Psychological Impacts and Coping Mechanisms of 4th District of Camarines Sur, Philippines during the Community Quarantine due to Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19)

Abstract

To determine the psychological impact and coping mechanisms of selected group of residents in the 4th District of Camarines Sur during the Community Quarantine due to COVID 19, this study was conducted. This a descriptive research and questionnaire was prepared and adopted the Self-Reporting questionnaire developed by World Health Organization (WHO); and the impact of Events Scale –Revised (IES-R). Findings revealed that students were high in terms of neurotic, psychotic and post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD). Among these three, post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) was the highest at 76.81 % among students. Male recorded the highest compared to female. Symptoms were avoidance, intrusion and hyper arousal. Generally, they had experienced moderate symptoms. The respondents were with their family and stayed at home, generally felt sad and their top most coping mechanisms were praying, listening to music/singing, and connecting with others thru social media. Local governments and barangays provided support such as rice, grocery items and facemasks which in a way helped cope the impact of community quarantine. Some were happy and some were not due to some issues on the system of distribution. Various recommendations were given to improve the system and to cope with the impact of the community quarantine, that the local government and barangay officials must come up with the concrete programs and budget, specific focus on the distribution, prioritization of recipients, immediate response, protocols, recreational, wellness, moral and financial support to boost the morale and avoid the adverse effect of community on the health condition of the residents. Keywords: psychological impact, coping mechanism, COVID- 19 pandemic, community quarantine, barangay and government support.