited from a psychiatric center in southern Taiwan to participate in the study. Data were collected regarding sleep quality, psychological distress, self-stigma, and QoL. Independent t-tests, Pearson correlations, and regression with Hayes’ Process Macro were used to compare groups, examine relationships, and parallel mediation models, respectively.

Results: Participants with long COVID symptoms had significantly worse sleep quality, psychological distress, physical QoL, and psychological QoL compared to those without symptoms. There were significant relationships between sleep quality, psychological distress, self-stigma, and QoL. Sleep quality significantly mediated the associations between long COVID symptoms and physical and social QoL. Psychological distress significantly mediated the associations between long COVID symptoms and all domains of QoL, but not self-stigma.

Conclusion: There are alternative pathways (e.g., sleep quality and psychological distress) through which long COVID symptoms may affect the QoL of individuals with mental illness. The findings suggest that individuals with long COVID symptoms have a higher chance of having poor QoL. Therefore, there may be the need for counseling and possible therapy for those who contract COVID-19, especially among individuals who already have mental illness.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Brain and Behavior
Creators:	Chang, K., Ahorsu, D.K., Tsai, H., Strong, C., Ko, N., Chen, J., Yen, C., Üztemur, S., Griffiths, M.D. and Lin, C.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	14 October 2024
Volume:	14
Number:	10
ISSN:	2162-3279
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1002/brb3.70094 DOI 2254770 Other
Rights:	© 2024 the author(s). Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	16 Oct 2024 13:32
Last Modified:	16 Oct 2024 13:32
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52429