Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 25:13:860683.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.860683. eCollection 2022.

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

Mohamed Elsayed  1 , Carlos Schönfeldt-Lecuona  1   2 , Xenia Anna Welte  1 , Khaled Tarek Dardeer  3 , Manar Ahmed Kamal  4 , Ramy Abdelnaby  5 , Markus A Rudek  6 , Evelyne Riedel  7 , Michael Denkinger  2   8 , Maximilian Gahr  1 , Bernhard J Connemann  1 , Sheikh M Alif  9 , Biswajit Banik  10 , Wendy Cross  10 , Muhammad Aziz Rahman  10   11
Affiliations

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

Mohamed Elsayed et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed enormous psychological discomfort and fear across the globe, including Germany.

Objectives: To assess the levels of COVID-19 associated psychological distress and fear amongst Southern German population, and to identify their coping strategies.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey using an online questionnaire was conducted in healthcare and community settings in the region of Ulm, Southern Germany. Assessment inventories were the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10), the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), which were valid and reliable tools.

Results: A total of 474 Individuals participated in the study. The mean age was 33.6 years, and 327 (69%) were females. Most participants (n = 381, 80.4%) had high levels of psychological distress, whereas only 5.1% had high levels of fear, and two-thirds of participants showed higher levels of coping. Moderate to very high levels of psychological distress were associated with being female, living alone, distress due to employment changes, experiencing financial impact, having multiple co-morbidities, being a smoker, increased alcohol use over the previous 6 months, contact with COVID-19 cases and healthcare providers for COVID-19-related stress. Individuals who were ≥60 years, lived with non-family members, had co-morbidities and visited a healthcare provider had higher levels of fear. Higher levels of education and income showed better coping amongst participants.

Conclusion: Psychological distress was very high during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany and associated with low levels of coping. This study identified vulnerable groups of people, who should be given priorities for addressing their health and wellbeing in future crisis periods.

Keywords: COVID-19; Germany; coping; cross-sectional survey; fear; mental health; psychological distress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. COVID Live Update: 230 496 379 Cases and 4 725 702 Deaths from the Coronavirus - Worldometer . Available online at: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaignhomeAdvegas1? (accessed November 23, 2021).
    1. Germany COVID: 4 167 891 Cases and 93 736 Deaths - Worldometer . Available from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/ (accessed November 23, 2021).
    1. Anderton R, Botelho V, Consolo A, Da Silva AD, Foroni C, Mohr M, et al. . The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the euro area labour market. Available online at: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/economic-bulletin/articles/2021/html/ecb.e... (accessed November 23, 2021).
    1. Martins Van Jaarsveld G. The Effects of COVID-19 Among the Elderly Population: A Case for Closing the Digital Divide. Front Psychiatry. (2020) 0:1211. 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.577427 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Giallonardo V, Sampogna G, Vecchio DV, Luciano M, Albert U, Carmassi C, et al. . The impact of quarantine and physical distancing following COVID-19 on mental health: study protocol of a multicentric italian population trial. Front Psychiatry. (2020). 11:533. 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00533 - DOI - PMC - PubMed