Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychological impact of confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, considering any protective factors, such as the practice of meditation or self-compassion, and their relationship with different lifestyles and circumstances of adults residing in Spain. A cross-sectional study was done using an anonymous online survey in which 412 participants filled out the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-2; the Impact of Events Scale; and the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, reporting severe symptomatology of posttraumatic stress and mild anxiety and depression. Quality of cohabitation and age were found to be key variables in the psychological impact of confinement. The impact of confinement was more negative for those who reported very poor cohabitation as opposed to very good (F (3, 405) = 30.75, p ≤ 0.001, d = 2.44, r = 0.054) or for those under 35 years of age compared to those over 46 (F (2, 409) = 5.14, p = 0.006, d = 0.36). Practicing meditation was not revealed as a protective factor, but self-compassion was related to better cohabitation during confinement (F (3, 403) = 11.83, p ≤ 0.001, d = 1.05). These results could be relevant in designing psychological interventions to improve coping and mental health in other situations similar to confinement.
Highlights
In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia with an unknown etiology was announced in Wuhan (China), soon becoming a global pandemic and surpassing the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) of 2003 [1]
The general mean on the DASS-21 scale for participant Stress was 6.67 (SD = 5.25), 3.88 (SD = 4.51)
After analyzing the survey results with regard to the objectives originally set, the participants showed mild depression and anxiety, not reporting symptoms of stress. They did report severe symptomatology on the Impact of Events Scale (IES) scale as in previous studies, which related high scores in posttraumatic stress symptoms or avoidance behaviors after 10 days of quarantine [8]. This difference may be, in part, because the IES scale evaluates the psychological impact of an event after the fact and the participants could have understood that the event referred to COVID-19, but not on the DASS-21 scale
Summary
In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia with an unknown etiology was announced in Wuhan (China), soon becoming a global pandemic and surpassing the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) of 2003 [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) identified this new pneumonia as a new coronavirus called SARS-COV-2 or as it is commonly called, COVID-19. Since the first cases were recorded in December 2019, the number has increased exponentially throughout the world and a public health emergency of international interest was declared on 30 January 2020 [2]. By March 11th, COVID-19 had already been declared a worldwide pandemic with 118,000 cases in 114 countries, 90% of them were concentrated in China and the Republic of Korea [3]. In Europe, over 2.5 million people have been infected, with almost 200,000 deaths, and Spain has had the third most cases in Europe, with 248,770, and the sixth most deaths, with 28,343 [4]
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