scholarly journals Psychological Distress among Adults in Home Confinement in the Midst of COVID-19 Outbreak

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (S 01) ◽  
pp. S27-S33
Author(s):  
Abhishek Lal ◽  
Anas Sanaullah ◽  
Mahnoor Khawaja M. Saleem ◽  
Naseer Ahmed ◽  
Afsheen Maqsood ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate psychological distress caused by the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among the adult population residing in Pakistan. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional survey-based study comprised 1,000 adults residing in Pakistan. A questionnaire was formulated and circulated among adult population of Pakistan, the depression and anxiety symptoms using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scales were assessed. Statistical Analysis Independent t-test, cross tabulation, and regression analysis were used to identify variables having impact on PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Among 1,000 participants, 573 were males and 427 were females who completed the survey. Majority were restricted to home for more than 40 days. Considerable number of participants reported depressive (540, 54%) and anxiety (480, 48%) symptoms. Gender, age, earnings, and occupation have significant relation with psychological distress, although similar was not found with education levels. Conclusion Psychological distress, a concerning yet addressable issue was found among adults arising amid COVID-19 outbreak. Currently, physical health effects of COVID-19 are being looked, while mental health effects being under-addressed. This issue should be addressed to avoid any psychological impact in future.

Author(s):  
Siu-Ling Chan ◽  
Naomi Takemura ◽  
Pui-Hing Chau ◽  
Chia-Chin Lin ◽  
Man-Ping Wang

Frontline nurses face an unpreceded situation with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, and many report suffering from physical and psychological stress. This online, cross-sectional survey used questionnaires, such as the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2), the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, stress-related questions, and Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (Brief-COPE), to determine the psychological impact of COVID-19 on licensed full-time practicing nurses undertaking part-time studies in higher education. Recruitment commenced from August to September 2020; 385 students were approached, and 124 completed the survey (response rate: 32%). Most of the respondents were frontline nurses working in public sectors (89.5%), 29% of whom reported symptoms of depression, and 61.3% reported mild to severe levels of anxiety. The GAD-7 was significantly associated with the resilience score (β = −0.188; p = 0.008) and exhaustion (β = 0.612; p < 0.001). The PHQ-2 was significantly associated with ‘anxiety about infection’ (β = 0.071; p = 0.048). A lower anxiety level was significantly associated with a higher resilience level and a lower level of exhaustion, and a lower depression level was significantly associated with a lower anxiety about infection. Nursing programs incorporating resilience building may mitigate psychological distress of the study population.


2021 ◽  
pp. 2905-2909
Author(s):  
Rakesh Kumar ◽  
Haresh Kumar ◽  
Rakhi Kumari ◽  
Jawed Dars ◽  
Shahzaib Qureshi ◽  
...  

Aim: To understand the psychological impact of COVID – 19 on Medical Students of a private sector Medical University in Karachi, Pakistan. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students studying at Hamdard College of Medicine and Dentistry, Karachi, Pakistan. The data collection was done through online survey from July 2020 to December 2020. The study aimed to gather data from many medical students. A total number of 420 students were participated from Hamdard College of Medicine and Dentistry in Karachi, Pakistan. The participants were selected from all years of MBBS and BDS programs . Results: Out of 420 participants, 236 (56.2%) were male and 184 (43.8%) female, with a male:female ration of 1.28:1. Majority of participants were single as 411 (97.9%), of 224 (53.3%) students living with their family, 150 (35.7%) in hostel and 46 (11%) living with friends. In our sample 369 (87.9%) students studying in MBBS program while only 51 (12.1%) BDS, among those 80 (19%) medical students were in first year, followed by 122 (29%) second year, 65 (15.5%) third year, 54 (12.9%) fourth year and 99 (23.6%) studying in final year. IES-R scale and results shows 75 (17.9%) reported that PTSD is a clinical concern, probable diagnosis of PTSD 28 (6.7%) and majority rated as high enough to PTSD 133 (31.7%). Impact of event (revised) scale shows significant association with age and year of study with p value 0.026 and 0.002 respectively. Based on the PHQ9 scale, Gender, Living arrangements and the program enrolled in were reported significant association with depression p values 0.059, 0.008 and 0.006 respectively. Conclusion: Findings suggests high rate of anxiety, depression, and signs of PTSD in medical students due to COVID-19 which needs pressing attention and provision of professional help from mental health practitioners. Keywords: Impact, Covid-19, Medical students


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Muñoz-Violant ◽  
Verónica Violant-Holz ◽  
M. Gloria Gallego-Jiménez ◽  
M. Teresa Anguera ◽  
Manuel J. Rodríguez

AbstractCoping style represents the cognitive and behavioral patterns to manage particular demands appraised as taxing the resources of individuals. Studies report associations between certain coping styles and levels of adjustment of anxious symptomatology and emotional distress. The main objective of this study was to analyze behavioral co-occurrent patterns and relationships in the coping strategies used to deal with psychological distress displayed by the Spanish adult population during the first State of Emergency and lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a cross-sectional study that uses selective methodology complemented with an indirect observational methodology, with a nomothetic/punctual/unidimensional design. We collected 996 surveys from 19 out of the 22 autonomous regions in Spain. We focused the analysis on sociodemographic variables, cumulative incidence of the COVID-19 disease and psychological distress variables. We performed two different inferential analyses: Lag sequential analysis to define the participant coping patterns, and polar coordinate analysis to study the interrelationship of the focal behavior with conditioned behaviors. We found behavioral co-occurrent patterns of coping strategies with problem avoidance being found as the coping strategy most frequently engaged by participants. Interestingly, the problem avoidance strategy was not associated with lower anxious symptomatology. By contrast, emotion-focused strategies such as express emotions and social support were associated with higher anxious symptomatology. Our findings underscore the importance of furthering our understanding of coping as a way to aid psychological distress during global public health emergencies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Minghuan Wang ◽  
Caihong Hu ◽  
Qian Zhao ◽  
Renjie Feng ◽  
Qing Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractWe conducted a multicentre cross-sectional survey of COVID-19 patients to evaluate the acute psychological impact on the patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during isolation treatment based on online questionnaires from 2 February to 5 March 2020. A total of 460 COVID-19 patients from 13 medical centers in Hubei province were investigated for their mental health status using online questionnaires (including Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-15, and Insomnia Severity Index scales). Among all 460 COVID-19 patients, 187 (40.65%) of them were healthcare workers (HCWs). 297 (64.57%) of them were females. The most common psychological problems were somatization symptoms (66.09%, n = 304), followed by depression (53.48%, n = 246), anxiety (46.30%, n = 213), problems of insomnia (42.01%, n = 171), and then self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts (23.26%, n = 107). Of all the patients, 15.65% (n = 72) had severe somatization symptoms, and 2.83% (n = 13) had severe (almost every day) self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts. The most common psychological problems for HCWs were somatization symptoms (67.84%, n = 125), followed by depression (51.87%, n = 97), anxiety (44.92%, n = 84), problems of insomnia (36.18%, n = 55), and then self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts (20.86%, n = 39). Patients with lower education levels were found to be associated with higher incidence of self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts (odds ratio [OR], 2.68, 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.66–4.33 [P < 0.001]). Patients with abnormal body temperature were found to be associated with higher incidence of self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts (OR, 3.97, 95% CI, 2.07–7.63 [P < 0.001]), somatic symptoms (OR, 2.06, 95% CI, 1.20–3.55 [P = 0.009]) and insomnia (OR, 1.66, 95% CI, 1.04–2.65 [P = 0.033]). Those with suspected infected family members displayed a higher prevalence of anxiety than those without infected family members (OR, 1.61, 95% CI, 1.1–2.37 [P = 0.015]). Patients at the age of 18–44 years old had fewer somatic symptoms than those aged over 45 years old (OR, 1.91, 95% CI, 1.3–2.81 [P = 0.001]). In conclusion, COVID-19 patients tended to have a high prevalence of adverse psychological events. Early identification and intervention should be conducted to avoid extreme events such as self-mutilating or suicidal impulsivity for COVID-19 patients, especially for those with low education levels and females who have undergone divorce or bereavement.


Author(s):  
Swithin M. Swaray ◽  
John Tetteh ◽  
George Ekem-Ferguson ◽  
Ignatius A. N. Awinibuno ◽  
Dennis Adu-Gyasi ◽  
...  

To assess the prevalence and factors associated with psychological distress (PD) and Medical Laboratory Professionals (MLPs) involvement in COVID-19-related duties. This study adopted an online cross-sectional, nationally stratified survey among 473 MLPs using Google Form with a designated link; Depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21 (DASS-21) was used to measure depression, anxiety, and stress (secondary outcome). We employed generalized Negative Binomial (NBR) and Poisson regression analytical approach to our study outcomes. All analyses were performed using Stata 16, and P-value≤.05 deemed significant. The overall DASS-21 score ranged from asymptomatic psychological distress to severe symptomatic PD. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress were 9.1 [95%CI=6.8–12.0], 17.8 [95%CI=14.6–21.5], and 7.5 [95%CI=5.4–10.1], respectively. The result evinced a high and significant association; the univariate NBR predicted a significant increase of PD score by 12% and 18% among participants who were involved in one and two or more COVID-19-related duties, respectively, (β[95%CI] = .12 [.05–.18] and .18 [.10–.26], respectively). A binary outcome predicted approximately 2-folds of overall psychological distress among participants involved in two or more COVID-19-related duties compared with non-involvement (adjusted Prevalence Ratio [95%CI]= 2.34 [1.12–4.85]). For depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, both univariate and multivariate data analyses evinced a higher disadvantage among MLP involved in COVID-19-related duties. We observed a high tendency of experiencing significant psychological distress amongst MLP involved in COVID-19-related duties. Experience of psychological distress increased with deeper involvement in COVID-19-related activities. Psychological support should be extended to MLPs to limit the effect of these negative emotions on their cognitive and social behavior as well as job performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 197-203
Author(s):  
Khagi Maya Pun ◽  
Bimala Panthee ◽  
Priscilla Samson

Introduction: Psychological distress is a widespread indicator of mental health. It is a state of emotional suffering associated with stressors and demands that are difficult to cope with in daily life. The study aimed to identify the prevalence of the psychological distress among adult population. Methods: A cross-sectional house to house survey was conducted in an urban community for four weeks in 2018. Face to face interview was done among 618 adults using Kessler K6 Nepali version interview questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson Chi-square and Pearson correlation) were used for analyzing the data. P value was set at 0.05. Results: We found that 0.3% adults had severe psychological distress, 1.5% had mild to moderate and 98.2% had no psychological distress. Education, past history of mental health problem and occupational status were significantly associated with psychological distress (p-value = < 0.05). Age, alcohol intake and smoking cigarettes were positively correlated with psychological distress (r = 0.12), (r = 0.13), (r = 0.10) respectively and education was significantly negatively correlated with psychological distress (r = - 0.16). Conclusion: Our findings showed low psychological distress among urban community adults. Education, history of mental problem and occupation were associated with psychological distress. Higher the age, positive history of smoking and alcohol were associated with high psychological distress. However, the adults who had high education had low psychological distress. Thus, it suggests that elderly people in an urban community might need psychological support. Key words: Adults, Psychological distress, Urban community.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Izaias Sartorao Filho ◽  
Carlos Izaias Sartorao Neto ◽  
Ana Luisa Varrone Sartorao ◽  
Diogo Coutinho Terribile ◽  
Beatriz Balsimelli de Mello ◽  
...  

Background: Limited research has examined mobile phone-based platforms for survey recruitment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Our objective was to investigate the feasibility and representativeness of mobile phone-based advertisement during a preliminary study about COVID-19 vaccine hesitation in Brazil. Moreover, we evaluate whether the older population can be reached through mobile phone-based platforms of the survey. Methods: We conducted a study in December 2021 based on a preliminary survey about the COVID-19 vaccine hesitation in Assis, Brazil, Sao Paulo state. From a list of the adult population hesitant for the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, we sent a mobile phone-based advertisement inviting the participants to answer the survey for one week. The respondent's data were collected in a Google form platform. The comparison between the target population and the respondents was made using the Chi-squared test and the Welch's test, using a P-value of .05 as significative. Results: The response rate was 9.99% after one week. The mean age of the respondent group was 33.97 (SD 14.99) and 35.05 (SD 14.19) of the population, with a P-value of .192 and a Cohen's d coefficient of 0.0754, corresponding to a small effect size between groups. We demonstrate that the mobile phone-based survey is a feasible and representative strategy during the pandemics in Brazil. Moreover, the older population respondent was representative. Conclusion: We achieved a representative sample of respondents using the mobile phone-based survey in Brazil. Furthermore, it was representative in all sociodemographic and health characteristics assessed. Finally, these findings suggest the method is a highly feasible and economical means of recruiting for survey research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Be-Ikuu Doglikuu ◽  
Abdulai Abubakari ◽  
Mehdi Yaseri ◽  
Elham Shakibazadeh ◽  
Abolghassem Djazayery ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Psychological distress is a pervasive condition that interacts with other factors to influence adherence to treatment regimens, yet information-gap exists on how psychological-distress interact with Type-2-Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients’ perceptions about their disease state and treatment benefits for adherence to dietary-recommendation. This study therefore investigates how T2DM patients’ psychological-distress interacts with perception about disease state and treatment benefits for adherence to dietary-recommendation. Methods: Facility-based cross-sectional-study was conducted among 530 T2DM patients at six health-facilities in Ghana. Structured-questionnaires were used to collect socio-demographics data, and Health Belief Model (HBM) questionnaires used to assess perceived-beliefs. Perceived-Dietary-Adherence-Questionnaire (PDAQ) for T2DM patients was used to assess adherence to dietary-recommendation. SPSS version-22 was used in data analysis.Results: Weight, diabetes-duration, total-cholesterol, HbA1c and fasting-blood-sugar were statistically significant for adherence to dietary-recommendation (P-value <0.05). Perceived-Susceptibility, Perceived-Benefit and Perceived-Cue to action were statistically significant for adherence to dietary-recommendations (P-value <0.05). After adjusting for confounders, interaction between low-psychological-distress and moderately-perceive-susceptibility[Adjusted Odd ratio(Adj.OR: 0.21, 95% confidence interval CI:1.18, 9.83); interaction between high-psychological-distress and moderately-perceived-susceptibility (Adj.OR: 4.49, 95% CI: 1.41, 14.28); interaction between low-psychological distress and highly-perceived-benefit (Adj.OR: 3.20, 95% CI: 1.30, 6.62); interaction between low-psychological-distress and moderately-perceived-barriers (Adj. OR: 4.79, 95% CI: 1.82, 12.60) and interaction between moderate-psychological-distress and highly-perceived-cue to action (Adj. OR 1.93, 95% CI: 1.36, 4.50) were statistically significant for adherence to dietary-recommendations. Conclusion: Psychological-distress can interact with patients’ perceptions for adherence to dietary recommendation. Therefore, health care workers globally should be mindful of this and offer professional care.


Background: Information technology (IT) is a new way of teaching and learning. One of the promising media of information technology is e-Learning, which is used to enhance knowledge and skills among users. A student gains better and deep knowledge through a useful tool. This survey aimed to determine practices among medical students for e-Learning. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted on 184 students amongst the 500 students currently enrolled in medical college. Data was collected using questionnaires and were analyzed through SPSS version 22. Chi-square was used for qualitative values. Results: Majority 90.80% (n=167) students were aware of e-Learning and were statistically high in first year students (p-value: 0.018). The student did not show statistically significant results for content learned through e-Learning with a p-value of 0.063. Different resources were used for e-Learning in which videos had the highest percentage (87.60%) and audios were used as the least resource for e-Learning (29.20%). Daily, 56% of the students use e-Learning for 1 hour or less and only 3% of the students used it for more than 4 hours. Conclusion: Majority of undergraduate medical students were aware of the use of e-Learning and most of them preferred e-Learning for their course work and studies showing a significant increase in understanding and use, compared to studies conducted earlier. Participants found e-Learning useful and effective tool in increasing knowledge and understanding of their subject. Keywords: e-Learning; Practices; Students.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khanh Ngoc Cong Duong ◽  
Tien Nguyen Le Bao ◽  
Phuong Thi Lan Nguyen ◽  
Thanh Vo Van ◽  
Toi Phung Lam ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The first nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic was implemented in Vietnam from April 1 to 15, 2020. Nevertheless, there has been limited information on the impact of COVID-19 on the psychological health of the public. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of psychological issues and identify the factors associated with the psychological impact of COVID-19 during the first nationwide lockdown among the general population in Vietnam. METHODS We employed a cross-sectional study design with convenience sampling. A self-administered, online survey was used to collect data and assess psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and stress of participants from April 10 to 15, 2020. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) were utilized to assess psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and stress of participants during social distancing due to COVID-19. Associations across factors were explored using regression analysis. RESULTS A total of 1385 respondents completed the survey. Of this, 35.9% (n=497) experienced psychological distress, as well as depression (n=325, 23.5%), anxiety (n=195, 14.1%), and stress (n=309, 22.3%). Respondents who evaluated their physical health as average had a higher IES-R score (beta coefficient [B]=9.16, 95% CI 6.43 to 11.89), as well as higher depression (B=5.85, 95% CI 4.49 to 7.21), anxiety (B=3.64, 95% CI 2.64 to 4.63), and stress (B=5.19, 95% CI 3.83 to 6.56) scores for DASS-21 than those who rated their health as good or very good. Those who self-reported their health as bad or very bad experienced more severe depression (B=9.57, 95% CI 4.54 to 14.59), anxiety (B=7.24, 95% CI 3.55 to 10.9), and stress (B=10.60, 95% CI 5.56 to 15.65). Unemployment was more likely to be associated with depression (B=3.34, 95% CI 1.68 to 5.01) and stress (B=2.34, 95% CI 0.84 to 3.85). Regarding worries about COVID-19, more than half (n=755, 54.5%) expressed concern for their children aged &lt;18 years, which increased their IES-R score (B=7.81, 95% CI 4.98 to 10.64) and DASS-21 stress score (B=1.75, 95% CI 0.27 to 3.24). The majority of respondents (n=1335, 96.4%) were confident about their doctor’s expertise in terms of COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment, which was positively associated with less distress caused by the outbreak (B=–7.84, 95% CI –14.58 to –1.11). CONCLUSIONS The findings highlight the effect of COVID-19 on mental health during the nationwide lockdown among the general population in Vietnam. The study provides useful evidence for policy decision makers to develop and implement interventions to mitigate these impacts. CLINICALTRIAL


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