12.6. Western Europe

Resources & guidance per country

Belgium 

Belgium

February 23, 2022

Initiatives of Belgian psychologists in response to the covid19 pandemic

Since the start of the pandemic, Belgian psychologists have been very active in research and policy advice on different psychological issues raised by the pandemic. Several of these initiatives might be relevant also in an international context. We highlight here three important initiatives.

 Special issue on Psychology and COVID19 in Psychologica Belgica, the official journal of the Belgian Association for Psychological Sciences (BAPS)

 Expert Group on Psychology & Corona

 Motivation barometer

Read more on the attached PDF

January 12, 2022

Report 8 of the Expert group "Psychology and Corona" supported by the Belgian Federation of Psychologists (BFP):

Point of view on mandatory vaccination: weighting the pros and cons

The vaccination campaign has been very successful in Belgium, with the vast majority of adults being vaccinated and getting a booster vaccine nowadays. Many adults voluntary choose to be vaccinated and the personal endorsement of this decision indeed appears a robust predictor of vaccination acceptance (Schmitz et al., 2021). At the same time, the question raises what a next step may involve: should a vaccination pass be introduced or is it more desirable to move towards mandatory vaccination in specific subgroups or the entire population? Below, various psychological advantages and disadvantages of mandatory vaccination are discussed, which lead to a synthesizing conclusion at the end.

 Read the report here 

 Find other works of the Expert Group Psychology and Corona here 

Expert group "Psychology and Corona" supported by the Belgian Federation of Psychologists (BFP)

The group developed organically because they felt that the expertise of behavioral scientists and professional psychology was insufficiently represented in different expert panels such as GEES and in policy making committees. The ad hoc group started early May 2020 after several individual psychologists had taken initiatives earlier to contribute to the debate in media and at policy making level on managing the Corona crisis. It is composed of academics and representatives of professional psychology with specializations in motivation, social, clinical and health psychology.

The group has acquired a large audience in the media, but also with the public authorities and have regular meetings with the ministers of health and education at the federal and region levels. For instance, it just finished a survey assessing among other mental health and the following of health behaviors in students from 18 to 25 years (23000 respondents). The coordinator of the group also had personal meeting with the PM and with the king.

Visit the English version of the webisite of the Belgian expert group "psychology and corona" 

 NEW!

A new item on the website is a data repository that gathers empirical studies conducted in Belgium related to psychological aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The website will be regularly updated and will hopefully be a reference tool in the domain of psychological aspects of COVID-19 pandemic.

You can consult it here 

A research tool will help you to find the topics you are the most interested in. Drop-down menus are available together with a search engine based on keywords, titles, and authors names. A google spreadsheet also allows to add new ongoing/published studies. Researchers are asked to provide an abstract, a take-home message, and the policy implications.

The Belgian superior health council has just released a scientific advisory report about Psychological care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this report, which offers guidance to public health policy-makers, the Superior Health Council of Belgium provides recommendations on psychosocial care during the Covid-19 pandemic for health care providers and authorities.

Document can be downloaded here as PDF (EN) 

(Version no 9610, validated on February 3rd, 2021)

Advice GEES ( Group of Experts advising on the Exit Strategy)

Expert group of psychologists - report on exit - strategy Corona

In Belgium, an expert group of psychologists has been created, providing advice on the exit - strategy for Corona - virus. The group provides advice to the national expert group that prepares the final scientific advice to Belgian policy makers.

This advice is concentrated around sustainable behavior change and it is interesting because it’s very practical and provides clear and ready - to - use guidelines to policy makers.

Downlad here the advice in English as PDF

Find here the links from the three associations supporting the initiative: BAPS, UPPCF and VVKP.

All three are members of the Belgian Federation of Psychologists.

in English, on the we bsite of the Belgian Association for Psychological Sciences (BAPS) 
in French, on the website of the Union Professionnelle des Psychologues Cliniciens Francophones & Germanophones (UPPCF) 
in Dutch, on the website of the Vlaamse vereniging van klinisch psychologen (VVKP) 

Annual Meetings of the Belgian Association of Psychological Sciences (BAPS)
May 2020

Two symposia on COVID-19 issues were conducted during the BAPS annual meeting. The BAPS is an association of the Belgian Federation of Psychologists.

Click here to watch symposia on Youtube:

 Health psychological perspectives on COVID-19 

 Perspectives from applied and clinical psychology on COVID-19 

Online COVID-19 file for psychologists and mental health workers

The 2 clinical associations, VVKP (Dutch) and UPPCF (French) of the Belgian Federation of Psychologists have both developed an online COVID-19 file for psychologists and mental health workers. They consist of guidelines aligned with the federal and regional authorities as well as tools to assist the general public, families, psychologists and health care management.

Find here the guidelines:

 Vlaamse Vereniging Van Klinisch Psychologen (VVKP): Psychologen en het Corona - virus 

 Union Professionnelle Des Psychologues Cliniciens Francophones (UPPCF): Coronavirus : Recommandations et implications pour les psychologues 

France 

France

Unis et solidaires, les psychologues sont présents.

FFPP - Communiqué Covid 19 n4

Nous avions proposé une Charte pour structurer les liens entre psychologues et plateformes. Suite à une concertation avec le SNP, nous avons ensemble fait évoluer cette charte pour en faire un outil adapté à une population plus large, ouvrant à une assise consolidée entre organisations de psychologues et contribuant par suite à des garanties plus assurées auprès de la population concernant les services des psychologues.

La FFPP invite les psychologues qui s’engagent sur des plateformes à nous faire part de leur signature de la charte et du dispositif qu’ils ont choisi, à l’adresse suivante psychoenactionffpp@gmail.com

Épidémie et confinement : ressources utiles pour notre santé mentale 

Germany 

Germany

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 information and practical tips

The Ethno-Medical Center provides information and practical information about COVID-19 in numerous foreign languages 

DGPs: Videoclip _ corona erklärung f. Kinder 6-12 jahre _ dgps 

BDP: Corona hotline berufsverband deutscher psycholog/innen

Berufsverband Deutscher Psychologinnen (BDP ) website 

BDP Facebook 

Faqs über das coronavirus - bdp 

Tipps zum umgang mit häuslicher isolation und quarantäne 

Tipps zur seelischen gesundheit von der dgppn 

Ireland 

Ireland

The Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) has collated resources on its website that will be continuously updated

Available resources includes video series looking at topics such as:

Minding the mental health of frontline workers
How to talk to kids about corona virus
Stress management
Managing relationships during isolation
Parental anxiety about covid19 when your child has another serious illness
Covid19 and Neurological difficulties
Covid 19 and Intellectual disability
Supporting undergraduate students during Covid19
Supporting Postgraduate students during Covid19
Grief & Loss

Find resources here on the PSI website 

Video: Grief in these times of COVID-19

Niamh Fitzpatrick talks about Grief in these times of COVID-19.

 Watch video on section "First response and mental wellbeing " 

Guidelines on use of online or telephone therapy and assessment

The Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) has produced and now updated a Guidance for members on use of online therapy, group therapy and assessment and testing.

Download here as PDF 

Switzerland 

Switzerland

Die Coronavirus-Krise wirft Fragen auf, sowohl für Psychologinnen und Psychologen, die sich anpassen müssen, um ihren Beruf unter besonderen Bedingungen ausüben zu können, als auch für die individuell betroffene Schweizer Bevölkerung.

Diese Seite fasst alle nützlichen Informationen zusammen, die von der FSP in Bezug auf das Coronavirus für die Öffentlichkeit und Psychologen veröffentlicht werden.

Informationen für die Bevölkerung | Informationen für Psychologinnen und Psychologen 

The Netherlands 

Netherlands

Veelgestelde vragen

Het NIP is er om ervoor te zorgen dat psychologen hun werk zo goed mogelijk kunnen doen, ook nu. In dit dossier verzamelen we de informatie die daarbij kan helpen.

Onder veelgestelde vragen vind je korte antwoorden op de vragen die we veel gehoord hebben. Daarin wordt doorgelinkt naar ons uitgebreide dossier, dat is ingedeeld naar de volgende thema’s:

Landelijke maatregelen & tips 
Beroepsuitoefening / beroepsethiek 
Informatie en tips per werkveld 
Arbeidsrechtelijke en financiële zaken 
Wetenschap 

Nederlands Instituut van Psychologen COVID-website 

The human measure in the new way of working

Two professors of psychology appeal to the cabinet in newspaper ‘Trouw’: stop devising a one and a half meter economy and work with employers and employees on a one and a half meter society in which the human dimension is central.

Hoogleraar arbeids- en organisatiepsychologie en NIP-lid Fred Zijlstra en hoogleraar bedrijfspsychologie Paul Jansen benoemen in Trouw dat het vraagstuk van de anderhalvemetereconomie te makkelijk wordt afgedaan als een praktisch inrichtingsprobleem:

Read the article 

United Kingdom 

United Kingdom

Supporting refugees and asylum seekers during the coronavirus pandemic

May 14,2020
Originally published on the BPS blog

The following article has been provided by Dr Kim O’Connor on behalf of the Covid-19 Confinement Workstream Group.

Refugees and asylum seekers in the UK may be experiencing the current crisis particularly acutely.

Many people will have endured displacement, conflict (including war) or traumatic experiences in the past, and the arrival of another period of uncertainty may cause distress.

Friendships, networks and daily lives in the UK may be relatively newly formed and the disruption of these particularly hard to manage.

Read article on the BPS blog here 

Coronavirus and UK schools closures: Support and advice for schools and parents/carers

Division of Educational and Child Psychology (DECP) British Psychological Society (BPS)

This advice was produced in response to the UK Government’s announcement of school closures as part of the response to Coronavirus. As the situation continues to develop, guidance may be updated as further details emerge.

Read Resource Paper here 