Determinants of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures: a nationwide on-line survey in Greece and Cyprus

Abstract

A limited number of studies have investigated the distress during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures in the general population. We studied psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures in the general population in Greece and Cyprus. Also, we investigated several demographic, clinical and job characteristics of the participants as possible determinants of distress. Data collection was performed during lockdown measures in Greece and Cyprus (from April 21st to May 4th 2020). All participants provided informed consent to participate in the study. We used the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) to measure the psychological distress in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures. Seventeen point four percent of the participants had overall IES-R score from 24 to 32 indicating that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a clinical concern, while 33.5% had overall IES-R score >32 indicating that PTSD is a probable diagnosis. Females, Cyprus residents, participants that live with elderly people or patients with a chronic disease in home, participants with a mental health disease or/and chronic disease, participants under pharmaceutical treatment, participants that lost their work due to the pandemic and participants that work in hospital experienced greater distress. Also, increased age and decreased educational level was associated with increased distress. Findings suggest that our sample experienced great distress and this distress was affected by several demographic, clinical and job characteristics. Appropriate interventions should be established in order to support psychologically high risk groups and decrease their distress. Keywords: distress, COVID-19, posttraumatic stress disorder, cross-sectional study, on-line survey, public health

Longitudinal Changes in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After Resettlement Among Yazidi Female Refugees Exposed to Violence

“…Because previous studies [20][21][22][23][24] suggest that past PTSD severity is associated with subsequent PTSD severity but findings can be inconsistent regarding individual PTSD symptom clusters as factors associated with subsequent PTSD, we included all 3 baseline IES-R subscale scores as independent variables, controlling for age 52,53 and number of days spent in captivity. 42 Given that the authors of the IES-R recommend the use of means of the different item scores rather than raw sum scores 46 and that we aimed to avoid an overrepresentation of the 8-item subscales over the 6-item subscale in the sum score for PTSD severity for this analysis, we used the sum of all 3 subscales (IES-R subscale sum score range, 0-12) 54,55 at follow-up instead of the IES-R raw sum score as the dependent variable. A second multiple linear regression was performed to test the hypothesis that posttraumatic changes in faith and in social relationships are associated with a favorable PTSD course, 19 even when age 52,53 and the number of days in captivity are controlled for.…”

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the “COVID Stress Scales” in Greek

“…Distress, anxiety, fear, and several other psychological symptoms are common during the COVID-19 pandemic (Bareeqa et al, 2021; Cénat et al, 2021; Galanis, Andreadaki, et al, 2021; Galanis, Petrogianni, et al, 2021; Patelarou et al, 2022; Yuan et al, 2021; Zhang et al, 2021). For instance, according to studies in China, more than 25% of the general population experienced moderate to severe levels of stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic (Qiu et al, 2020; Wang et al, 2020).…”

“…For instance, according to studies in China, more than 25% of the general population experienced moderate to severe levels of stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic (Qiu et al, 2020; Wang et al, 2020). The psychological management of the COVID-19 is essential since higher levels of perceived threat from the COVID-19 and fear of COVID-19 are associated with increased willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19 (Galanis et al, 2022; Galanis, Vraka, et al, 2021; Patelarou et al, 2021). On the other hand, increased anxiety is related with socially disruptive behaviors, such as panic buying and surging unnecessarily into hospitals when people misinterpret their minor symptoms as signs of serious disease (Asmundson & Taylor, 2020a, 2020b).…”

Translation, Adaptation and Validation of the Pandemic Fatigue Scale (PFS) in the Greek Language

“…To date, there have been millions of diseased and deceased during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the impact of the pandemic is more than a healthcare problem as it has affected society and the economy with significant burdens globally [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Therefore, during the management of and at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, physical and psychosocial consequences were studied, such as fear, anxiety, depression, and fatigue [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”

“…To date, there have been millions of diseased and deceased during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the impact of the pandemic is more than a healthcare problem as it has affected society and the economy with significant burdens globally [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Therefore, during the management of and at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, physical and psychosocial consequences were studied, such as fear, anxiety, depression, and fatigue [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Historically, in similar pandemics, such as the Spanish influenza pandemic, there was a mild first and second wave and a catastrophic third and fourth wave due to the fatigue of the citizens and the pressure exerted on the politicians to return to the normal standards of living [ 7 ].…”