Abstract
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic that hit Spain during March 2020 forced the strict confinement of the population for 2 months. The objectives of this study were (a) to assess the magnitude and duration of the influence of confinement on people’s Distress, (b) to study the temporal sequence of stress, and (c) to show how different day-to-day activities and personal variables influence perceived Distress levels.Method: A daily registration was completed by 123 people, with ages ranging from 21 to 75 years old ( = 43, SD = 10 years), of which there were 40 men (32%) and 83 females (68%). During 45 days of lockdown, from March 19th to May 3rd, participants were asked to respond to a socio-demographic survey and make daily records comprising the MASQ-D30 and some day-to-day behaviors. Pooled time series was applied to establish what effect time had on the dependent variable.Results: Distress has a 14-day autoregressive function and gender, physical activity, sexual activity, listening to music, and teleworking also influence Distress. It has been hypothesized that the intercept presents variability at level 2 (individual), but it has not been significant. Interactions between Gender—Telecommuting, and Gender—Physical Activity were observed. Approximately 66% of the variance of Distress was explained (R2 = 0.663).Discussion: At the beginning of the lockdown, the average levels of Distress were well above the levels of the end (z = 3.301). The individuals in the sample have followed a very similar process in the development of Distress. During the lockdown, the “memory” of Distress was 2 weeks. Our results indicate that levels of Distress depend on activities during lockdown. Interactions exist between gender and some behavioral variables that barely influence Distress in men but decrease Distress in women. The importance of routine maintenance and gender differences must be considered to propose future interventions during confinement.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic that hit Spain during March 2020 forced the strict confinement of the population for 2 months
The bootstrap system does not give a value of t but, under normal conditions and p(t) = 0.001, corresponds a t∗ = 3.301, which indicates that at the beginning of the pandemic our sample suffered very high levels of Distress, approximately 3.301 scores typified in relation to the distress suffered at the end
As well as other variables that can have a negative impact on a person’s well-being, have been studied in other countries, and results tend to agree on the importance of focusing on the population’s psychological and emotional wellbeing and highlighting mental health as a protection factor in future lockdown situations that could take place
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic that hit Spain during March 2020 forced the strict confinement of the population for 2 months. The global pandemic situation due to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID19) made several countries implement exceptional and severe measures to prevent the spread of the illness. The last two decades have seen a growing trend of different epidemic outbreaks that have taken place around the world, such as the polio epidemic in Uttar Pradesh (India), the SARS epidemic, the H1N1 flu pandemic threat, the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and the Zika epidemic in Latin America. None of these sanitary alerts impacted at the level the COVID-19 has. During the COVID-19 crisis, worldwide lockdown and quarantine measures were taken, and previous lockdown situations have taken place as happened in several areas of China (Guan et al, 2003) and Canada due to SARS (Hawryluck et al, 2004), and in other African countries during the Ebola virus epidemic in 2014 (Frieden et al, 2014). Hawryluck et al (2004) report that post-traumatic stress disorder and depression were found in 30% of their studied sample, and that these diagnoses were related to the lockdown period
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