Psychological stress and associated factors among adults in the quarantine families following COVID-19 in Kurunegala district, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background: Psychosocial-stress for a newly-emerged contagious-disease of the COVID-19 needs to be evaluated. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of psychosocial-stress and associated predictors in the home-quarantine families following the COVID-19 outbreak. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 403 Quarantined adults in Kurunegala district from May to July 2020 during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. The suspected index-cases and known patients with mental-health abnormalities were excluded. The GHQ-30, a validated screening tool, was used to assess psycho-social status. The scores were given as 0-0-1-1 for each item in GHQ30, out of which a score of ≥6 was considered as adults under psychosocial-stress. The binary Probit model and multivariate-regression model were used to assess the associated factors.Results: The response rate was 96.5% (n=389). The prevalence of psychological stress was 37%(n=144; 95% CI = 32.6 – 42.4). The probit model shows the likelihood of influence of the factors affecting the prevalence, and the Odds-Ratio was examined. The multivariate-regression model was 2 significant at F (12, 309) = 3.86, R = 12.95 (n=322). The results of the best fitting regression model th depicted that the associated determinants including arrived in Sri Lanka after 10 of March 2020, within 5 days of exposure to a COVID-19 patient, stayed at a quarantined-centre and male-gender were statistically significant (p<0.05) factors of predicting the psychosocial stress. Conclusion: The prevalence of psychosocial stress among the home-quarantined adults following COVID-19 are significantly high and the factors that determine the stress are likely to occur in the significant predictors.