An investigation of the association between religious coping, fatigue, anxiety and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco: a web-based cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Background The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered fear and distress among the public, thus potentiating the incidence rate of anxiety and depression. This study aims to investigate the psychological effect of quarantine on persons living in Morocco when the first COVID-19 cases were identified. The associations between anxiety, depression symptoms, and their predictors (sociodemographics, fatigue, and religious coping) were examined. Methods A web-based cross-sectional survey, with a total of 1435 participants (≥18 years) recruited anonymously, was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic (from 3 to 30 April 2020). A structured questionnaire was used to assess psychosocial factors, COVID-19 epidemic-related factors, and religious coping. Religious coping, fatigue, and depression, and anxiety were measured by Brief Religious Coping Scale (Brief RCOPE), Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFS), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), respectively. A generalized linear model (logistic regression) was used to determine the predictive factors of depression and anxiety. Results The prevalence of anxiety and depression was 43.0% (n = 621) and 53.0% (n = 766), respectively. Both were associated with female gender, household income decline, tracking COVID-19 news, and fear to contract COVID-19 (aOR = 1.36 to 2.85). Additionally, 32.0% (n = 453) and 26.0% (n = 372) reported severe physical fatigue, and mental fatigue, respectively. Both latter factors were significantly and positively associated with depression as well as with anxiety. Depressive and anxious patients used more negative religious coping, while positive religious coping was slightly associated with depression. Conclusion In this online survey of the general population in Morocco, anxiety and depressive symptoms are prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic and psychosocial factors, such as female gender, income decline, infection fears, massive COVID-19 news exposure, negative religious coping, and fatigue were associated with increased risk of depression and anxiety symptoms. Psychosocial and financial support should be provided to the quarantined population.

Relationship Between COVID-19 Related Knowledge and Anxiety Among University Students: Exploring the Moderating Roles of School Climate and Coping Strategies

“… Iddi et al (2021) also revealed that individuals who were concerned about their safety amidst COVID-19 coped very well. Other studies have also shown that religious coping was associated with COVID-19 related anxiety ( Chow et al, 2021 ; Yıldırım et al, 2021 ; Zarrouq et al, 2021 ). From the psychological resilience theory perspective, individuals can successfully cope with events perceived as stressful and preserve their psychological function even in adversity, because internal and external protective strategies can help ease the negative impact of these challenging events ( Main et al, 2011 ; Luthar et al, 2015 ; Lyons et al, 2016 ).…”

Spiritual Activity as an Effort to Cope with Depression during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

“…Adolescents are still progressing a perspective of the world and do not yet possess a satisfactory answer on the meaning of life (Giannone & Kaplin, 2020). They also own the frequency of accessing news of the COVID-19 pandemic through social media, which makes them more vulnerable to anxiety and depression (Zarrouq et al, 2021).…”

“…Research in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) confirmed this relationship by comparing spirituality between Christians and Muslims (Thomas, & Barbato, 2020). Many other studies have also evident the relationship between spirituality and depression (Davis et al, 2021), (Zarrouq et al, 2021), (Askari et al, 2018).…”

“…For some people, stress may lead to severe depression. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the community have been experiencing many changes in habits and feelings, such as quarantine, restrictions on mobility and activities, wearing masks, fear of death, economic difficulties, and uncertainty about the future (Zarrouq et al, 2021). These made it tremendously possible for the incidence of depression to appear higher than usual (Chirico, 2021).…”

“…A cross-sectional study conducted in Spain on 3480 respondents in early March 2020 revealed that 18.7% of respondents expressed symptoms of depression, while 21.6% reported anxiety (González-Sanguino et al, 2020). Another study in Morocco presented that 43% of respondents experienced anxiety, and 53% experienced depression at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (Zarrouq et al, 2021).…”