Prevalence of psycho-social distresses associated with COVID-19

Abstract

Background: The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which was identified in the month of December 2019 at Wuhan city of China and spread all over the world has now achieved pandemic status. It affects the physical and mental lives of millions of people and increases the mortality rate internationally. It also affects the mental well-being of the individuals and produces many psycho-social distresses and reduced adjustment mechanism and coping strategies to fight with coronavirus. Objectives: The prime objective of this present study was to find out the various psycho-social distresses associated with COVID-19 prevailing on different variables of socio-demographic details such as gender, their cultural background, age, education, marital status, and pre-existing medical conditions. Sample: A total of 120 samples were chosen through a purposive sampling technique that belonged to the urban and rural backgrounds of different parts of the country. Only those were selected who contacted the undersigned through telephonic communication related to their psycho-social distresses associated with COVID-19. There were no barriers to the age bar in the collection of data. Research design: This is a cross-sectional study. Those who were reported about psychosocial distress related to COVID-19 were included in the study. Variable: The independent variables are gender and different psycho-social variable like age, education, marital status, and pre-existing medical conditions. Their impact was examined on the dependent variable of expression and apprehension of psycho-social distress associated with COVID-19 symptoms such as fear, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, lack of sleep, lack of appetite, headache, irritation/ anger, lack of concentration and poor memory. Research tools: Data were collected through telephonic communication on the self-made questionnaire. Those who are anxious and apprehended about the symptoms of COVID-19 and used psychological support system through telephonic communication from 28th March 2020 to 20th Apr 2020 included in the study. Result: Fear and depression was most common psycho-social distresses (120, 100% on each) followed by anxiety (106, 88.34%), lack of sleep (54, 45%), headache (52, 43.34%), lack of appetite (38, 31.67%), irritation/ anger (36, 30%), lack of concentration/ poor memory (34, 28.34%). Suicidal ideation was found at least common psycho-social stresses related to COVID-19 which was found only in 33, 27.5% of cases. The contents of fear, anxiety, and depression were varied from the people of one socio-demographic domain to other. Those who don’t have a pre-existing medical history of any diseases were felt more psycho-social distresses (42, 35%) than those having the pre-existing medical history of any diseases such as hypertension (24, 20%), diabetes (27, 22.5%), heart problems (12, 10%) or any other medical conditions or psychiatric problems (15, 12.5%). Conclusion: Fear and depression were the most common and suicidal ideation were the least common psycho-social distresses related to COVID-19. Those who don’t have a pre-existing medical history of any diseases were felt more psycho-social distresses than those having the pre-existing medical history of any diseases such as hypertension diabetes, heart problems, or any other medical conditions or psychiatric problems.