Joachim Waterschoot is statistician and PhD researcher at Ghent University in the Department of Developmental, Social and Personality Psychology. He is part of the Motivation Barometer team. His research topics are a) self-motivation, resilience and boredom, and b) motivation, risk perception and mental health during the COVID-19 crisis.
 
On 22/03, he participated in the breakoutsession on COVID-19.  The subject of his presentation was the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on people’s mental health in Belgium: Insights from the Motivation Barometer.

The COVID-19 crisis yielded an intrusive impact on people’s daily life, with both the virus itself and the set of implemented policy measures affecting people’s concerns and basic psychological needs. In the current presentation, we address a number of findings based on the work of the Motivation Barometer, a national research project in which we monitored people’s basic needs, motivation, and mental health across 2.5 years of the crisis. More specifically, we address the question of how the epidemiological situation, as reflected by the hospitalization load, and the stringency measures in conjunction predict people’s adherence, motivation and mental health. The findings point to the importance of proportionality, with the stringency of the measures being aligned with the level of epidemiological threat. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of monitoring various aspects of people’s psychological functioning to develop a more encompassing health policy that pays attention both people’s physical and mental health.

  • ​You can download the slides below.

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