Faculty From Two NSU Colleges Partner for COVID-19 Research

 A cross-disciplinary COVID-19 research project is bringing together faculty from NSU’s College of Psychology and the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The research is a joint effort involving Madhavi Menon and Weylin Sternglanz, both faculty in the College of Psychology, and Bindu Mayi of the College of Osteopathic Medicine.

“What we’re looking at is psychological correlates of COVID-19 preventive health behaviors,” Sternglanz said.

Sternglanz noted that while there are many preventive behaviors like masking and social distancing that can reduce people’s likelihood of contracting COVID-19, not everyone carries out those behaviors. Because of that, Sternglanz, Menon, and Mayi are studying the personality and social variables that might predict if people will or will not engage in preventive health behaviors.

The current project builds on previous research that the three faculty members conducted in 2019 on preventive health behaviors relating to mosquito-borne illnesses. That research was inspired by the Zika fever outbreak that had previously made news headlines. Menon said the study will have about 400 participants, divided evenly between undergraduate students and medical students.

“It’s very similar to what we had for our Zika studies, and we’re trying to keep everything comparable across the two studies,” Menon said. “The only distinction is we’re incorporating these COVID-19-related questions about beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes towards the coronavirus.”

According to Menon, the research will also study factors like self-esteem, overall psychological well-being, and social support from family and significant others. The previous study examined the relationship between conscientiousness and social support and found that the interaction of both influenced preventive health behaviors.