- Title
- COVID-19 : factors associated with the psychological distress, fear and resilient coping strategies among community members in Saudi Arabia
- Creator
- Alharbi, Talal; Alqurashi, Alaa; Mahmud, Ilias; Alharbi, Rayan; Islam, Sheikh; Almustanyir, Sami; Maklad, Ahmed; AlSarraj, Ahmad; Mughaiss, Lujain; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar; Ahmed, Ahmed; Barry, Mazin; Ghozy, Sherief; Alabdan, Lulwah; Alif, Sheikh; Sultana, Farhana; Salehin, Masudus; Banik, Biswajit; Cross, Wendy; Rahman, Muhammad Aziz
- Date
- 2023
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/194655
- Identifier
- vital:18378
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11081184
- Identifier
- ISSN:2227-9032 (ISSN)
- Abstract
- (1) Background: COVID-19 caused the worst international public health crisis, accompanied by major global economic downturns and mass-scale job losses, which impacted the psychosocial wellbeing of the worldwide population, including Saudi Arabia. Evidence of the high-risk groups impacted by the pandemic has been non-existent in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study examined factors associated with psychosocial distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping strategies among the general population in Saudi Arabia. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in healthcare and community settings in the Saudi Arabia using an anonymous online questionnaire. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10), Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS) were used to assess psychological distress, fear and coping strategies, respectively. Multivariate logistic regressions were used, and an Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs) was reported. (3) Results: Among 803 participants, 70% (n = 556) were females, and the median age was 27 years; 35% (n = 278) were frontline or essential service workers; and 24% (n = 195) reported comorbid conditions including mental health illness. Of the respondents, 175 (21.8%) and 207 (25.8%) reported high and very high psychological distress, respectively. Factors associated with moderate to high levels of psychological distress were: youth, females, non-Saudi nationals, those experiencing a change in employment or a negative financial impact, having comorbidities, and current smoking. A high level of fear was reported by 89 participants (11.1%), and this was associated with being ex-smokers (3.72, 1.14–12.14, 0.029) and changes in employment (3.42, 1.91–6.11, 0.000). A high resilience was reported by 115 participants (14.3%), and 333 participants (41.5%) had medium resilience. Financial impact and contact with known/suspected cases (1.63, 1.12–2.38, 0.011) were associated with low, medium, to high resilient coping. (4) Conclusions: People in Saudi Arabia were at a higher risk of psychosocial distress along with medium-high resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, warranting urgent attention from healthcare providers and policymakers to provide specific mental health support strategies for their current wellbeing and to avoid a post-pandemic mental health crisis. © 2023 by the authors.
- Publisher
- MDPI
- Relation
- Healthcare (Switzerland) Vol. 11, no. 8 (2023), p.
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Rights
- Copyright © 2023 by the authors
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences; 42 Health sciences; Community; Coping; COVID-19; Mental health; Psychological distress; Resilience
- Full Text
- Reviewed
- Funder
- The researchers would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research, Qassim University, for funding the publication of this project.
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