Impact of the restrictions on community activities policy during the COVID‐19 on psychological health in Indonesia's urban and rural residents: A cross‐sectional study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Although extensive research has been conducted on the psychological impact after exposure to the COVID‐19 pandemic, very few studies simultaneously investigated the negative and positive impacts on urban and rural residents. This study aims to compare the extent of psychological impact on Indonesian living in urban and rural areas a year after the first case of COVID‐19 was reported. DESIGN, METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH: We employed a cross‐sectional study design. A total of 428 participants completed a set of web‐based questionnaires from February to March 2021, consisting of the Impact of Event Scale‐Revised (IES‐R), the Perceived Social‐Support (PSS), the mental health‐related lifestyle (MHLS), and 6‐item negative impacts, and the Jenkins' Sleep Scale (JSS). FINDINGS: Over 40% of the participants reported moderate to severe trauma‐related distress; 30%–40% increased stress at work, home, and financial stress, and 50% more social support gained from their family and friends. Although 62.1% of participants paid more attention to their mental health, only 30% engaged in a healthier lifestyle, and 36.7% had sleep problems. No significant differences were found between urban and rural residents on psychological impact, changes in mental health and related lifestyles, and sleep quality. Urban residents perceived more negative impacts, in parallel with increased social support, compared to rural residents. We also found a significant correlation between psychological impact, sleep disturbance, and increased social support. However, there was no significant association between mental health‐related lifestyles and other scales. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: This is among the first studies that examine the urban–rural disparity on the positive and negative impact of the COVID‐19 in the later stage of the pandemic. Our findings offer insights to provide equal effort to mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID‐19 crisis as well as promote healthy lifestyle behaviors in both urban and rural residencies.