The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered social determinants of health including work, education, social connections, movement, and perceived control; and loneliness was commonly experienced. This longitudinal study examined how social determinants at the personal (micro), community (meso), and societal (macro) levels predicted loneliness during the pandemic.

Participants were 2056 Australian adults surveyed up to three times over 18 months in 2020 and 2021. Multi-level mixed-effect regressions were conducted predicting loneliness from social determinants at baseline and two follow-ups.

Loneliness was associated with numerous micro determinants: male gender, lifetime diagnosis of a mental health disorder, experience of recent stressful event(s), low income, living alone or couples with children, living in housing with low natural light, noise, and major building defects. Lower resilience and perceived control over health and life were also associated with greater loneliness. At the meso level, reduced engagement with social groups, living in inner regional areas, and living in neighbourhoods with low levels of belongingness and collective resilience was associated with increased loneliness. At the macro level, increased loneliness was associated with State/Territory of residence.

Therapeutic initiatives must go beyond psychological intervention, and must recognise the social determinants of loneliness at the meso and macro levels.

Enhancing cancer patients’ sense of control can positively impact psychological well-being. We developed and assessed the psychometric properties of Valued Outcomes in the Cancer Experience (VOICE)TM, a measure of patients’ perceived control over key personal priorities within their cancer experience.

VOICE construction and testing were completed in three phases with separate participant samples: (1) item generation and initial item pool testing (N = 459), (2) scale refinement (N = 623), and (3) confirmatory validation (N = 515).

A 21-item measure was developed that captures cancer patients’ sense of control in seven key domains: (1) Purpose and Meaning, (2) Functional Capacity, (3) Longevity, (4) Quality Care, (5) Illness Knowledge, (6) Social Support, and (7) Financial Capability. VOICE demonstrated adequate internal consistency (full-scale α = 0.93; factor α = 0.67–0.89) and adequate to strong convergent and discriminatory validity.

VOICE measures cancer patients’ perceived control across a diverse range of personal priorities, creating a platform for elevating patient perspectives and identifying pathways to enhance patient well-being. VOICE is positioned to guide understanding of the patient experience and aid the development and evaluation of supportive care interventions to enhance well-being.

Compliance with government-recommended preventive measures represents a key factor in mitigating the negative consequences of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The study investigated the relation between health anxiety, perceived risk and perceived control as predictors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related anxiety and preventive behaviours (both adaptive and dysfunctional/excessive) during the early pandemic response in Romania.

Data were collected in April–May 2020, and the sample comprised 236 participants, 192 women, mean age 31.44 (s.d. = 10.30, age range 16–67).

Our results showed that health anxiety and perceived control, but not perceived risk predicted adaptive preventive behaviours, whereas dysfunctional behaviours were predicted by health anxiety alone. COVID-19-related anxiety was predicted by health anxiety and perceived risk, with perceived control emerging as a non-significant predictor. Also, we found that the effect of health anxiety on COVID-19-related anxiety was mediated by perceived risk, and that perceived control acted as a moderator in the relation between health anxiety and dysfunctional (but not adaptive) preventive behaviours.

Our results suggest health anxiety is a significant predictor of COVID-19-related anxiety and preventive behaviours. Also, adaptive, but not dysfunctional, preventive behaviours were additionally predicted by perceived control, pointing to the important role of control and self-efficacy in explaining adherence to recommendations.

There is evidence that individuals with high levels of social anxiety utilize more safety behaviours and experience more post-event processing than those with lower levels of social anxiety. There are also data to suggest that the relationship between safety behaviour use and social anxiety symptoms is mediated by perceived control of one’s anxiety. Furthermore, it has been suggested that post-event processing influences anticipatory anxiety for a future social situation.

A direct link between the perpetuating factors of social anxiety described above has not been established in the literature. The aim of the current study was to test a model examining the relationship between these constructs.

Participants first completed a battery of questionnaires. They then participated in an impromptu, 3-minute speech and were informed they would be videotaped. Following the speech, participants completed measures of anxiety and were instructed to return the following week. During the second session, they were informed they would deliver an additional speech and provided ratings of their anxiety in anticipation of delivering the second speech.

The results of a serial mediation support that greater levels of social anxiety lead to less perceived control over one’s anxiety, leading to increased safety behaviour use. The increase in safety behaviours led to an increase of post-event processing which resulted in greater anticipatory anxiety for a future speech task.

This study provides novel evidence for the importance of perceived control in the genesis of social anxiety, which has implications for treatment.