Psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study.

Multiple psychological health problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic among both the general public and health-care workers have been identified in the scientific literature. However, most studies used quantitative methods with scales selected on the basis of the researchers' pre-established knowledge derived from the experience of other situations and which can therefore induce biases. The dual aim of the present study was to explore qualitatively the perceived psychological consequences of lockdown on members of the general public and the perceived psychological consequences of COVID-19 on health-care workers. We recruited 241 participants from the general public and 120 health-care workers. They consented online to participate and completed open-ended questions evaluating the consequence of the health crisis on their life as a couple, on their friendships, family life, work, studies, psychological health, stress, and vision of the future. Finally, participants were asked to add any further consequences that had not been mentioned. We used double coding to process the data. We identified five main themes among the participants from the general public: improved and maintained social relationships, deterioration of health, improved health, personal growth, and lack of direct social contact. We also identified five main issues among the health-care workers: psychological and emotional impact, adjusting, negative impact on work, worries, and uncertainty about the future. The results confirmed the existence of psychological health problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also highlighted positive consequences. Health-care workers tended to perceive more negative consequences than the participants from the general public.

Validation of the French ADNM-20 in the assessment of emotional difficulties resulting from COVID-19 quarantine and outbreak.

BACKGROUND: Multiple psychological consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak and quarantine have been described. However, there is a lack of global conceptualization. We argue that the stressful aspects of the situation, the multiple environmental consequences of the outbreak, and the diversity of symptoms observed in such a situation, suggest that Adjustment disorder (AD) is a promising way to conceptualize the psychological consequences of the outbreak and quarantine. The first aim of the study was to validate the French version of the ADNM. The second aim was to set out adjustment difficulties resulting from COVID-19 outbreak and quarantine. METHOD: We recruited 1010 (840 women, 170 men) who consented online to participate. They filled out the French ADNM, visual analogic scales, HADS, IES, and the COPE, to evaluate coping strategies. RESULTS: We confirmed the factor structure of the ADNM and we found good psychometric properties. We found that 61.3% of participants presented an adjustment disorder related to COVID-19 outbreak. We found multiple risk factors and protective factors to AD due to quarantine and outbreak. We also identified the coping strategies negatively and positively associated with AD. CONCLUSION: Adjustment disorder is a relevant concept to understand psychological manifestations caused by quarantine and outbreak. The French ANDM has good psychometric properties to evaluate such manifestations. The association between coping strategies and AD symptoms suggest that CBT may be the best intervention to help people suffering from AD.