The world has been coping with the coronavirus pandemic since December 2019. The virus has spread around the globe and affected millions of people directly or indirectly. The virus itself is of great concern, but so are the potential economic and psychological outcomes resulting from the public health measures undertaken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 disease, such as closing down businesses, prolonged isolation, and social distancing. Researchers from SWPS University have joined an international team of scientists from 21 countries, who are studying the impact of the pandemic on wellbeing of world populations.
The researchers are asking for help in gathering data for the study. If you wish to contribute to the body of knowledge on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, please complete the study questionnaire, which is available in English, Polish and several other languages. More information ».
The aim of the study is to look at how people cope with what’s happening and assess whether compassion for oneself and for others can reduce the impact of stress caused by this pandemic.
As much as the pandemic is a serious health and economic concern for the global community, it also provides a unique opportunity to gather scientific data from around the word.
Therefore a team of researchers from 21 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Colombia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Uruguay, headed by Dr. Marcela Matos from University of Coimbra in Portugal, have come together to investigate the psychological impact of this pandemic.
They will explore the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the sense of social safeness, the experience of trauma, how people have coped, and how we all might grow from this experience. Importantly, the researchers are interested in understanding the potentially buffering role of compassion and self-compassion in potentially traumatic situations like this one.
An international and multicultural perspective is crucial for research, therefore we are very happy to be a part of the project that is conducted on five continents. We are very curious what the results will show, especially that it is a longitudinal study, which will allow us to see how the level of personal resources, including compassion, as well as other situational factors, impact the way people cope with the consequences of a difficult experience, such as COVID-19.
Dr. Mariusz Zięba, Head of the Trauma and Crisis Research Center at SWPS University
"An international and multicultural perspective is crucial for research, therefore we are very happy to be a part of the project that is conducted on five continents. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of people almost in every corner of the world, but the way people cope with the outcomes of this crisis, may, to a large extent, depend on some culturally universal factors. We think that some of the psychological resources that are particularly important during crisis situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, are compassion and caring, which are crucial not only in relation to others, but also to oneself. We are very curious what the results will show, especially that it is a longitudinal study that includes three measurements in three- and six-month intervals. Thanks to this design, we will be able to see how the level of personal resources, including compassion, as well as other situational factors, impact the way people cope with the consequences of a difficult experience, such as COVID-19. This will help psychologists to develop better ways of helping people impacted by the results of the pandemic. COVID-19 is a new situation for everyone. Therefore, scientists are searching for answers to new questions, such as: ‘What psychological resources should be particularly boosted in people, while we are preparing them for coping in crisis situations like the pandemic’", says Dr. Mariusz Zięba, Head of the Trauma and Crisis Research Center at SWPS University, who is one of the researchers working on this project.
If you wish to contribute to the global body of knowledge on how we cope with the pandemic, please complete the survey, which is available in English, Polish and several other languages. It will take approximately 30 minutes of your time and you will be asked to repeat the survey on two further occasions, in three months and then in six months’ time.
Go to survey »
Dr. Julia E. Wahl – Psychologist. Head of “Mindfulness and Compassion” postgraduate program at SWPS University in Poznań, which she developed. One of the initiators and organizers of the 1st Conference on Practical Application of Buddhism in Western Psychology. Mindfulness: Theory and Practice, cofounder of the Polish Association for Mindfulness and the Polish Society for the Integration of Psychotherapy, and founder and Director of The Mind Institute. She completed the “MBSR in Mind-Body Medicine” program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli. She had an opportunity to work with renowned supervisors, including Professor Christopher Germer (Harvard Medical School), Maria Marquardt, Gregor Zvelc, and Wanda Paszkiewicz. She collaborates with the University of Derby in the UK, where, as part of her doctoral thesis, she developed a training program based on compassion for cancer patients and persons, who conquered cancer.
Dr. Tomasz Komendziński – Department of Cognitive Science and Epistemology, Faculty of Humanities, at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (UMK). He is a cognitive scientist and holds a doctorate in philosophy. In the Neurocognitive Laboratory of the Centre for Modern Interdisciplinary Technologies at UMK, he leads research on impaired consciousness, breathing, and virtual reality. Founder and coordinator of a research team focused on International-Interdisciplinary Research for Disorders of Consciousness in Toruń (InteRDoCTor). His professional interests also include: integration of interdisciplinary research (especially cognitive science focused on motor functions, rhythm, time, and consciousness as factors integrating multiple sensory modalities), embodied cognition and broadened mind, communication, and neurophenomenology. Recently, he has been focusing on predictive coding mechanisms and their clinical significance.