engleski

Risk Factors for COVID-19 Related Psychological Distress in People with Existing Psychopathological Issues

Studies clearly show that the coronavirus pandemic also bears a significant cost in mental health, e.g., higher psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. Nevertheless, it is unclear how it affects people with pre-existing psychopathological issues. AIM: To investigate the contribution of potential risk factors, including sociodemographic factors, pandemic-related worries, and social support for psychological distress, in 1) individuals who had previously suffered from psychopathological issues and 2) who did not. This study was conducted in April 2020 using an online survey. We collected the participants general sociodemographic information and a self-reported history of previous psychopathological issues, along with several instruments. The CORE-OM scale was used to address psychological distress, and two additional scales were designed for the purpose of this study: the COVID-pandemic worries scale and the support scale, which addressed the overall worries and support people experienced during the lockdown. Descriptive statistics, corelation and hierarchical regression analyses were used to analize the data. A total of 1, 238 participants completed the study (82.1% female) of whom 31.34% reported previous psychopathological issues – most commonly anxiety disorders (49.22%), depression (29.89%), and PTSD (13.14%). Results of the hierarchical regression analyses showed that for people classified as having psychopathological issues, the overall psychological distress was predicted by more worries and less support. For people classified as having psychopathological issues, the overall psychological distress was also predicted by more worries and less support, and additionally by the female gender, younger age, and lower education. Our results show that more pandemic related worries and less support are general risk factors for psychological distress. Moreover, people with pre-existing psychopathological issues show additional risk factors, namely the female gender, younger age and lower socio-economic status, which is important for identifying particularly vulnerable individuals in the coronavirus pandemic and can be used to help make guidelines for mental health interventions.

psychological distress ; risk factors ; vulnerability ; coronavirus ; psychiatric population

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