Assessment of Anxiety, Depression, Attitude, and Coping Strategies of the Egyptian Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed several challenges on different populations all around the world, with stress being identified as one of the major challenges. This study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19-induced stress on the prevalence and severity of anxiety and/or depression, factors that predict the development of anxiety and/or depression, and coping strategies in the Egyptian population during the COVID 19 outbreak. Subjects and Methods: This is an observational cross-sectional online study. The questionnaire of our study included five sections: demographic and clinical data, attitude towards COVID-19, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and a specifically prepared and standardized Arabic version of a coping strategies scale. The questionnaire was uploaded on 20 May 2020 at 1 p.m. and closed on 7 July 2020 at 8 a.m. Results: The study questionnaire was completed by 283 Egyptians, with mean age 34.81 ± 11.36 years, of which 17% had been infected with COVID-19. The responses showed that 62.9% had moderate anxiety, whereas 12.4% had severe anxiety. Moreover, 13.8% had moderate depression, and 14.1% had severe depression. Our study demonstrated that age, mental status, and being infected with COVID-19 correlated with depression, whereas only age correlated with anxiety. Interestingly, our data showed that anxiety and depression were negatively correlated with some coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: Pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, imposes stress on individuals, which leads to the development of anxiety and/or depression. Several factors, which could be population-dependent, may help predict the development of anxiety or depression. We show the factors correlated with depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Egyptian population. Furthermore, certain personal coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic are negatively correlated with anxiety and depression. Therefore, our study sheds light on the importance of studying factors in each population that can lead to pandemic-induced psychological complications and those that can relieve such complications.

Psychological Distress, Fear and Coping Strategies During the Second and Third Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern Germany

“…The same online instruments were used like the prior global study led by the last author (MAR), but the current study adapted German language. In this study, more females participated than males, which was in line with other similar German studies ( 16 , 26 – 28 ) in the first wave of the pandemic, and also supports an Australian ( 10 ), Egyptian ( 15 ), Bangladeshi ( 14 ), Malaysian ( 13 ), and global study ( 10 ). A possible explanation might be that women were more inclined to share their experiences by participating in the study or women were more impacted due to the pandemic, lockdown or financially that prompted them to participate in the study.…”

Impact on the Mental and Physical Health of the Portuguese Population during the COVID-19 Confinement

“…In our study, health-related variables (presence of chronic diseases; taking medication regularly; needing to attend consultations in a health centre, hospital, or clinic regularly; having recently performed COVID-19 tests; and self-assessment of health perception) were related to the presence of psychological distress, as had already been described in the studies by Shehata et al [36], Cybulski et al [37], and Ripoll et al [38]. Regarding the evaluation of the perception of the health of our sample, the results show that the group of people who do not experience psychological distress expressed a better evaluation of their health compared to the group that had psychological distress, although both made a good self-assessment of their health.…”

Depression, Anxiety and Associated Factors among Frontline Hospital Healthcare Workers in the Fourth Wave of COVID-19: Empirical Findings from Vietnam

“…Our findings indicate thatadvanced age was a protective factor for depression symptoms, but this age variable is not statistically significant for anxiety related models in all present analyses. In the Egyptian population, age was reported to show a significantly negative correlation with depression during the COVID 19 outbreak [25]. A systematic review of Jiaqi Xiong also showed that those from the younger age group (≤40 years) presented with more depressive symptoms [26].…”

“…The total score of the PHQ-9 scale after self-reported response ranges from 0 to 27, and more severe depression symptoms are shown by a higher score. Symptom severity was based on the total score and was categorized as follows: absence of depression (0-4), mild depression (5)(6)(7)(8)(9), moderate depression (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), and severe depression (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27). In various medical settings, the validated depression scale was reported with good reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.86-0.89).…”