The COVID-19 pandemic has projected humanity into an unprecedented era characterized by feelings of helplessness and loss of control. While it is too early to robustly understand the impact of the virus on long-term psychological outcomes, healthcare professionals have already noted a marked increase in anxiety due to the uncertainty brought about by COVID-19.
However, we have little understanding of how employees’ COVID-19 health anxiety (‘CovH anxiety’) — feelings of fear and apprehension about having or contracting COVID-19 — has spilled over to affect their work- and home-related behaviours. In recent research co-authored with Nitya Chawla from Texas A&M University, we tested a model indicating how CovH anxiety impacts work, home and health outcomes. In this article, we will summarize our findings.
CovH Anxiety’s Impact on Work, Home and Health Outcomes
Grounded in the literature on health anxiety, the concept of CovH anxiety holds that threatening events — such as a global pandemic — trigger high levels of anxiety. Research indicates that feelings of anxiety trigger defense mechanisms in the form of a ‘fight or flight’ response that is aimed at escaping the threat: The fight response is triggered when
