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Factors associated with psychological distress, fear and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the personal, professional and social life of Australians with some people more impacted than others. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify factors associated with psychological distress, fear and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among residents in Australia, including patients, frontline health and other essential service workers, and community members during June 2020. Psychological distress was assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10); level of fear was assessed using the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S); and coping strategies were assessed using the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS). Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with the extent of psychological distress, level of fear and coping strategies while adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS: Among 587 participants, the majority (391, 73.2%) were 30-59 years old and female (363, 61.8%). More than half (349, 59.5%) were born outside Australia and two-third (418, 71.5%) completed at least a Bachelor's degree. The majority (401, 71.5%) had a source of income, 243 (42.3%) self-identified as a frontline worker, and 335 (58.9%) reported financial impact due to COVID-19. Comorbidities such as pre-existing mental health conditions (AOR 3.13, 95% CIs 1.12-8.75), increased smoking (8.66, 1.08-69.1) and alcohol drinking (2.39, 1.05-5.47) over the last four weeks, high levels of fear (2.93, 1.83-4.67) and being female (1.74, 1.15-2.65) were associated with higher levels of psychological distress. Perceived distress due to change of employment status (4.14, 1.39-12.4), alcohol drinking (3.64, 1.54-8.58), providing care to known or suspected cases (3.64, 1.54-8.58), being female (1.56, 1.00-2.45), being 30-59 years old (2.29, 1.21-4.35) and having medium to high levels of psychological distress (2.90, 1.82-5.62) were associated with a higher level of fear; while healthcare service use in the last four weeks was associated with medium to high resilience. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified individuals who were at higher risk of distress and fear during the COVID-19 pandemic specifically in the State of Victoria, Australia. Specific interventions to support the mental wellbeing of these individuals should be considered in addition to the existing resources within primary healthcare settings.
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“past studies reporting that psychological constructs, such as psychological flexibility, psychological mindedness, mindfulness, and coping styles, were among protective factors for psychological distress [13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20].”
From Seroprevalence of COVID-19 and Psychological Distress among Front Liners at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah Campus during the Third Wave of COVID-19 (2022) · cites this paper as [16]
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Citations
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“Psychological impact was assessed by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) [16], fear was assessed by the Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) [17], and coping strategies were assessed by the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS) [18].”
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“Findings related to self-identification as a frontline or essential service worker exhibiting a lower level of stress in the present study was somewhat incongruous with other initial studies, which showed a significant mental health burden on frontline healthcare workers during pandemics [30].”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Rahman, M. A., Hoque, N., Alif, S. M., Salehin, M., Islam, S. M. S., Banik, B., Sharif, A., Nazim, N. B., Sultana, F., & Cross, W.
- Affiliations
- Federation University (AU)
- Monash University (AU)
- Deakin University (AU)
- University of Science and Technology Chittagong (BD)
- Telstra (Australia) (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Rahman, Muhammad Aziz
- ORCID
- Venue
- Globalization and Health
- Published
- 2020-10-08
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 95-95
- ISSN
- 1744-8603 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7542573
- OpenAlex
- W3092196547
- Cited by
- 327
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 74 · 2022: 97 · 2021: 87 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 26.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Globalization and Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- FedUni ResearchOnline (Federation University Australia) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, psychological distress, fear of COVID-19, coping strategies, resilient coping, frontline health workers, financial impact, employment status change, comorbidities, alcohol consumption, smoking, sex differences, Australia, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Brief Resilient Coping Scale
- MeSH terms
- Psychological Distress, COVID-19, Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Australia, Cross-Sectional Studies, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pneumonia, Viral, Risk Factors, Coronavirus Infections, Pandemics
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