A Person-Centered Approach to Profiling COVID-Related Experiences in the United States: Preliminary Findings from the Epidemic-Pandemic Impacts Inventory (EPII)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on individuals, families, and communities around the world. Intensive health precautions have created constraints on mobility, work, education, family life, and interpersonal relationships. Preliminary survey studies have reported an increase in the prevalence and severity of psychosocial impairments in the pandemic’s immediate wake. However, the impact of specific pandemic-related experiences and patterns of experiences has not been systematically assessed and studied. The goal of the present study was to develop and conduct a preliminary empirical test of a novel, comprehensive assessment of pandemic-related experiences, the Epidemic-Pandemic Impacts Inventory (EPII), using person-centered latent class analysis (LCA). Aims were to (1) test the hypothesis that LCA would identify unique subgroups based on patterns of negative and positive pandemic-related experiences across personal and social domains, and (2) examine whether identified subgroups would significantly differ on sociodemographic characteristics and indicators of mental health and functioning. Results supported hypotheses, with several unique subgroups identified across domains that were differentiated on sociodemographic characteristics and measures of perceived stress, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and perceived social support. Findings support the EPII as an instrument for measuring tangible and meaningful experiences in the context of an unprecedented pandemic disaster. This study, combined with future research with the EPII, may serve to inform public health strategies for supporting families and communities in the current pandemic and under similar mass public health crisis circumstances in the future.