The Prevalence of Psychological Health Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Among Palestinian Population. A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: The first outbreak was documented in December 2019, in Wuhan, China, as pneumonia of unknown etiology related to a seafood market exposure. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the first cases had been detected at a hotel in the Bethlehem area, where a group of Greek tourists had visited the hotel in late February 2020. There are many previous studies shown that communicable diseases such as Ebola and SARS showed an impact on mental health includes depression, anxiety, and drug abuse. The aims of the study are to assess the prevalence of psychological well-being responses resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic on Palestine general population. Methods: During the middle stage of the outbreak, researchers conducted an online-based survey using a snowballing sample technique. The survey collected data about socio-demographic characteristics and psychological well-being using the general health questionnaire wish consists of (28) questions aimed to assess these sections dealt with somatic symptoms, anguish/anxiety, social dysfunction, and depression. Results: Our survey recruited 1200 subjects of the general public of Palestine. More than two-thirds of subjects were female and their age between 20-39 years. The prevalence of the psychological well-being of the Palestinian subjects. Almost 83% have poor psychological well-being, while 17% have good psychological well-being. Significant differences were found in gender (p=<0.001), marital status (p=<0.001), place of residence (p=<.001), types of work (p=.011), working status (p=<.001), a committee to quarantine (p=.023) and knowing someone who were infected with coronavirus (p=<.001). Conclusion: Our findings can be used to construct an urgent psychological intervention focused on the general population and to implement public mental health policies in combination with pandemic response efforts in the middle stages of the event