COVID-19: Factors Associated with the Psychological Distress, Fear and Resilient Coping Strategies among Community Members in Saudi Arabia

doi:10.3390/healthcare11081184

. 2023 Apr 20;11(8):1184.

doi: 10.3390/healthcare11081184.

COVID-19: Factors Associated with the Psychological Distress, Fear and Resilient Coping Strategies among Community Members in Saudi Arabia

Talal Ali F Alharbi¹, Alaa Ashraf Bagader Alqurashi², Ilias Mahmud³, Rayan Jafnan Alharbi^{4

5}, Sheikh Mohammed Shariful Islam⁶, Sami Almustanyir^{7

8}, Ahmed Essam Maklad⁸, Ahmad AlSarraj⁸, Lujain Nedhal Mughaiss⁹, Jaffar A Al-Tawfiq^{10

11

12}, Ahmed Ali Ahmed¹³, Mazin Barry¹⁴, Sherief Ghozy¹⁵, Lulwah Ibrahim Alabdan¹⁶, Sheikh M Alif¹⁷, Farhana Sultana¹⁸, Masudus Salehin¹⁹, Biswajit Banik^{19

20}, Wendy Cross¹⁹, Muhammad Aziz Rahman^{19

21

22

23}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, College of Nursing, Qassim University, Buraidah 51452, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Riyadh Second Health Cluster, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh 12271, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, Qassim University, Al Bukairiyah 52741, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Emergency Medical Service, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia.
⁶ Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC 3125, Australia.
⁷ Department of Medicine, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 3125, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh 50927, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ College of Medicine, Dar al Uloom University, Riyadh 7222, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Specialty Internal Medicine and Quality Department, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran 34465, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Infectious Disease Division, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 47405, USA.
¹² Infectious Disease Division, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
¹³ Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21523, Egypt.
¹⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵ Radiology Department, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55902, USA.
¹⁶ Infectious Diseases Department, King Saud Medical City, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁷ School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia.
¹⁸ Telstra Health, Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia.
¹⁹ Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia, Berwick, VIC 3806, Australia.
²⁰ Manna Institute, Mental Health Research and Training for Regional Australia, Regional University Network (RUN), The University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
²¹ Australian Institute for Primary Care & Ageing (AIPCA), La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
²² Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences (BUHS), Dhaka 1704, Bangladesh.
²³ Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia.

PMID: 37108018
PMCID: PMC10138665
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare11081184

COVID-19: Factors Associated with the Psychological Distress, Fear and Resilient Coping Strategies among Community Members in Saudi Arabia

Talal Ali F Alharbi et al. Healthcare (Basel). 2023.

. 2023 Apr 20;11(8):1184.

doi: 10.3390/healthcare11081184.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, College of Nursing, Qassim University, Buraidah 51452, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Riyadh Second Health Cluster, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh 12271, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, Qassim University, Al Bukairiyah 52741, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Emergency Medical Service, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia.
⁶ Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC 3125, Australia.
⁷ Department of Medicine, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 3125, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh 50927, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ College of Medicine, Dar al Uloom University, Riyadh 7222, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Specialty Internal Medicine and Quality Department, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran 34465, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Infectious Disease Division, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 47405, USA.
¹² Infectious Disease Division, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
¹³ Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21523, Egypt.
¹⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵ Radiology Department, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55902, USA.
¹⁶ Infectious Diseases Department, King Saud Medical City, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁷ School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia.
¹⁸ Telstra Health, Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia.
¹⁹ Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia, Berwick, VIC 3806, Australia.
²⁰ Manna Institute, Mental Health Research and Training for Regional Australia, Regional University Network (RUN), The University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
²¹ Australian Institute for Primary Care & Ageing (AIPCA), La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
²² Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences (BUHS), Dhaka 1704, Bangladesh.
²³ Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia.

PMID: 37108018
PMCID: PMC10138665
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare11081184

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; community; coping; mental health; psychological distress; resilience.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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References

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1. Al-Tawfiq J.A., Memish Z.A. COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and Saudi Arabia: Prevention and therapeutic strategies. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents. 2020;55:105968. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105968. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Algaissi A.A., Alharbi N.K., Hassanain M., Hashem A.M. Preparedness and response to COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: Building on MERS experience. J. Infect. Public Health. 2020;13:834–838. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.04.016. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Alahdal H., Basingab F., Alotaibi R. An analytical study on the awareness, attitude and practice during the COVID-19 pandemic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. J. Infect. Public Health. 2020;13:1446–1452. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.06.015. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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[1] World Health Organization WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard. 2021. [(accessed on 31 March 2021)]. Available online: https://covid19.who.int.

[2] World Health Organization WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard. 2021. [(accessed on 31 March 2021)]. Available online: https://covid19.who.int.

[3] Kola L., Kohrt B.A., Hanlon C., Naslund J.A., Sikander S., Balaji M., Benjet C., Cheung E.Y.L., Eaton J., Gonsalves P., et al. COVID-19 mental health impact and responses in low-income and middle-income countries: Reimagining global mental health. Lancet Psychiatry. 2021;8:535–550. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00025-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[4] Kola L., Kohrt B.A., Hanlon C., Naslund J.A., Sikander S., Balaji M., Benjet C., Cheung E.Y.L., Eaton J., Gonsalves P., et al. COVID-19 mental health impact and responses in low-income and middle-income countries: Reimagining global mental health. Lancet Psychiatry. 2021;8:535–550. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00025-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[5] Al-Tawfiq J.A., Memish Z.A. COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and Saudi Arabia: Prevention and therapeutic strategies. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents. 2020;55:105968. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105968. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[6] Al-Tawfiq J.A., Memish Z.A. COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and Saudi Arabia: Prevention and therapeutic strategies. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents. 2020;55:105968. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105968. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[7] Algaissi A.A., Alharbi N.K., Hassanain M., Hashem A.M. Preparedness and response to COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: Building on MERS experience. J. Infect. Public Health. 2020;13:834–838. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.04.016. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[8] Algaissi A.A., Alharbi N.K., Hassanain M., Hashem A.M. Preparedness and response to COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: Building on MERS experience. J. Infect. Public Health. 2020;13:834–838. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.04.016. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[9] Alahdal H., Basingab F., Alotaibi R. An analytical study on the awareness, attitude and practice during the COVID-19 pandemic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. J. Infect. Public Health. 2020;13:1446–1452. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.06.015. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[10] Alahdal H., Basingab F., Alotaibi R. An analytical study on the awareness, attitude and practice during the COVID-19 pandemic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. J. Infect. Public Health. 2020;13:1446–1452. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.06.015. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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COVID-19: Factors Associated with the Psychological Distress, Fear and Resilient Coping Strategies among Community Members in Saudi Arabia

Affiliations

COVID-19: Factors Associated with the Psychological Distress, Fear and Resilient Coping Strategies among Community Members in Saudi Arabia

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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