Heliyon
Volume 8, Issue 5, May 2022, e09422
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Research article
The psychological distress and COVID-19 pandemic during lockdown: A cross-sectional study from United Arab Emirates (UAE)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09422Get rights and content
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open access

Abstract

Background

The pandemic resulted in the societal changes as conflicts and instability were the common concerns experienced by families because of the lockdown. However, the psychological impact of the COVID-19 on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) population is not studied extensively.

Objective

The study evaluates the psychological impact of lockdown during the pandemic on the people in the UAE.

Material and methods

This study was cross-sectional in nature and was conducted using a questionnaire consisting of 35-items. The questions were related to social, psychological, and personal aspects. Multivariate Linear regression was used to find the outcomes between independent variables.

Results

The mean value of social phobia was 2.56 ± .620, followed by the mean score of anxiety (2.47 ± .666), stress (2.44 ± .631), and depression (2.42 ± .682). The higher the respondents experienced the scores, the more depression, anxiety, and stress. Demographics such as marital status, age, and occupation and education level have a statistically significant association with social phobia, anxiety, depression, and stress.

Conclusion

The study concludes that the lockdown more psychologically impacted males, older people, and unemployed individuals during the pandemic.

Keywords

Depression
COVID-19
Anxiety
Psychological effects
Lockdown
UAE
Pandemic
Social phobia
Stress

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