Anticipatory worry and returning to campus during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background

Assessing the psychological needs of students and employees as they return to campus is crucial to resuming University life in a safe and secure way. The current research aimed to explore how safety concerns, anticipatory worry, and mitigation efforts affected the well-being of individuals within a campus community.

Methods

A five-part survey was distributed via student & employee listservs in the Fall 2020 at a midsize private university in the Mid-Atlantic Mid-Atlantic United States. Participants were surveyed about sources of worry regarding Covid-19, levels of anticipatory worry, amenability to various mitigation strategies and whether intended implementation of safety mitigation measures impacted worry levels.

Results

Data collected from 559 students and employees indicated a relationship between source of worry and level of distress, with the greatest source of worry being fear of getting sick. Anticipatory worry after thinking about safety mechanisms was significantly lower than anticipated worry before thinking about safety mechanisms. No differences were found between students and employee experiences of worry, and there was no moderating effect of role on the difference between anticipated worry after, as compared to before, thinking about the mechanisms.

Conclusion

Findings highlight how different sources of concern related to Covid-19 are associated with varying levels of distress, the significant impact that the presence of mitigation strategies can have on reducing overall levels of anticipatory worry, and the universality of distress associated with Covid-19.

Keywords:

• Anticipatory worry
• coronavirus pandemic
• COVID-19
• health anxiety
• mental health
• mitigation strategies
• return to campus

Conflict of interest disclosure

We have no known conflicts of interest to disclose. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Robert Morris University.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.