Kamphuis, Daniëlle (2021) The Negative Impact of Psychological Distress on Executive Functioning in COVID-19 Infection. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Objective: Previous studies on COVID-19 have established an association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and neuropsychological consequences. Increasing evidence shows prominent impairments in executive functioning (EF) and psychological functioning after COVID-19 infection. Recent findings suggest that psychological distress negatively impacts cognition in COVID-19. Therefore, the present study aims to get insight in self-reported EF impairments in COVID-19 infection, and the additional influence of psychological distress on these impairments in daily life. By using a subjective measure of EF, our study has the advantage of getting insight in the presence of EF impairments in daily life functioning. Methods: Our sample (N = 216, age range from 18 – 65 or older, 166 females and 50 males) consisted of 145 participants with previous COVID-19 infection and 71 participants without COVID-19 infection, who were recruited via convenience sampling. Participants completed the COCO-19 test battery, consisting of several existing questionnaires. This study focused on the BRIEF-A (measuring subjective EF), the GAD-7 (measuring anxiety) and BDI (measuring depressive symptoms); the latter two being individually assessed, as well as in a composite score to assess overall psychological distress. Stepwise regression analysis was used to assess the predictive value of COVID-19 infection and psychological distress on subjective EF impairments in daily life. Another stepwise regression analysis was used to assess the specific predictive value of depression and anxiety in COVID-19 infection on subjective EF impairments in daily life. Results: COVID-19 infection was a significant predictor of subjective impairments in EF in daily life, with a medium effect size (ES). Psychological distress in COVID-19 infection predicted a significant increase in subjective EF impairments, increasing the explained variance with 32.7% (large ES). Depressive symptoms were a significant stronger predictor of subjective EF impairments in daily life on top of COVID-19 infection (large ES), compared to symptoms of anxiety. The addition of anxiety only led to an increase of 0.3% in the explained variance in the model with depressive symptoms and COVID-19 infection. Exploratory correlational analysis showed that sex, symptom severity and COVID-19 medication could be possible covariates since they are associated with either psychological distress and/or subjective EF impairments. Conclusion: The present study found that COVID-19 infection significantly predicts higher subjective EF impairments in daily life. Psychological distress seems to have an additional negative impact on subjective EF impairments in COVID-19 infection; depressive symptoms in COVID-19 infection have a stronger negative impact on subjective EF impairments than symptoms of anxiety. Therefore, our findings suggest that there is a specific association between COVID-19 infection, depression, and subjective EF impairments in daily life.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Enriquez Geppert, S. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Neuropsychology (CN) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Jan 2022 09:45 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Jan 2022 09:45 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/71 |
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