COVID-19 pandemic, psychological response to quarantine, and knowledge of the disease among inmates in a Nigerian custodial center

Johnson Okoro,Martins Onuoha,Chinenye Ezeonwuka,Joel Nkire,Jude Owoh,Benedicta Nweze,Tobechukwu Odionye

doi:10.35241/emeraldopenres.13684.1

Abstract

This was a cross-sectional study to assess the psychological response to quarantine during COVID-19 pandemic and the level of knowledge about the disease among inmates of a Custodial Center in Enugu, Nigeria. A total of 66 new prison inmates were assessed for psychological distress using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10); and inmates’ knowledge about COVID-19 using a COVID-19 Knowledge Questionnaire developed by the researchers. Participants had a mean age of 28.39±8.71 years; 63 (95.5%) were male inmates and 3 (4.5%) were female inmates. In total, 61 (92.4%) were awaiting-trial inmates, 43 (65.1%) had psychological distress, and 35 (53%) had completed at least secondary school. Those with higher educational level were significantly more knowledgeable about the disease than those with lower educational level (t(64)=-5.72; p˂0.01). Though not statistically significant, psychological distress was found to be associated with insufficient knowledge about the disease (t(64)=1.42; p=0.16). The mean score for the COVID-19 questionnaire among the participants was 3.82±3.33 which is indicative of poor knowledge of the disease among them. Considering responses to specific questions contained in the questionnaire, knowledge about some questions was relatively high. For example, a majority of the participants 45 (68.2%) correctly responded that death can be a complication of COVID-19; whereas half of them 33 (50%) correctly responded that regular hand washing with soap and water can help prevent the spread of the disease. Nevertheless, responses to some questions showed poor knowledge about the disease as 18 (27.3%) correctly answered that COVID-19 can affect the lungs, while 20 (30.3%) correctly responded that COVID-19 is caused by a virus. Our study highlighted the need to have all quarantined persons educated about the disease for which they are being quarantined. It also provided the opportunity to raise awareness of COVD-19 among the inmates.

Highlights

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel viral disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), with clinical features including cough, fever, weakness, nasal congestion, difficulty with breathing, diarrhea, lung and other organ damage, and death in some cases (Wang et al, 2020b)
Our study showed that general knowledge about COVID-19 is poor among prison inmates
Our studies found that a majority of the participants placed on quarantine had psychological distress

Summary

Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel viral disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), with clinical features including cough, fever, weakness, nasal congestion, difficulty with breathing, diarrhea, lung and other organ damage, and death in some cases (Wang et al, 2020b). Nations have adopted various preventive measures, in line with WHO guidelines, to reduce the spread of the virus One of such public health control measures is to place people on quarantine (WHO, 2020a). This law, which declared COVID-19 as a dangerous infectious disease, serves as a legal backing for all the outlined preventive measures by the nation. It addressed the challenges of the old nation’s Quarantine Act of 1926 (Makinde & Odimegwu, 2018; Nigeria’s Quarantine Act, 2020). My suggestions are: a) Mazza et al (2020); b) El‐Zoghby et al (2020)

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Conclusion