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COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Population Mental Health

Received: 18 November 2020     Accepted: 30 November 2020     Published: 11 December 2020
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Abstract

The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) was recognized as pandemic and posed a risk on populations' mental health status. This study aimed to examine anxiety experience, attitudes and perceived mental health care needs of Arabs populations under COVID-19 pandemic. Online cross-sectional study was employed to collect data from Palestinians and Tunisians using a self-reported questionnaire and following non-probability snow ball sampling approach. Descriptive and univariate analyses were applied. Eight hundred fifteen subjects responded, of which 534 from Palestine and 281 from Tunisia and mean age (SD) was 34.07 (11.36) and 27.94 (9.30), respectively. Palestinians and Tunisians showed positive attitudes toward COVID-19 with mean (SD) 4.28 (.47) and 4.17 (.45), respectively. Mean (SD) anxiety score was 2.94 (.67) and 3.30 (.69) in participants from Palestine and Tunisia, respectively and severe anxiety was reported in 6.7% and 16% among Palestinians and Tunisians, respectively. Both Palestinians and Tunisians agreed on the importance of seeking and receiving aid from mental health professionals to combat COVID-19. Attitudes improved with increased education and females showed to have better attitudes and much anxiety than males. Addressing mental health issues is necessary for population under the pandemic of COVID-19 to minimize anxiety level and ensure better mental health status.

Published in International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Volume 5, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20200506.11
Page(s) 83-91
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Novel Coronavirus, Attitudes, Anxiety, Mental Health, Palestine, Tunisia

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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Aymen Elsous, Amira Shaheen, Hedia Teraoui, Shahenaz Najjar, Suha Baloushah, et al. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Population Mental Health. International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 5(6), 83-91. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20200506.11

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    ACS Style

    Aymen Elsous; Amira Shaheen; Hedia Teraoui; Shahenaz Najjar; Suha Baloushah, et al. COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Population Mental Health. Int. J. Psychol. Brain Sci. 2020, 5(6), 83-91. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20200506.11

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    AMA Style

    Aymen Elsous, Amira Shaheen, Hedia Teraoui, Shahenaz Najjar, Suha Baloushah, et al. COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Population Mental Health. Int J Psychol Brain Sci. 2020;5(6):83-91. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20200506.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijpbs.20200506.11,
      author = {Aymen Elsous and Amira Shaheen and Hedia Teraoui and Shahenaz Najjar and Suha Baloushah and Kahina Mekious and Mahmoud Radwan and Mohammad Abu Rayya},
      title = {COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Population Mental Health},
      journal = {International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences},
      volume = {5},
      number = {6},
      pages = {83-91},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijpbs.20200506.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20200506.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijpbs.20200506.11},
      abstract = {The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) was recognized as pandemic and posed a risk on populations' mental health status. This study aimed to examine anxiety experience, attitudes and perceived mental health care needs of Arabs populations under COVID-19 pandemic. Online cross-sectional study was employed to collect data from Palestinians and Tunisians using a self-reported questionnaire and following non-probability snow ball sampling approach. Descriptive and univariate analyses were applied. Eight hundred fifteen subjects responded, of which 534 from Palestine and 281 from Tunisia and mean age (SD) was 34.07 (11.36) and 27.94 (9.30), respectively. Palestinians and Tunisians showed positive attitudes toward COVID-19 with mean (SD) 4.28 (.47) and 4.17 (.45), respectively. Mean (SD) anxiety score was 2.94 (.67) and 3.30 (.69) in participants from Palestine and Tunisia, respectively and severe anxiety was reported in 6.7% and 16% among Palestinians and Tunisians, respectively. Both Palestinians and Tunisians agreed on the importance of seeking and receiving aid from mental health professionals to combat COVID-19. Attitudes improved with increased education and females showed to have better attitudes and much anxiety than males. Addressing mental health issues is necessary for population under the pandemic of COVID-19 to minimize anxiety level and ensure better mental health status.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    T1  - COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Population Mental Health
    AU  - Aymen Elsous
    AU  - Amira Shaheen
    AU  - Hedia Teraoui
    AU  - Shahenaz Najjar
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    AB  - The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) was recognized as pandemic and posed a risk on populations' mental health status. This study aimed to examine anxiety experience, attitudes and perceived mental health care needs of Arabs populations under COVID-19 pandemic. Online cross-sectional study was employed to collect data from Palestinians and Tunisians using a self-reported questionnaire and following non-probability snow ball sampling approach. Descriptive and univariate analyses were applied. Eight hundred fifteen subjects responded, of which 534 from Palestine and 281 from Tunisia and mean age (SD) was 34.07 (11.36) and 27.94 (9.30), respectively. Palestinians and Tunisians showed positive attitudes toward COVID-19 with mean (SD) 4.28 (.47) and 4.17 (.45), respectively. Mean (SD) anxiety score was 2.94 (.67) and 3.30 (.69) in participants from Palestine and Tunisia, respectively and severe anxiety was reported in 6.7% and 16% among Palestinians and Tunisians, respectively. Both Palestinians and Tunisians agreed on the importance of seeking and receiving aid from mental health professionals to combat COVID-19. Attitudes improved with increased education and females showed to have better attitudes and much anxiety than males. Addressing mental health issues is necessary for population under the pandemic of COVID-19 to minimize anxiety level and ensure better mental health status.
    VL  - 5
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Author Information
  • Faculty of Medical Sciences, Israa University, Gaza Strip, Palestine

  • Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine

  • Research Laboratory of Risk Management and Research in Accounting and Finance, High Business School, University of Manouba, Manouba, Tunisia

  • Faculty of Graduate Studies, Arab American University, Ramallah, Palestine

  • Reproductive Health Department, Nursing and Midwifery School, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

  • Yazouren Said Secondary School, Azazga, Tizi Ouzou, Algeria

  • International Cooperation Directorate, Ministry of Health, Gaza Strip, Palestine

  • Expert Modernity Consulting and Community Development, Gaza Strip, Palestine

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