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Levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among Ugandan adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey

OBJECTIVES: Policy measures to slow the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), such as curfews and business closures, may have negative effects on mental health. Populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may be particularly affected due to high rates of poverty and less compreh...

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Autores principales: Clarke-Deelder, Emma, Rokicki, Slawa, McGovern, Mark E., Birabwa, Catherine, Cohen, Jessica L., Waiswa, Peter, Abbo, Catherine
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cambridge University Press 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9807010/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36618739
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2022.28
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author Clarke-Deelder, Emma
Rokicki, Slawa
McGovern, Mark E.
Birabwa, Catherine
Cohen, Jessica L.
Waiswa, Peter
Abbo, Catherine
author_facet Clarke-Deelder, Emma
Rokicki, Slawa
McGovern, Mark E.
Birabwa, Catherine
Cohen, Jessica L.
Waiswa, Peter
Abbo, Catherine
author_sort Clarke-Deelder, Emma
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Policy measures to slow the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), such as curfews and business closures, may have negative effects on mental health. Populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may be particularly affected due to high rates of poverty and less comprehensive welfare systems, but the evidence is scarce. We evaluated predictors of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in Uganda, which implemented one of the world's most stringent lockdowns. METHODS: We conducted a mobile phone-based cross-sectional survey from December 2020 through April 2021 among individuals aged 18 years or over in Uganda. We measured depression, anxiety, and psychological distress using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-2, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-2, and the PHQ-4. We applied linear regression to assess associations between experiences of COVID-19 (including fear of infection, social isolation, income loss, difficulty accessing medical care, school closings, and interactions with police) and PHQ-4 score, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS: 29.2% of 4066 total participants reported scores indicating moderate psychological distress, and 12.1% reported scores indicating severe distress. Distress was most common among individuals who were female, had lower levels of education, and lived in households with children. Related to COVID-19, PHQ-4 score was significantly associated with difficulty accessing medical care, worries about COVID-19, worries about interactions with police over lockdown measures, and days spent at home. CONCLUSIONS: There is an urgent need to address the significant burden of psychological distress associated with COVID-19 and policy responses in LMICs. Pandemic mitigation strategies must consider mental health consequences.
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spelling pubmed-98070102023-01-05 Levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among Ugandan adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey Clarke-Deelder, Emma Rokicki, Slawa McGovern, Mark E. Birabwa, Catherine Cohen, Jessica L. Waiswa, Peter Abbo, Catherine Glob Ment Health (Camb) Original Research Paper OBJECTIVES: Policy measures to slow the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), such as curfews and business closures, may have negative effects on mental health. Populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may be particularly affected due to high rates of poverty and less comprehensive welfare systems, but the evidence is scarce. We evaluated predictors of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in Uganda, which implemented one of the world's most stringent lockdowns. METHODS: We conducted a mobile phone-based cross-sectional survey from December 2020 through April 2021 among individuals aged 18 years or over in Uganda. We measured depression, anxiety, and psychological distress using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-2, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-2, and the PHQ-4. We applied linear regression to assess associations between experiences of COVID-19 (including fear of infection, social isolation, income loss, difficulty accessing medical care, school closings, and interactions with police) and PHQ-4 score, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS: 29.2% of 4066 total participants reported scores indicating moderate psychological distress, and 12.1% reported scores indicating severe distress. Distress was most common among individuals who were female, had lower levels of education, and lived in households with children. Related to COVID-19, PHQ-4 score was significantly associated with difficulty accessing medical care, worries about COVID-19, worries about interactions with police over lockdown measures, and days spent at home. CONCLUSIONS: There is an urgent need to address the significant burden of psychological distress associated with COVID-19 and policy responses in LMICs. Pandemic mitigation strategies must consider mental health consequences. Cambridge University Press 2022-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9807010/ /pubmed/36618739 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2022.28 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research Paper
Clarke-Deelder, Emma
Rokicki, Slawa
McGovern, Mark E.
Birabwa, Catherine
Cohen, Jessica L.
Waiswa, Peter
Abbo, Catherine
Levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among Ugandan adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey
title Levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among Ugandan adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey
title_full Levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among Ugandan adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey
title_fullStr Levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among Ugandan adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey
title_full_unstemmed Levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among Ugandan adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey
title_short Levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among Ugandan adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey
title_sort levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among ugandan adults during the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey
topic Original Research Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9807010/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36618739
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2022.28
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