Psychosocial Distress and Coping Strategies in Response to COVID-19 Adopted among Adults in South-West Nigeria

Pandemics such as the SARS-cov-2 are known to cause psychosocial distress posing threats to mental health especially among South-west residents who have been disproportionately hit by the virus in Nigeria

Aims: To assess the level of psychosocial distress among selected adult residents in South-west Nigeria and determine the strategies adopted by them to cope.

Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional design was used to sample 393 adults from the region. The DASS-21 scale and Brief-COPE questionnaires were used to assess levels of psychosocial distress and coping respectively.

Place and Duration of Study: Southwest Nigeria, between May 2020 and June 2020.

Methodology: Participants were recruited using Snowballing sampling technique. Data were collected using an online self-administered questionnaire. Information retrieved were coded and entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20.0). Descriptive statistics of mean, frequency, and percentages were used to summarize data and Chi-square analysis was used to test the hypotheses with an Alpha level set at P =0.05.

Results: Pathologic scores for all three psychosocial distress indicators measured in this study were recorded in 8.1% of the participants. The three leading sources of psychological distress identified included; the general uncertainty associated with the pandemic, lack of confidence in the government's ability to handle the situation, and the fear of robbery attacks that were rampant in the region during the period of lockdown. Most of the participants coped by adopting the use of humor (62.8%) and religion (53.9%). State of residence was found to influence coping strategy and there was a relationship between sex and use of religion in coping at p= 0.01.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic was a significant stressor in the study. Improved strategies to combat the spread of the virus to help accelerate lifting of the lockdown will be beneficial to the coping capacities of the residents.