About the Book
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is one of the challenges the world is facing right now. It has seen an unparalleled spread within a short span of time, and claimed victims in many parts of the world. As the number of confirmed cases skyrockets exponentially, a recent surge of 'bad' behaviours such as xenophobia attacks, propagation of misinformation, and panic-buying of essential items have become increasingly commonplace. Panic and chaos reigned as the world witnessed unprecedented moves by countries to close their borders and implement strict quarantine orders in a desperate attempt to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.COVID-19 has impacted many different aspects of society, from politics and economics to the psychological well-being of citizens, and the list will continue to grow as the spread of the coronavirus persist. While it is impossible to fathom the way COVID-19 will change our usual way of life, there are prevailing concerns that the community currently faces. What are the psychological impacts of a pandemic? How do we enhance the collective resilience of the community during a pandemic? How do we cope with mental health issues during a pandemic? How do we deal with bereavement during a pandemic? How can we support healthcare workers and emergency responders during a pandemic?These are just some of many important concerns that influence the way we cope with the COVID-19 outbreak. There is therefore an urgent need to enhance our understanding and level of preparedness against Covid-19 and pandemic in general. To that end, this edited book, How to Prepare for the Next Pandemic: Behavioural Sciences Insights for Practitioners and Policymakers aims to examine the impacts pandemic have on our society from a behavioural sciences perspective, and to identify solutions that practitioners and policymakers can adopt to combat the spread of COVID-19 in this new operating environment.
Table of Contents:
Societal Resilience Related Issues: A Journal of the COVID Year: What Can We Learn from Previous Pandemics? (Denise DILLON and Ghee Kian KOH); What are the Economic Impacts of a Pandemic? (Jose M L MONTESCLAROS); Enhancing Collective Community Resilience Throughout a Pandemic: Insights from Singapore (Pamela GOH); Mitigating the Social Pandemic of Xenophobia During COVID-19 (Nur Aisyah ABDUL RAHMAN); Psychological Well-being Related Issues: How to Cope with Mental Health Issues During a Pandemic (Cherie CHAN and Adrian TOH); How to Support People with Mental Health Conditions During a Pandemic (Jonathan KUEK Han Loong); Coping with COVID-19: The Role of Religion in Times of Crisis (Jonathan E RAMSAY); Supporting and Coping with Bereavement During and Post-pandemic (Andy HO, Oindrila DUTTA, Paul Victor PATINADAN, and Geraldine TAN-HO); Digital Communication Related Issues: The Role of Social Media During a Pandemic (Dymples LEONG); Managing the Spread of Misinformation During COVID-19 (Xingyu Ken CHEN); Maintaining Cyber Well-being During a Pandemic (Jessie Janny THENARIANTO); Crisis Management and Communication During a Pandemic: Some Thoughts (Damien D CHEONG and Stephanie NEUBRONNER); Organisational Related Issues: How to Enhance Organisational Functioning in a Pandemic: COVID-19 Lessons in Leadership (Paul ENGLERT); Sustaining Team Morale Amidst a Pandemic: Lessons from COVID-19 (Minzheng HOU); Telecommuting During a Pandemic: Tips for Parents and Caregivers of the Elderly (Vivian SEAH, John YU, and Whistine CHAI); Non-compliance with COVID-19 Safe Distancing Measures: Tips from Crisis Negotiators to De-escalate Situations (Xingyu Ken CHEN, Nur Aisyah ABDUL RAHMAN, and Shannon NG); Future Directions: Surviving the Next Pandemic: Lessons for Humanity (Majeed KHADER);
About the Author :
Dr Majeed KHADER is the Director of the Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Singapore. Dr Majeed is also the Chief Psychologist of the MHA. A trained hostage negotiator, his previous operational duties include being the Deputy Commander of the Crisis Negotiation Unit and a trainer with the negotiation unit. He teaches criminal psychology as an Assistant Professor (Adjunct) at the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technology University (NTU), Singapore. For the past 26 years, Majeed has overseen the development of psychological services in the areas of stress, resilience, employee selection, deception psychology, leadership, crisis negotiations, crime profiling, and crisis psychology. For his work, he was awarded the National Day Public Administration Award (Bronze) in 2006 by the President of Singapore, and once again the Public Administration Award Silver in 2014. A pioneer forensic psychologist, Majeed holds a Master's degree (with Distinction) in Forensic Psychology from the University of Leicester (United Kingdom), and a PhD in Psychology (specialising in personality and crisis leadership) from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Majeed has been invited as a speaker to organisations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, and the United States to share on crime psychology, terrorism, and leadership. He has also presented at the FBI, NCIS, and the RCMP. He has been the Chairman of the Asian Conference of Criminal and Operations Psychology thrice. He is the Asian Director of the United States-based Society of Police and Criminal Psychology, and a member of the Asia Pacific Association of Threat Assessment Professionals. He is a Registered Psychologist with the Singapore Psychological Society (SPS), and a member of the British, and American Psychological Societies. He has contributed to several book chapters and published widely in peer-reviewed journal such as Journal of Research in Personality, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Psychology & Health, Cognition and Emotion, International Journal of Psychophysiology, Personality and Individual Differences, International Journal of Police Science & Management, Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, and Security Journal.
Dr Denise Dillon is an academic living and working in Singapore, at James Cook University. In 2020, she led a research team on national and international survey-based research to study the psychosocial effects of COVID-19. An environmental psychologist by training, Dr Dillon is also a literary critic by heart, and she publishes in the field of ecocriticism as well as in her specific areas of research interest, in environmental psychology and biophilia. Dr Dillon is a member of the Singapore Psychological Society (SPS) Council, and currently holds the position of Research Chair.
Xingyu Ken Chen is a Senior Behavioural Sciences Research Analyst at the Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Singapore. Some of his other writings include psychological vulnerabilities to fake news in the aftermath of a terror attack in Learning from Violent Extremist Attacks: Behavioural Sciences Insights for Practitioners and Policymakers (2018), the intersection of crime and fake news in Encyclopaedia of Criminal Activities and the Deep Web. His current research interests include online misinformation, information operations, strategic communications, and natural language processing.
Loo Seng Neo is a Principal Behavioural Sciences Research Analyst with the Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Singapore. For the past 13 years, Loo Seng has been leading a team of research analysts and interns to research on emergent trends on terrorism, resilience, misinformation, and intergroup conflict, and distilling useful insights for the ministry through research reports and training for law enforcement officers. He has also trained grassroots leaders and the general public about the threat of terrorism and how to prepare for the 'day after' terror. Based on his research, Loo Seng has presented at many international conferences and published many peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. He has also co-edited several books. He is currently pursuing his PhD in psychology at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, where he attempts to identify person-centric, psychosocial, and protective factors that can identify markers of radicalisation in social media posts. In his spare time, he mentors psychology undergraduates from the local universities.
Jeffery Chin has been a staff psychologist with the Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre (HTBSC) since 2006. Incepted in 2006, the HTBSC is an applied behavioural sciences research, training and operational support unit in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Singapore. One of the Centre's key remit is to translate knowledge from the field of psychology and the behavioural sciences into operational knowledge that law enforcement, safety, security, and correctional agencies under the auspices of MHA may utilise or incorporate into their policies, operations, and practice. As one of the pioneers at the HTBSC, Jeffery played an important role in setting up the unit in its initial years, and oversaw its development from a programme (the Behavioural Sciences Programme) in 2006 to a full-fledged psychological research and training centre (the Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre) presently. He has been involved in roles and projects across several domains that supported the operations and development of Singapore law enforcement and security officers over the years. The roles and projects include crime and investigation support research, training and consultation, crisis intervention and resilience management, crisis negotiation operations, and leadership development and assessment.
