Research Article - (2022) Volume 7, Issue 9
Received: 01-Jul-2022, Manuscript No. APN-22-77138;
Editor assigned: 05-Jul-2022, Pre QC No. P-77138;
Reviewed: 18-Sep-2022, QC No. Q-77138;
Revised: 23-Sep-2022, Manuscript No. R-77138;
Published:
30-Sep-2022
, DOI: 10.37421/2573-0347.2022.7.286
Citation: Shanmugam, Aruna Jothi. “Psychological Impact of (COVID-19) Pandemic among the Public.” Adv Practice Nurs 7 (2022): 286.
Copyright: © 2022 Shanmugam AJ. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Purpose: The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and its impact induced various psychological impacts on the public. Early identification and management of the psychological distress can prevent mental health problems. The aim of the study is to assess the Psychological impact of (COVID-19) Pandemic among the public.
Methods: We conducted an online survey to collect the data from 250 participants. The demographic data, level of anxiety and depression were assessed by using Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.
Results: The study finding shows that Out of 250 participants, 66(26.45%) were affected with anxiety and 143(58%) were depressed. Regarding physiological manifestation of Anxiety, 9.2% of people felt weak and tired quickly, 12.4% of people often had to urinate and 8% of suffered from head, neck, back pain. In terms of emotional responses, 10% of people were more nervous and anxious than usual, 6.8% were afraid for no reason, and 10.8% were easily upset or panicked. In terms of emotional response, 10.8% of people were feeling unhappy and depressed.
Conclusion: the finding shows that; the participants were affected with psychological problems of anxiety and depression. As per analysis, 0.8% of the participants were affected with severe anxiety and 5.0% with depression. Before it becomes worse, it is a time to counsel the general public to cope with the present situation and help them to lead a healthy life.
Psychological problem • Public • COVID-19 pandemic
Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) firstly reported in 2019 in China, and therefore the World Health Organization addresses its pandemic disease on 11 March 2020 [1]. COVID-19, it's an equivalent as SARS, maybe a beta-corona virus Which spread to humans through intermediate hosts like bats, though the particular route of transmission remains debatable [2].
The pandemic COVID-19 is spreading very fast and greatly affected the lifestyle of the population all over the planet. Though, there's an impact also within the psychological condition of the public.
A key measure to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 has been social distancing, aimed toward reducing the probability of contact between infected persons and who aren't infected. The implementations of social distancing measures are often problematic, especially when such measures have a big impact on social norms, the economy, and therefore the psychological well-being of the population [3].
The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and its control measures produced many psychological problems like stress, anxiety, and depression among citizens. The psychological problem has an impression on physiological parameters like the pulse, respiration, vital sign, and sleep disorders, changes in blood glucose level, dyspepsia, palpitation and a headache. Within the study wiped out Hong Kong founded 14% of the population has anxiety and 19% were affected with depression [4]. During a study wiped out Saudi Arabia found the prevalence of depression and anxiety among the whole study participants was 9.4% and 7.3%, respectively [5].
A study wiped out Spanish 2020 reported that about 36% of the participants reported moderate to severe psychological impact, 25% showed mild to severe levels of anxiety, 41% reported depressive symptoms, and 41% felt stressed. Women, young, and people whom that lost their job during the health crisis showed the strongest negative psychological symptoms [6].
The aim of the study is to assess the psychological state of the general public in Aldair, Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia during the outbreak of corona virus diseases.
Study design
A Descriptive research design was utilized to find out psychological impact of (COVID-19) Pandemic among the public in Aldair, Saudi Arabia.
Setting and samples
The study was conducted in Aldair, Jazan region, kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the participants are selected by using snowball sampling technique.
Instruments/measurements
The Demographic data
The data included age, sex, education and occupation.
Assessment of level of Anxiety and depression
Assessment of level of anxiety: The Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) is measuring the level of anxiety and anxiety related symptoms [7,8]. The scale is 4 point scale from none of the time to most of the time. There are 20 questions in this scale. Out of 20 questions, 15 questions are formulated to assess the increasing level of Anxiety and 5 questions were formulated to assess the level of decreasing anxiety.
Assessment of level of depression: W. W. Zung designed a Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale to assess the level of depression. Out of 20 items, 10 items were positively worded and 10 items were negatively worded questions.
A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed through online to assess the demographic variables, level of anxiety, and depression level. The Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Self-Rating Depression Scale were used to assess the level of Anxiety and the level of depression. We received responses from 250 the public [9].
Data collection procedure
The data were collected from 15th May to June 15th, 2020. The study's inclusion criteria are the age above 18 years and willing to participate in the study and the participants not willing to sign the informed consent was excluded from the study. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed through online and received responses from 250 the public.
The data were analyzed by using SPSS20 version. The data represents the demographic variables of the participants.
Out of 250 samples, 184(73.6%) were non Anxious, 48(19.2%) were affected with mild anxiety, 16(6.4%) had moderate anxiety and 2(0.8%) had severe Anxiety. The overall all Anxiety score was 47.02 ± 12.01. Regarding Level of Depression, 105(42%) were not depressed, 91(36.4%) were mildly depressed, 41(16.4%) were moderately depressed and 13(5.2%) were severely depressed. The Overall score of Depression was 50.00 ± 13.6% (Table 1).
| Anxiety level | No. of patients (%) | Depression level | No. of patients (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non anxious | 184(73.6%) | Not depressed | 105(42%) |
| Mild anxiety | 48(19.2%) | Mildly depressed | 91(36.4%) |
| Moderate anxiety | 16(6.4%) | Moderately depressed | 41(16.4%) |
| Severe anxiety | 2(0.8%) | ||
| Overall all Anxiety score | 47.02 ± 12.01 | The Overall score of Depression | 50.00 ± 13.6%. |
Because of anxiety, 9.2% of people felt weak and tired easily, 12.4% of people often had to urinate and 8% of people suffered from head, neck and back pain. In terms of emotional responses, 10% of people were more nervous and anxious than usual, 6.8% of people were afraid for no reason and 10.8% of people were easily upset or panicked. In the description of positive statements, 25.2% of people had no problems falling asleep and slept well through the night. And 40.4% of people found it easy to breathe. 24.8% of people felt calm and at ease and 7.2% of people often had dry and warm hands and feet. Physical symptoms are common in depression.
The following physical symptoms are experienced by the participants with depression, Out of 250 samples, 13.6% of people had poor sleep, 10.8% of people feeling tired for no reason and 10.4% of people were constipated. In terms of emotional response, 10.8% of people were feeling unhappy and depressed. In terms of behavioral responses, 6.67% of people were more likely to be angry and excited. In the description of positive statements, 38.8% of people were hopeful for the future, 21.2% of people's minds were as clear as usual, and 35.6% of people were interested in the things they were interested in. 39.6% of people thought life had been interesting, 31.6% of people thought they were useful and 28.4% of people thought it is not difficult to do things.
The regression coefficient indicates that the age above 59 years has anxiety 1.6 times than other age group with 95% CI (0.33-7.72), i.e., (p=0.555). Essentially, the female participants has more anxiety than male participants 1.3(0.55-3.3) (p=0.524). Multiple regressions quantify the education the post-graduate has less anxiety comparing to other education 2.1(0.11-37.4). With regard to the type of occupation majority of the participants were unemployed has more anxiety 1.0 and the regression coefficient indicates that the age above 59 years were more depressed 4.4 times with 95% CI (0.75-25.8). Essentially, the female participants were more depressed than male participants 0.79(0.36-1.7) (p=0.845). Multiple regressions quantify the education the post-graduate had less depression comparing to other education 2.6(0.13-50.0). With regard to the type of occupation majority of the participants were unemployed had more depression 1.0.
The study findings show that, the public was affected with anxiety and depression due to the outbreak of corona virus. It affected many aspects of our daily life activities and mental Health. The Sudden disruptions of our routine life and new norms of social distancing, stay at home restrictions. Social isolation and other impacts of Economic uncertainty, the worry about jobs, money, and health, and the profound feelings of loss can trigger depression. When you’re suffering from depression; life can seem overwhelmingly bleak and hopeless. It can interfere with your ability to think straight, drain your energy, and make it difficult to get through the day.
The findings were similar to the findings of Marouzadeh [10]. A cross- sectional study was done to assess the prevalence of anxiety and depression in general population of Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic: A web-based study. The finding shows that; the mean values of stress, anxiety and depression for males were found to be 12.65, 9.91 and 10.81 respectively, with 9.26, 8.78, 9.99 standard deviations. They suggested that more attention needs to be paid to vulnerable groups such as women, young/middle-aged adults, unemployed people, and people with chronic disease.
These findings are similar to the study in Saudi Arabia. The study was done by Awad Mohammed Al-Qahtani on COVID19 Pandemic: Psycho Social consequences during the social distancing period among the Najran city population [11]. The findings of the present study indicate that COVID-19 pandemic generates stress, anxiety and depression among the Najran population especially, non-Saudi. This poor psychological condition is exaggerated with prolonged social media use.
The impact of COVID 19 on the public was huge. The psychological problems of the public is not reduced because till now no clear evidence for cause, treatment, vaccine, prevention and control and it produced tremendous changes in the individual lifestyles as well as in day to day life. All these factors must have produced psychological impact on the public. The psychological interventions and counseling session can be planned and implemented to the public to cope with the present situation and help them to lead a healthy life.
The findings of this study implies that the government needs to implement new strategies to manage the psychological problems of the public and also updating the public with current information about COVID-19, management, facilities and serviced provided by the government and by the health sector. It helps to reduce the effect of unauthorized news on the psychological aspects of the Public. The government can plan for an online service to manage. To Manage a psychological problem and to promoting mental wellness.
• The Non probability sampling technique and online data was collected due to Curfew.
• Difficulties’ in reaching the sample, hence online survey with self-reporting method was used to collect the data.
The authors wish to acknowledge all the participants of the study.
The authors declare no conflict of Interest.
The data were analyzed by using SPSS2.0 version
The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee, Jazan University (REC41/5/41 dated on 13/05/2020). The informed consent was obtained from all respondents through online.
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