Psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chile: The role of economic uncertainty

Previous research has shown that the COVID-19 outbreak, social distancing, and lockdown can affect people’s psychological well-being. The aims of this study were (1) to estimate the extent to which perceptions and expectations regarding the social, economic, and domestic effects of the COVID-19 outb...

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Autores principales:	Fabián Duarte, Álvaro Jiménez-Molina
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/730e063b26a241f98fa165f1cc8a82b2
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:730e063b26a241f98fa165f1cc8a82b22021-11-11T06:44:17ZPsychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chile: The role of economic uncertainty1932-6203https://doaj.org/article/730e063b26a241f98fa165f1cc8a82b22021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8565721/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Previous research has shown that the COVID-19 outbreak, social distancing, and lockdown can affect people’s psychological well-being. The aims of this study were (1) to estimate the extent to which perceptions and expectations regarding the social, economic, and domestic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak are associated with psychological distress and (2) to identify some demographic, psychosocial, and economic factors associated with increased vulnerability to psychological distress during the COVID-19 outbreak in Chile. 1078 people participated in a telephone survey between May 30 and June 10, 2020. The sample is representative of the Chilean adult population. Psychological distress was assessed through a questionnaire of anxious and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-4). We analyzed the data set using ordinary least-squares regression models, first estimating models for the entire sample, and then stratifying the sample into different groups to explore differences by gender and age. 19.2% of participants displayed significant psychological distress (PHQ-4 ≥ 6), with moderate to severe anxiety-depression symptoms being more prevalent in women than in men (23.9% vs 14.1%, χ2 16.78, p<0.001). The results of this study suggest that being a woman, feeling lonely and isolated, living in the areas hit hardest by the pandemic and lockdown, expecting a lack of income due to having to stop working as a consequence of the pandemic, and having a history of diagnosed mental disorders are significantly associated with psychological distress (p<0.05). The results of this study highlight the need to implement psychosocial programs to guard people’s psychological well-being and social policies to address economic uncertainty during the current COVID-19 outbreak in Chile.Fabián DuarteÁlvaro Jiménez-MolinaPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 11 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Fabián Duarte Álvaro Jiménez-Molina Psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chile: The role of economic uncertainty
description	Previous research has shown that the COVID-19 outbreak, social distancing, and lockdown can affect people’s psychological well-being. The aims of this study were (1) to estimate the extent to which perceptions and expectations regarding the social, economic, and domestic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak are associated with psychological distress and (2) to identify some demographic, psychosocial, and economic factors associated with increased vulnerability to psychological distress during the COVID-19 outbreak in Chile. 1078 people participated in a telephone survey between May 30 and June 10, 2020. The sample is representative of the Chilean adult population. Psychological distress was assessed through a questionnaire of anxious and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-4). We analyzed the data set using ordinary least-squares regression models, first estimating models for the entire sample, and then stratifying the sample into different groups to explore differences by gender and age. 19.2% of participants displayed significant psychological distress (PHQ-4 ≥ 6), with moderate to severe anxiety-depression symptoms being more prevalent in women than in men (23.9% vs 14.1%, χ2 16.78, p<0.001). The results of this study suggest that being a woman, feeling lonely and isolated, living in the areas hit hardest by the pandemic and lockdown, expecting a lack of income due to having to stop working as a consequence of the pandemic, and having a history of diagnosed mental disorders are significantly associated with psychological distress (p<0.05). The results of this study highlight the need to implement psychosocial programs to guard people’s psychological well-being and social policies to address economic uncertainty during the current COVID-19 outbreak in Chile.
format	article
author	Fabián Duarte Álvaro Jiménez-Molina
author_facet	Fabián Duarte Álvaro Jiménez-Molina
author_sort	Fabián Duarte
title	Psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chile: The role of economic uncertainty
title_short	Psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chile: The role of economic uncertainty
title_full	Psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chile: The role of economic uncertainty
title_fullStr	Psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chile: The role of economic uncertainty
title_full_unstemmed	Psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chile: The role of economic uncertainty
title_sort	psychological distress during the covid-19 epidemic in chile: the role of economic uncertainty
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/730e063b26a241f98fa165f1cc8a82b2
work_keys_str_mv	AT fabianduarte psychologicaldistressduringthecovid19epidemicinchiletheroleofeconomicuncertainty AT alvarojimenezmolina psychologicaldistressduringthecovid19epidemicinchiletheroleofeconomicuncertainty
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Psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chile: The role of economic uncertainty

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