Abstract
Background and ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to draw the attention toward the implications of COVID-19 and the related restrictions imposed worldwide especially in Pakistan. The primary objective was to highlight the levels of psychological distress, anxiety, family violence, suicidality, and well-being due to COVID-19 and the secondary objective was to associate it to social demographic factors.Materials and MethodsIt is designed as a cross-sectional study by employing an online questionnaire in the English language and obtaining responses using a snowball sampling technique. We used three validated measures including Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) index and World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5).ResultsA sample of 420 participants was recruited from across Pakistan, with most participants were females (79%), students (89.8%) and belonging to Punjab (54%). Nearly one-fourth of the participants (23.8%) scored above the minimum value set for moderate or high psychological distress (K10 > 12). There was a higher prevalence of distress among females and resident of province Punjab. The majority of individuals reported that they were living with their family (94.5%) and more than half (52.6%) were neutral regarding their satisfaction with their living conditions. 40.5% believed that the lockdown has had a negative impact on their mental health. 31.4% have reported that they themselves have experienced abuse from a family member. 48.6% scored high on the GAD-7 scale and low wellbeing score was found among 80.2%. Students were found to be more vulnerable to mental illness and anxiety.ConclusionWith the lockdown restrictions, psychosocial distress has become prevalent in Pakistan.
Highlights
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) first emerged in Wuhan China, in December 2019 and has since affected 222 countries, with a total of 209,670,370 confirmed cases and 4,399,468 deaths globally as of 18th August 2021 (Worldometer Coronavirus, 2022)
The majority of individuals reported that they were living with their family (94.5%) and more than half (52.6%) were neutral regarding their satisfaction with their living conditions. 40.5% believed that the lockdown has had a negative impact on their mental health. 31.4% have reported that they themselves have experienced abuse from a family member. 48.6% scored high on the GAD-7 scale and low wellbeing score was found among 80.2%
Close to half of the respondents (48.6%) scored higher than 10 on the GAD-7 scale, which was the cut-off value for the anxiety score to be regarded as high, whereas a low wellbeing score was found among 80.2% of the individuals
Summary
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) first emerged in Wuhan China, in December 2019 and has since affected 222 countries, with a total of 209,670,370 confirmed cases and 4,399,468 deaths globally as of 18th August 2021 (Worldometer Coronavirus, 2022). Based on the reproductive numbers of novel coronavirus-19 (COVID-19), its estimated transmissibility is 4.1 (Wang et al, 2020). This suggests that with each confirmed case of COVID-19, there will be 4 new confirmed cases and inevitably, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic (Wang et al, 2020; World Health Organization [WHO], 2022). In Pakistan, the first case was confirmed on February 26, 2020, and a nationwide lockdown was imposed on April 1, 2020 (Jawed, 2020). The lockdown helped curtail the spread of the virus and currently Pakistan, despite being densely populated, ranks 33rd in the list of COVID-19 affected countries (Worldometer Coronavirus, 2022). The primary objective was to highlight the levels of psychological distress, anxiety, family violence, suicidality, and well-being due to COVID-19 and the secondary objective was to associate it to social demographic factors
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