Stress, sources of stress and coping during the Covid-19 lockdown: A population study from India

• Main Authors: Jessy Fenn, Noble Chacko, Tony Thomas, Varghese K Varghese, Sanju George
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2021-01-01
• Series: Indian Journal of Social Psychiatry
• Subjects: covid-19; india; mental health; perceived stress; sources of stress coping strategies
• Online Access: http://www.indjsp.org/article.asp?issn=0971-9962;year=2021;volume=37;issue=1;spage=57;epage=63;aulast=Fenn

Background: Pandemics such as COVID-19 (with or without lockdown) can cause considerable stress to individuals, testing their coping resources. To contain the pandemic, there was a nationwide lockdown in India from March 25, 2020, severely limiting movement of the 1.3 billion population till the first relaxation came on April 21. This study was done in the 3rd week of April, just before relaxations were announced, to study the perceived stress, sources of stress, and coping strategies of adults during this core lockdown period in Kerala, India. Materials and Methods: We gathered data from 1073 adults using sociodemographic information, perceived stress scale, sources of stress checklist, and COVID-19 coping strategies scale. Correlation analyses, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance were employed for data analyses. Results: 65.7% of respondents scored high on the stress scale with 8.3% experiencing severe stress and 57.4% reporting moderate stress. Stress was negatively correlated with age, education level and income. Anxiety about the impact of the pandemic on the world and their own personal future were the main sources of stress. This was followed by financial worries, stress due to frustration of limited movement, and fear about contracting COVID. The five most common coping strategies used were increased hygiene, social distancing, increasing awareness about the disease, increased communication with family, and distraction through movies and books. Conclusion: During the core lock down period in April 2020 in India, there was high levels of stress among the people primarily due to the worry about the future impact of the pandemic as well due to the restrictions imposed.