Dealing with COVID-19 and with the preventative measures that have been taken to mitigate the transmission of the virus causing the pandemic has posed a great challenge to the population. While psychologists have expertise with regard to preventive behavior change and to dealing with the mental health impact of measures, their expertise needs to be effectively communicated to the public. Mass media play a critical role in times of crisis, in many cases being the only source of information. While most research focuses on the importance of information content as a factor affecting psychological responses to a collective traumatic event, the way information is framed in the media is likely to influence the way health professionals are perceived as trustworthy. This study aimed to analyze the media framing of information from psychology during the COVID-19 pandemic in six countries from America and Europe, identifying the most recurrent topics in the news (n news items = 541) related to psychology and mental health. In all six countries the media address the psychological needs of the population, which vary depending on the imposed restrictions. The news content is influenced by the scientific sources used by the media. While the most prevalent topics focus on psychological risk and the need to seek mental health care, the least prevalent topics relate to counseling and behavioral guidelines for managing the psychological consequences of the pandemic. The study findings provide insight into how psychological knowledge contributes to the understanding and mitigation of COVID-19 consequences in different countries and identified fields where psychologists were consulted to respond to a health emergency. They also show a preference to consult other experts when searching for contextual or more macro-social explanations of critical situation.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行期间心理学在媒体中的作用：一项跨国研究。

处理 COVID-19 以及为减轻导致大流行的病毒传播而采取的预防措施对民众构成了巨大挑战。虽然心理学家在预防性行为改变和应对措施对心理健康的影响方面拥有专业知识，但他们的专业知识需要有效地传达给公众。大众媒体在危机时期发挥着关键作用，在许多情况下是唯一的信息来源。虽然大多数研究都关注信息内容作为影响对集体创伤事件的心理反应的因素的重要性，但媒体中信息的框架方式可能会影响卫生专业人员被认为值得信赖的方式。本研究旨在分析来自美国和欧洲的六个国家在 COVID-19 大流行期间的心理学信息的媒体框架，确定与心理学和心理健康相关的新闻中最常见的话题（n 个新闻条目 = 541）。在所有六个国家，媒体都在关注民众的心理需求，这些需求因施加的限制而异。新闻内容受到媒体使用的科学资源的影响。虽然最流行的主题集中在心理风险和寻求心理保健的需要上，但最不流行的主题与管理大流行的心理后果的咨询和行为指南有关。研究结果提供了有关心理学知识如何有助于理解和减轻不同国家的 COVID-19 后果的见解，并确定了咨询心理学家以应对突发卫生事件的领域。在寻找对危急情况的上下文或更宏观的社会解释时，他们还倾向于咨询其他专家。