Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) Lockdown on Mental Health and Well-Being in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has taken unprecedented precautionary measures including complete lockdowns against COVID-19 to control its spread and ensure the well-being of individuals. This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 and societal lockdown measures on the mental health of adults in the UAE. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an English and Arabic online questionnaire between May and June 2020. The psychological impact was assessed by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the social and family support impact was evaluated using questions from the Perceived Support Scale (PSS). A total of 4,426 participants (3,325 females and 1,101 males) completed the questionnaire. The mean IES-R score was 28.0 ± 14.6, reflecting a mild stressful impact with 27.3% reporting severe psychological impact. Over 36% reported increased stress from work, home and financial matters. Also, 43–63% of the participants felt horrified, apprehensive or helpless due to COVID-19. Females, younger participants, part-timers, and college or University graduates were more likely to have a high IES-R score (p < 0.05). The majority of participants reported receiving increased support from family members, paying more attention to their mental health, and spending more time to rest and relax. The results of this study demonstrate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among the UAE residents and highlight the need to adopt culturally appropriate interventions for the general population and vulnerable groups, such as females and younger adults.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Toward SARS-COV-2 Infection in the United Arab Emirates Population: An Online Community-Based Cross-Sectional Survey

“…On the contrary, Saqlain et al's (21) findings showed that Pakistani healthcare workers had good knowledge (93.2%, n = 386), positive attitude (8.43 ± 1.78), and good practices (88.7%, n = 367) regarding SARS-COV-2. Similar findings by Giao et al (22) illustrated that the majority of participants among healthcare workers in Vietnam held good knowledge and good attitude toward SARS-COV-2. More research is needed to investigate healthcare workers' competences and the knowledge necessary for their work in this challenging pandemic environment.…”

“…Age of the particepnts might be affected by the mean by which the questionnaire was distributed since most of social media users are young adults. Overrepresentation by female sex and young populations is found as well in other online-based studies and worth investigating with regards to casuses and its influence on results ( 23 , 24 ).…”

“…The UAE is one of the countries with the highest access to internet and use of social media, thus an online survey, offered in Arabic and English languages, was able to reach wide sections of the society. The interval of distribution was 10 days only, other UAE studies with similar design recruited double this study sample size when conducted over 2 months ( 23 ). But many were of similar sample size ( 24 ) and compared to studies done elsewhere as in the US the reach of the online survays in the UAE is excellent ( 25 ).…”

Food Safety Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Among Jordan Universities Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Most of the respondents did not dispose empty shopping bags and disinfect food packaging, a similar pattern was observed in Jordanian participants where only 15.2% of the reported disposing of all boxes, packages, and covers of food while 13.4% reported always disinfecting food packaging prior to home storage (10). In contrast, about 40% of the consumers in Indonesia and Malaysia washed or wiped food jars and cans before using them (33), and 71.9% of United Arab Emirates residents sanitized or cleaned groceries before storing them (41). A higher percentage of our participants have insufficient knowledge on the proper use of reusable kitchen sponges as they reported using them for multiple purposes such as dishes and sink.…”

Dietary Habits and Lifestyle During Coronavirus Pandemic Lockdown: Experience From Lebanon

“…Data from the current study revealed a significant increase in the percentage of participants experiencing exhaustion, irritability, and tension during the pandemic. Similarly in the United Arab Emirates, participants felt horrified, apprehensive, or helpless due to the COVID-19 pandemic (62). In Lebanon, citizens reported an increase in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology during the second week of the COVID-19 lockdown (63) and higher fear of COVID-19, anger, and anxiety in almost half of the participants (64).…”