The General Public Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Regarding COVID-19 During the Lockdown in Asian Developing Countries.

The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the worst global crisis. Since no successful treatment and vaccine have been reported, efforts to improve the public's knowledge, attitudes, and practices are critical to reducing the spread of COVID-19. This study aims to investigate the general public knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding COVID-19. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in three developing countries (China, India, and Pakistan). The reason for choosing only three countries is to identify the cross-border effect statistically and data collection constraints. The IBM SPSS version 23.0 was used for descriptive, univariate, and multivariate analysis of the study. One thousand one hundred and sixty participants completed the study, one-quarter of them were female, and three-quarters were male. The study's findings evidenced that the knowledge and attitude correlation was 58.4% and between knowledge and practices 18.2%. Furthermore, the knowledge was found lower in females, among India and Pakistan, and people aged less and equivalent to 30 years. The attitudes among respondents were found poorer among unmarried females and India and Pakistan residents. While the practices found lower among employed, unemployed and, respondents had a bachelor's degree, and females reside in India. And future studies should focus on factors that influence the government regarding the imposition of lockdown, boost the economy in the pandemic, and motivate the general public to follow the health institution's instructions.

The Impact of Event Scale-Revised: Examining Its Cutoff Scores among Arab Psychiatric Patients and Healthy Adults within the Context of COVID-19 as a Collective Traumatic Event.

The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) is the most popular measure of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It has been recently validated in Arabic. This instrumental study aimed to determine optimal cutoff scores of the IES-R and its determined six subscales in Arab samples of psychiatric patients (N = 168, 70.8% females) and healthy adults (N = 992, 62.7% females) from Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic as a probable ongoing collective traumatic event. Based on a cutoff score of 14 of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 8-items (DASS-8), receiver operator curve (ROC) analysis revealed two optimal points of 39.5 and 30.5 for the IES-R in the samples (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.86 & 0.91, p values = 0.001, 95% CI: 0.80-0.92 & 0.87-0.94, sensitivity = 0.85 & 0.87, specificity = 0.73 & 0.83, Youden index = 0.58 & 0.70, respectively). Different cutoffs were detected for the six subscales of the IES-R, with numbing and avoidance expressing the lowest predictivity for distress. Meanwhile, hyperarousal followed by pandemic-related irritability expressed a stronger predictive capacity for distress than all subscales in both samples. In path analysis, pandemic-related irritability/dysphoric mood evolved as a direct and indirect effect of key PTSD symptoms (intrusion, hyperarousal, and numbing). The irritability dimension of the IES-R directly predicted the traumatic symptoms of sleep disturbance in both samples while sleep disturbance did not predict irritability. The findings suggest the usefulness of the IES-R at a score of 30.5 for detecting adults prone to trauma related distress, with higher scores needed for screening in psychiatric patients. Various PTSD symptoms may induce dysphoric mood, which represents a considerable burden that may induce circadian misalignment and more noxious psychiatric problems/co-morbidities (e.g., sleep disturbance) in both healthy and diseased groups.

COVID-19 and Psychological Distress among the General Population of India: Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.

Background: There is scanty evidence regarding the magnitude of COVID-19-related psychological distress (PD) among the general population of India. Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of PD among the general public of India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of 21 online surveys conducted across the Indian subcontinent and published between 2020 and 2021. Results: Overall estimates of PD among the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic by the random-effects model is 33.3% (95% confidence interval: 23.8%-42.8%; n = 21 studies). The level of heterogeneity was high among the included studies (I2 = 99.67%). In subgroup analysis, it was found that the survey tool and the methodological quality had a significant effect on the overall prevalence estimates. Approximately 33% of the general public reported to have PD during the COVID-19 pandemic in India, although the overall prevalence varied based on survey tools and quality of studies. Conclusion: As the pandemic crisis seems to be ebbing across the world, the current findings are a wake-up call to devise pragmatic strategies to curtail the burden of similar pandemics and to successfully meet the challenges ahead.

The Arabic Version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised: Psychometric Evaluation among Psychiatric Patients and the General Public within the Context of COVID-19 Outbreak and Quarantine as Collective Traumatic Events.

The Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has provoked the development of negative emotions in almost all societies since it first broke out in late 2019. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) is widely used to capture emotions, thoughts, and behaviors evoked by traumatic events, including COVID-19 as a collective and persistent traumatic event. However, there is less agreement on the structure of the IES-R, signifying a need for further investigation. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the IES-R among individuals in Saudi quarantine settings, psychiatric patients, and the general public during the COVID-19 outbreak. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the items of the IES-R present five factors with eigenvalues > 1. Examination of several competing models through confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a best fit for a six-factor structure, which comprises avoidance, intrusion, numbing, hyperarousal, sleep problems, and irritability/dysphoria. Multigroup analysis supported the configural, metric, and scalar invariance of this model across groups of gender, age, and marital status. The IES-R significantly correlated with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-8, perceived health status, and perceived vulnerability to COVID-19, denoting good criterion validity. HTMT ratios of all the subscales were below 0.85, denoting good discriminant validity. The values of coefficient alpha in the three samples ranged between 0.90 and 0.93. In path analysis, correlated intrusion and hyperarousal had direct positive effects on avoidance, numbing, sleep, and irritability. Numbing and irritability mediated the indirect effects of intrusion and hyperarousal on sleep and avoidance. This result signifies that cognitive activation is the main factor driving the dynamics underlying the behavioral, emotional, and sleep symptoms of collective COVID-19 trauma. The findings support the robust validity of the Arabic IES-R, indicating it as a sound measure that can be applied to a wide range of traumatic experiences.

Depression and Psychological-Behavioral Responses Among the General Public in China During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has recently spread dramatically worldwide, raising considerable concerns and resulting in detrimental effects on the psychological health of people who are vulnerable to the disease. Therefore, assessment of depression in members of the general public and their psychological and behavioral responses is essential for the maintenance of health. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression and the associated factors among the general public during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey with convenience sampling was conducted from February 11 to 16, 2020, in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. A self-administrated smartphone questionnaire based on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and psychological and behavioral responses was distributed to the general public. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were conducted to explore the associated factors of depression.aA cross-sectional survey with convenience sampling was conducted from February 11 to 16, 2020, in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. A self-administrated smartphone questionnaire based on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and psychological and behavioral responses was distributed to the general public. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were conducted to explore the associated factors of depression. RESULTS: The prevalence of depression (PHQ-9 score ≥10) among the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic was 182/1342 (13.6%). Regression analysis indicated that feeling stressed, feeling helpless, persistently being worried even with support, never feeling clean after disinfecting, scrubbing hands and items repeatedly, hoarding food, medicine, or daily supplies, and being distracted from work or study were positively associated with depression, while social support and being calm were negatively associated with depression. CONCLUSIONS: The general public suffered from high levels of depression during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, COVID-19-related mood management and social support should be provided to attenuate depression in the general public.