Acute mental health responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

Adaptation of evidence-based suicide prevention strategies during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Suicide is preventable. Nevertheless, each year 800,000 people die of suicide in the world. While there is evidence indicating that suicide rates de-crease during times of crises, they are expected to increase once the immediate crisis has passed. The COVID-19 pandemic affects risk and pro-tective factors for suicide at each level of the socio-ecological model. Economic downturn, augmented barriers to accessing health care, increased access to suicidal means, inappropriate media reporting at the societal level; deprioritization of mental health and preventive activities at the community level; interpersonal conflicts, neglect and violence at the relationship level; unemployment, poverty, loneliness and hopelessness at the individual level: all these variables contribute to an increase of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, harmful use of alcohol, substance abuse, and ultimately suicide risk. Suicide should be prevented by strengthening universal strategies directed to the entire population, including mitigation of unemployment, poverty and inequalities; prioritization of access to mental health care; responsible media reporting, with information about available support; prevention of increased alcohol intake; and restriction of access to lethal means of suicide. Selective interventions should continue to target known vulnerable groups who are socio-economically disadvantaged, but also new ones such as first responders and health care staff, and the bereaved by COVID-19 who have been deprived of the final contact with loved ones and funerals. Indicated preventive strategies targeting individuals who display suicidal behaviour should focus on available pharmacological and psychological treatments of mental disorders, ensuring proper follow-up and chain of care by increased use of telemedicine and other digital means. The scientific community, health care professionals, politicians and decision-makers will find in this paper a systematic description of the effects of the pandemic on suicide risk at the society, community, family and individual levels, and an overview of how evidence-based suicide preventive interventions should be adapted. Research is needed to investigate which adaptations are effective and in which con-texts.

The Magnitude of Psychological Problem and Associated Factor in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Among Communities Living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 2020: A Cross-Sectional Study Design

PURPOSE

COVID-19 pandemic is a World Health Organization day-to-day work and has a significant crisis on the physical and mental health of humans. However, little is known about the mental health crisis of the pandemic in Sub-Saharan countries. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the magnitude of psychological problems and associated factors among communities living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

METHODS

A community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted from March 10 to 30, 2020. Data were collected from 420 respondents selected using a consecutive sampling technique. An online self-administered and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) survey during the initial phase of the pandemic was conducted to assess the presence of psychological problems for the last two weeks in response to the infection.

RESULTS

The magnitude of the psychological problem from moderate to severe levels was 66.4%. The predictor variables of the outcome were female gender, above the secondary level of education, monthly income below 3000 ETB, and more than three family size at 95% CI, P<0.05.

CONCLUSION

At the time of the initial COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia, nearly two-thirds of the respondents reported moderate to severe levels of psychological problems. Therefore, working on those identified factors would be vital to promote the mental resilience of a community towards the pandemic.

Safe but Lonely? Loneliness, Anxiety, and Depression Symptoms and COVID-19

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has led governments worldwide to implement unprecedented response strategies. While crucial to limiting the spread of the virus, "social distancing" may lead to severe psychological consequences, especially in lonely individuals.

METHODS

We used cross-sectional (n = 380) and longitudinal (n = 74) designs to investigate the links between loneliness, anxiety, and depression symptoms (ADS) and COVID-19 risk perception and affective response in young adults who implemented social distancing during the first 2 weeks of the state of epidemic threat in Poland.

RESULTS

Loneliness was correlated with ADS and with affective response to COVID-19's threat to health. However, increased worry about the social isolation and heightened risk perception for financial problems was observed in lonelier individuals. The cross-lagged influence of the initial affective response to COVID-19 on subsequent levels of loneliness was also found.

CONCLUSION

The reciprocal connections between loneliness and COVID-19 response may be of crucial importance for ADS during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Role of Resilience and Gender in Relation to Infectious-Disease-Specific Health Literacy and Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND

Anxiety is one of the psychological problems being experienced by the general population during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Health literacy, such as infectious-disease-specific health literacy, is associated with anxiety, but the mechanism of such association is not clear. This study explored the relationship between infectious-disease-specific health literacy and anxiety.

METHODS

We conducted an online survey in Hubei province, the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 1038 COVID-19-negative participants accomplished a battery of online survey tools determining their sociodemographic characteristics, perceived risk of acquiring COVID-19, infectious-disease-specific health literacy, resilience, and anxiety symptoms. We examined the moderated mediation models, in which the mediator was resilience and the moderator was gender.

RESULTS

Most (63%) of the study participants experienced at least mild anxiety. The indirect effect of infectious-disease-specific health literacy on anxiety through resilience was -0.282 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [-0.511, -0.083]), contributing to 32.7% of the total effect of health literacy on anxiety. Resilience fully mediated the association. The mediation effect of resilience tended to be stronger for the male participants than for the female participants as the moderation effect of gender remained until we included perceived risk of acquiring COVID-19 in the model.

CONCLUSION

Resilience was found to mediate the association between infectious-disease-specific health literacy and anxiety. Individuals with good infectious-disease-specific health literacy are more likely to acquire higher resilience, which may in turn decrease their anxiety level. Males may benefit more from the mediation effect of resilience during the current pandemic. Infectious-disease-specific health literacy programs may help reduce the anxiety of the program participants by enhancing their resilience during a pandemic.