Dept. of Community Medicine, College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Dept. of Preventive and Social Medicine, All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
PLoS One. 2021 Jan 14;16(1):e0245509. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245509. eCollection 2021.
The burden of psychological distress is increasing with the spread of the pandemic and also with the enforcement of its containment measures. The aim of this research was to determine the proportion of self-reported psychological distress, loneliness and degrees of resilient coping, and to also investigate the relationship of loneliness, coping and other variables with psychological distress among apparently healthy Indians during nation-wide lockdown period.
A cross-sectional, region-stratified survey using pre-designed pre-tested Google form disseminated via different social media platforms was conducted. A total of 1249 responses were analysed all over India. The form enquired about Socio-demographic profile, awareness on COVID pandemic and cases in the surroundings. UCLA Loneliness scale, Brief resilience and coping scale (BRCS) and Psychological distress scale (K6) assessed self-reported loneliness, coping and psychological distress, respectively. Special regressor technique adjusting for endogeneity and heteroskedasticity was used to extract the average marginal effects.
Majority of the respondents were 18-35 years old, male, single and urban residents. News media, social media mostly acted as sources of information regarding COVID related news. Overall, 54.47% (95% CI: 51.39-57.53%) and 38.39% (95% CI: 35.57-41.29%) were reported to be lonely and had low resilient coping ability respectively. Around 44.68% had high risk of developing psychological distress. Being a student (average marginal effect coefficient (AMECoef).: -0.07, 95% CI: [-0.12, -0.01]) and perceiving lockdown as an effective measure (AMECoef: -0.11, 95% CI: [-0.19, -0.03]) were protective against psychological distress. Psychological distress was associated with male respondents (AMECoef 0.07, 95% CI: [0.02, 0.11]), low or medium resilient copers (AMECoef 0.89, 95% CI: [0.17, 1.61]), and perceiving a serious impact of social distancing measures (AMECoef 0.17, 95% CI: [0.09, 0.26]).
Psychological distress among Indian population during lockdown was prevalent. Poor coping ability and perceiving social distancing to have a serious impact was found to be significantly contributing to psychological distress. Appropriate measures to address these issues would be beneficial for the community mental health.
随着大流行的传播以及遏制措施的实施，心理困扰的负担正在增加。本研究的目的是确定自我报告的心理困扰、孤独感和弹性应对程度的比例，并调查孤独感、应对方式和其他变量与全国封锁期间印度健康人群的心理困扰之间的关系。
使用预先设计的预测试谷歌表格进行横断面、区域分层调查，通过不同的社交媒体平台进行传播。总共分析了来自印度各地的 1249 份回复。该表格询问了社会人口统计学概况、对 COVID 大流行和周围病例的认识。UCLA 孤独量表、简要弹性和应对量表（BRCS）和心理困扰量表（K6）分别评估自我报告的孤独感、应对能力和心理困扰。使用特殊回归技术调整内生性和异方差性，以提取平均边际效应。
大多数受访者年龄在 18-35 岁之间，男性，单身，居住在城市。新闻媒体、社交媒体大多是获取 COVID 相关新闻的信息来源。总体而言，54.47%（95%置信区间：51.39-57.53%）和 38.39%（95%置信区间：35.57-41.29%）报告孤独和弹性应对能力低。约 44.68%有发展心理困扰的高风险。作为学生（平均边际效应系数（AMECoef）：-0.07，95%置信区间：[-0.12，-0.01]）和认为封锁是有效措施（AMECoef：-0.11，95%置信区间：[-0.19，-0.03]）是预防心理困扰的保护因素。心理困扰与男性受访者相关（AMECoef 0.07，95%置信区间：[0.02，0.11]）、应对能力低或中等（AMECoef 0.89，95%置信区间：[0.17，0.11]）和认为社会隔离措施有严重影响（AMECoef 0.17，95%置信区间：[0.09，0.26]）。
在封锁期间，印度人口中存在心理困扰。发现应对能力差和认为社会隔离措施有严重影响是导致心理困扰的重要因素。采取适当措施解决这些问题将有利于社区的心理健康。
