Managing Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Autoethnographic Case Study

Korshakova, Elena

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/109669 Copy

Description

Title

Managing Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Autoethnographic Case Study

Author(s)

Korshakova, Elena

Contributor(s)

Lopatovska, Irene

Issue Date

2021-03-17

Keyword(s)

• Anxiety
• Information Behavior
• Mental Health
• COVID-19
• Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health issues for many people, and anxiety has become the most common disorder associated with a constant feeling of worry. As a response to unexpected uncertainty, people have been getting an overwhelming amount of information from everywhere and everyone, which has made us more restless. Can we manage our emotional well-being by limiting this endless information flow and changing our information consumption behavior? To answer this question, a diary study of researcher’s personal behavior was used to record all interactions with information during seven weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 23 – June 11, 2020). The following recommendations for people who often experience anxiety were developed as the result of the study: (1) identification of anxiety triggers and finding the right balance in information behavior between avoidance and seeking; (2) categorization of non-informational triggers and dealing with things that are under personal control vs. out of control separately; and (3) application of stress-coping non-information behavior techniques.

Publisher

iSchools

Type of Resource

text

Language

eng

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109669

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 is held by Elena Korshakova. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the author.

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