COVID-19: Factors associated with psychological distress, fear, and coping strategies among community members across 17 countries.
Global Health
; 17(1): 117, 2021 10 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1448243
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The current pandemic of COVID-19 impacted the psychological wellbeing of populations globally.OBJECTIVES:
We aimed to examine the extent and identify factors associated with psychological distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping.METHODS:
We conducted a cross-sectional study across 17 countries during Jun-2020 to Jan-2021. Levels of psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale), fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 Scale), and coping (Brief Resilient Coping Scale) were assessed.RESULTS:
A total of 8,559 people participated; mean age (±SD) was 33(±13) years, 64% were females and 40% self-identified as frontline workers. More than two-thirds (69%) experienced moderate-to-very high levels of psychological distress, which was 46% in Thailand and 91% in Egypt. A quarter (24%) had high levels of fear of COVID-19, which was as low as 9% in Libya and as high as 38% in Bangladesh. More than half (57%) exhibited medium to high resilient coping; the lowest prevalence (3%) was reported in Australia and the highest (72%) in Syria. Being female (AOR 1.31 [95% CIs 1.09-1.57]), perceived distress due to change of employment status (1.56 [1.29-1.90]), comorbidity with mental health conditions (3.02 [1.20-7.60]) were associated with higher levels of psychological distress and fear. Doctors had higher psychological distress (1.43 [1.04-1.97]), but low levels of fear of COVID-19 (0.55 [0.41-0.76]); nurses had medium to high resilient coping (1.30 [1.03-1.65]).CONCLUSIONS:
The extent of psychological distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping varied by country; however, we identified few higher risk groups who were more vulnerable than others. There is an urgent need to prioritise health and well-being of those people through well-designed intervention that may need to be tailored to meet country specific requirements.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Adaptation, Psychological
/
Global Health
/
Fear
/
Psychological Distress
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
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Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
Global Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12992-021-00768-3
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