Perceived Stress and Hopelessness in COVID-19 Contacts

Abstract

Aim: We aimed to determine the perceived stress and hopelessness levels in COVID-19 patient contacts.Materials and Methods: The study included all COVID-19 contacts who presented to a family health center in Niğde, Turkey between August and October 2020. The data were collected from contacts who were reached daily for a period of 14 days using the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The data were analyzed using the SPSS package program, and p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: While 55.8% of the participants were female, 71% were married, and 46.9% had a chronic disease. The mean age of the participants was 53.44 years. Their mean BHS and PSS scores were 4.40±3.33 and 25.07±5.98, respectively. A statistically significant relationship was found between the participants’ places of residence and occupations and their mean BHS loss of motivation subscale scores (p<0.05). Among the participants, homemakers, those living in districts, towns, or villages, and those with chronic diseases had significantly higher PSS total scale and.stress-distress subscale mean scores than the others. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the ages of the participants and their PSS total scale and stress-distress subscale scores (p<0.05). Conclusion: Although the hopelessness levels of the participants were found low, their stress levels were determined to be high, and most of them thought the pandemic was exaggerated. Due to the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic such as shock, denial, anxiety, worry, and stress in people, it is important to strengthen crisis and stress management efforts and increase awareness, coping and social support resources by prioritizing high-risk groups such as healthcare workers, women, the elderly, those with chronic diseases, and COVID-19 contacts.