TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19
T2 - Factors associated with psychological distress, fear, and coping strategies among community members across 17 countries
AU - Rahman, Muhammad Aziz
AU - Islam, Sheikh Mohammed Shariful
AU - Tungpunkom, Patraporn
AU - Sultana, Farhana
AU - Alif, Sheikh M.
AU - Banik, Biswajit
AU - Salehin, Masudus
AU - Joseph, Bindu
AU - Lam, Louisa
AU - Watts, Mimmie Claudine
AU - Khan, Sabria Jihan
AU - Ghozy, Sherief
AU - Chair, Sek Ying
AU - Chien, Wai Tong
AU - Schönfeldt-Lecuona, Carlos
AU - El-Khazragy, Nashwa
AU - Mahmud, Ilias
AU - Al Mawali, Adhra Hilal
AU - Al Maskari, Turkiya Saleh
AU - Alharbi, Rayan Jafnan
AU - Hamza, Amr
AU - Keblawi, Mohamad Ali
AU - Hammoud, Majeda
AU - Elaidy, Asmaa M.
AU - Susanto, Agus Dwi
AU - Bahar Moni, Ahmed Suparno
AU - AlQurashi, Alaa Ashraf
AU - Ali, Almajdoub
AU - Wazib, Amit
AU - Sanluang, Cattaliya Siripattarakul
AU - Elsori, Deena H.
AU - Yasmin, Farhana
AU - Taufik, Feni Fitrani
AU - Al Kloub, Manal
AU - Ruiz, Mara Gerbabe
AU - Elsayed, Mohamed
AU - Eltewacy, Nael Kamel
AU - Al Laham, Nahed
AU - Oli, Natalia
AU - Abdelnaby, Ramy
AU - Dweik, Rania
AU - Thongyu, Ratree
AU - Almustanyir, Sami
AU - Rahman, Shaila
AU - Nitayawan, Sirirat
AU - Al-Madhoun, Sondos
AU - Inthong, Suwit
AU - Alharbi, Talal Ali
AU - Bahar, Tamanna
AU - Ginting, Tribowo Tuahta
AU - Cross, Wendy M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the support from all the collaborators and individuals who supported us in collecting data from the participating countries. We would like to convey our gratitude to all the study participants, who donated their valuable time within the crisis period of coronavirus pandemic and kindly participated in this global study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Background: The current pandemic of COVID-19 impacted the psychological wellbeing of populations globally. Objectives: We aimed to examine the extent and identify factors associated with psychological distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study across 17 countries during Jun-2020 to Jan-2021. Levels of psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale), fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 Scale), and coping (Brief Resilient Coping Scale) were assessed. Results: A total of 8,559 people participated; mean age (±SD) was 33(±13) years, 64% were females and 40% self-identified as frontline workers. More than two-thirds (69%) experienced moderate-to-very high levels of psychological distress, which was 46% in Thailand and 91% in Egypt. A quarter (24%) had high levels of fear of COVID-19, which was as low as 9% in Libya and as high as 38% in Bangladesh. More than half (57%) exhibited medium to high resilient coping; the lowest prevalence (3%) was reported in Australia and the highest (72%) in Syria. Being female (AOR 1.31 [95% CIs 1.09-1.57]), perceived distress due to change of employment status (1.56 [1.29-1.90]), comorbidity with mental health conditions (3.02 [1.20-7.60]) were associated with higher levels of psychological distress and fear. Doctors had higher psychological distress (1.43 [1.04-1.97]), but low levels of fear of COVID-19 (0.55 [0.41-0.76]); nurses had medium to high resilient coping (1.30 [1.03-1.65]). Conclusions: The extent of psychological distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping varied by country; however, we identified few higher risk groups who were more vulnerable than others. There is an urgent need to prioritise health and well-being of those people through well-designed intervention that may need to be tailored to meet country specific requirements.
AB - Background: The current pandemic of COVID-19 impacted the psychological wellbeing of populations globally. Objectives: We aimed to examine the extent and identify factors associated with psychological distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study across 17 countries during Jun-2020 to Jan-2021. Levels of psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale), fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 Scale), and coping (Brief Resilient Coping Scale) were assessed. Results: A total of 8,559 people participated; mean age (±SD) was 33(±13) years, 64% were females and 40% self-identified as frontline workers. More than two-thirds (69%) experienced moderate-to-very high levels of psychological distress, which was 46% in Thailand and 91% in Egypt. A quarter (24%) had high levels of fear of COVID-19, which was as low as 9% in Libya and as high as 38% in Bangladesh. More than half (57%) exhibited medium to high resilient coping; the lowest prevalence (3%) was reported in Australia and the highest (72%) in Syria. Being female (AOR 1.31 [95% CIs 1.09-1.57]), perceived distress due to change of employment status (1.56 [1.29-1.90]), comorbidity with mental health conditions (3.02 [1.20-7.60]) were associated with higher levels of psychological distress and fear. Doctors had higher psychological distress (1.43 [1.04-1.97]), but low levels of fear of COVID-19 (0.55 [0.41-0.76]); nurses had medium to high resilient coping (1.30 [1.03-1.65]). Conclusions: The extent of psychological distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping varied by country; however, we identified few higher risk groups who were more vulnerable than others. There is an urgent need to prioritise health and well-being of those people through well-designed intervention that may need to be tailored to meet country specific requirements.
KW - coping
KW - coronavirus
KW - COVID-19
KW - fear
KW - mental health
KW - psychological distress
KW - resilience
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116273534&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12992-021-00768-3
DO - 10.1186/s12992-021-00768-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 34598720
AN - SCOPUS:85116273534
SN - 1744-8603
VL - 17
JO - Globalization and Health
JF - Globalization and Health
IS - 1
M1 - 117
ER -
