ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 outbreak and the worldwide lockdown measures had an impact on the global mental health and psychological well-being of the general population. Several studies attempted to investigate the protective and risk factors for psychological distress related to the pandemic. However, to date, little is known about the role of hope in this context. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between hope and psychological distress related to the COVID-19 outbreak in the general population. The sample consisted of 504 Pakistani people who completed cross-sectionally the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI) and the Adult Hope Scale (AHS). Bivariate Pearson correlation analysis was run to measure the relationship between hope and psychological distress; hierarchical regression analysis was run to investigate the association between demographics and hope with psychological distress. Higher levels of hope predicted lower levels of psychological distress. Being female, being older, lower level of education, urban residence, being married and living in nuclear family systems were associated with higher levels of psychological distress. The study highlights the protective role of hope on psychological distress related to COVID-19, contributing to knowledge on factors promoting positive mental health during emergency times and providing useful information for implementing effective public health policies and programmes.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the number of studies carried out to find the prevalence of various psychosocial risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in Pakistani adolescents and young adults. METHODS: The systematic review comprised key words searched through databases, such as Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed and Research Gate, from 2008 to 2017. Articles considered eligible were those reporting the point prevalence of psychosocial risk factors of cardiovascular diseases in the adolescents and young adults of Pakistani population aged 12-40 years. RESULTS: Of the 230 articles found, 21(9%) were from Pakistani. The most relevant 13(62%) of those articles were reviewed. CONCLUSIONS: In Pakistani adolescents and young adults, psychosocial risk factors for cardiovascular diseases were found to be hypertension, stress, social support, depression, anxiety, physical inactivity and low socioeconomic status.
