Contamination-Focussed Vignettes as an Analogue of Infectious Pandemics: An Experimental Validation using the State Disgust and Anxiety Responses in OCD

Abstract

Despite infectious pandemics proving particularly detrimental to those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the investigation of analogous experimental paradigms is lacking. To address this gap, we conducted two studies employing vignettes that depicted contamination-related situations commonly experienced during a pandemic (e.g., Coughing into hands and failing to use hand sanitizer). We manipulated the salience of these vignettes across three levels: high contamination, low contamination, and a neutral control condition. Our examination of state anxiety and disgust responses in all participants revealed the successful manipulation of the vignettes’ impact. Specifically, individuals with more severe OCD symptoms reported significantly higher levels of state disgust and anxiety for both high and low contamination vignettes, in contrast to the group with lower symptom severity. No significant differences were observed in the neutral vignette condition between the high- and low-scoring groups. Interestingly, for those with higher OCD symptoms, high salience contamination-focused vignettes resulted in similarly elevated state disgust and anxiety, regardless of whether the vignettes were situated in public (Study 1) or domestic (Study 2) settings. This suggests that the heightened sensitivity to contamination-related scenarios observed in individuals with OCD symptoms in the present study is not confined to a specific context. These findings support the use of contamination-focused vignettes as analogues for studying infectious pandemics and provide valuable insights into OCD models, interventions, and future research.