As a major in psychology with a minor in kinesiology and health sciences, COVID has had a big impact on my field in how our conversations have changed and how our practices will have to evolve moving forward. First of all, COVID has led to a large increase in anxiety and depression rates, leaving psychologists much to research and aid. Additionally, from the psychology viewpoint it is interesting to see how COVID leads so many individuals to take many steps to save their lives such as social distancing, masking, increased sanitation, etc which is great. But, other illnesses such as CVD which is the leading cause of death for all individuals regardless of race or gender, have been occurring for years with the population taking no steps to prevent themselves from getting the disease. Obesity and laziness, large contributors to the disease, has gotten worse. This leads to show how news and media have a large effect on how people act which can be great in that it helps save lives lost by encouraging people to take proper precautions. It also can be a negative in that the media may choose to disregard important things or focus on unimportant ones. So in the field of psychology, I think a new study or emerging topic would be measuring individual responses based on what they hear or see in the news.
My prospective career is occupational therapy and the effects of COVID on this career would be negative. Though many careers would make an easy transition to working from home, like counseling which can be done on zoom, OT is not one of them. OT is meant to be face to face and hands on. With the increased fear of not just COVID but now other illnesses, many people may opt out of the OT they need. With guidelines such as masking and social distancing which have now eased in some parts, it makes it super challenging for an OT to do their job correctly. As an OT you often have to be physically holding or guiding your patient and many times need to see their mouths moving or utilize facial expression. The populations most at risk from COVID are typically the populations that need OT the most. It leaves OTs and health professionals between a rock and a hard place. Moving forward, as long as COVID and other contagious diseases remain highly present, I think many patients are going to have to be looked at individually and assessed based on risk factors. For example, an older gentleman who has just had a stroke will need to be evaluated to see if it is worth it to take the risk of illness by going to OT or having an OT come to him. In many cases, not getting OT in fear of COVID can be a death sentence on its own. So all patients will need to consider if they would be more hurt by possibly contracting a deadly illness or skipping critical therapy to get their body functioning correctly. I have hopes that COVID will continue to slow and become less deadly with vaccines and increased interaction, but disease has and will always be a present risk.