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© 2020 Ammar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Background

Public health recommendations and government measures during the COVID-19 pandemic have enforced restrictions on daily-living. While these measures are imperative to abate the spreading of COVID-19, the impact of these restrictions on mental health and emotional wellbeing is undefined. Therefore, an international online survey (ECLB-COVID19) was launched on April 6, 2020 in seven languages to elucidate the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on mental health and emotional wellbeing.

Methods

The ECLB-COVID19 electronic survey was designed by a steering group of multidisciplinary scientists, following a structured review of the literature. The survey was uploaded and shared on the Google online-survey-platform and was promoted by thirty-five research organizations from Europe, North-Africa, Western-Asia and the Americas. All participants were asked for their mental wellbeing (SWEMWS) and depressive symptoms (SMFQ) with regard to “during” and “before” home confinement.

Results

Analysis was conducted on the first 1047 replies (54% women) from Asia (36%), Africa (40%), Europe (21%) and other (3%). The COVID-19 home confinement had a negative effect on both mental-wellbeing and on mood and feelings. Specifically, a significant decrease (p < .001 and Δ% = 9.4%) in total score of the SWEMWS questionnaire was noted. More individuals (+12.89%) reported a low mental wellbeing “during” compared to “before” home confinement. Furthermore, results from the mood and feelings questionnaire showed a significant increase by 44.9% (p < .001) in SMFQ total score with more people (+10%) showing depressive symptoms “during” compared to “before” home confinement.

Conclusion

The ECLB-COVID19 survey revealed an increased psychosocial strain triggered by the home confinement. To mitigate this high risk of mental disorders and to foster an Active and Healthy Confinement Lifestyle (AHCL), a crisis-oriented interdisciplinary intervention is urgently needed.

Details

Title
Psychological consequences of COVID-19 home confinement: The ECLB-COVID19 multicenter study
Author
Ammar, Achraf; Mueller, Patrick; Trabelsi, Khaled; Chtourou, Hamdi; Boukhris, Omar; Masmoudi, Liwa; Bouaziz, Bassem; Brach, Michael; Schmicker, Marlen; Bentlage, Ellen; How, Daniella; Ahmed, Mona; Aloui, Asma; Hammouda, Omar; Laisa, Liane Paineiras-Domingos; Braakman-jansen, Annemarie; Wrede, Christian; Bastoni, Sophia; Carlos Soares Pernambuco; Mataruna-Dos-Santos, Leonardo Jose; Taheri, Morteza; Irandoust, Khadijeh; Khacharem, Aïmen; Bragazzi, Nicola L; Jad Adrian Washif; Glenn, Jordan M; Bott, Nicholas T; Gargouri, Faiez; Chaari, Lotfi; Hadj Batatia; khoshnami, Samira C; Samara, Evangelia; Zisi, Vasiliki; Parasanth Sankar; Ahmed, Waseem N; Gamal Mohamed Ali; Abdelkarim, Osama; Jarraya, Mohamed; Kais El Abed; Romdhani, Mohamed; Souissi, Nizar; Lisette Van Gemert-Pijnen; Bailey, Stephen J; Moalla, Wassim; Gómez-Raja, Jonathan; Epstein, Monique; Sanderman, Robbert; Schulz, Sebastian; Jerg, Achim; Al-Horani, Ramzi; Mansi, Taysir; Jmail, Mohamed; Barbosa, Fernando; Ferreira-Santos, Fernando; Šimunič, Boštjan; Pišot, Rado; Gaggioli, Andrea; Zmijewski, Piotr; Steinacker, Jürgen M; Strahler, Jana; Riemann, Laurel; Riemann, Bryan L; Mueller, Notger; Chamari, Karim; Driss, Tarak; Hoekelmann, Anita; for the ECLB-COVID19 Consortium
First page
e0240204
Section
Research Article
Publication year
2020
Publication date
Nov 2020
Publisher
Public Library of Science
e-ISSN
19326203
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2457963474
Copyright
© 2020 Ammar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.