Perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic among the tunisian population

INTRODUCTION: Documenting Tunisian’ stress responses to an unprecedented pandemic is essential for mental health interventions and policy-making. OBJECTIVES: To describe the perceived stress generated by the Covid-19 epidemic and confinement among the Tunisian people. METHODS: Participants had to fill out a questionnaire including epidemiological data and the Perceived Stress Scale 10 (PSS10), which is the most widely used psychological instrument for measuring the stress perception. Individual scores can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress. RESULTS: Our study included 121 subjects, of which 70.6% were women.They had an average age of 36.52 years and a history of psychiatric disorders in 13.1% of cases, such as anxiety disorders (10.4%), depressive disorders (5.9%) and obsessive compulsive disorders (2.3%). More than one in two participants (61.4%) reported the presence of sleep disorders. Regarding medical history, participants declared having asthma (5%), diabetes (1.8%), high blood pressure (3.6%), and a chronic disease with corticosteroid treatment (5%). The mean PSS score was 16.96. This last was correlated to age (p<0.001), female gender (p<0.001), primary or secondary school level (p=0.03), a history of anxiety (p<0.001) and depressive disorders (p<0.001), and to sleep disorders (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The stress level among the Tunisian people during the Covid-19 pandemic was very close to that observed in other countries, deserving special attention especially among vulnerable populations.