Predictors of psychological distress among the public in Oman amid coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a cross-sectional analytical study

Sinawi, Hamed Al; Balushi, Naser Al; Al-Mahrouqi, Tamadhir; Ghailani, Abdullah Al; McCall, Roopa K; Sultan, Alya; Al-Sabti, Hilal; Maniri, Abdullah Al; Panchatcharam, Sathiya Murthi; Al‐Alawi, Mohammed

doi:10.1080/13548506.2020.1842473

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…As noted, only a select few demographics, COVID-specific demands, and external resources variables emerged as significant predictors when accounting for the strong contribution of psychological resources. This is in contrast to prior COVID-19 studies that have identified age (e.g., Elbay et al, 2020), gender (e.g., González-Sanguino et al, 2020), SES (e.g., Sinawi et al, 2021), and social support (e.g., Liu, Zhang, et al, 2020) as predictors of distress or adaptation. This discrepancy is likely due to prior studies' reliance on regression or group comparison models that do not account for the examination of a large number of variables simultaneously.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 89%

“…Researchers attempting to identify predictors of mental health outcomes related to COVID‐19 have primarily applied traditional statistical methods that examine group differences or relationships between discrete variables. These studies have identified female gender (González‐Sanguino et al, 2020 ; Mazza et al, 2020 ; Özdin & Bayrak Özdin, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2020 ), younger age (Elbay et al, 2020 ; González‐Sanguino et al, 2020 ; Huang & Zhao, 2020 ), pre‐existing mental health conditions (Asmundson et al, 2020 ; González‐Sanguino et al, 2020 ; French et al, 2020 ; Özdin & Bayrak Özdin, 2020 ; Usher et al, 2020 ), poorer physical health (Zhou et al, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2020 ), financial instability (Sinawi et al, 2021 ), financial loss due to COVID‐19 (Hyland et al, 2020), and social isolation or loneliness (Asmundson et al, 2020 ; Brooks et al, 2020 ; González‐Sanguino et al, 2020 ; Liu, Zhang, et al, 2020 ) as risk factors for COVID‐related distress. Research on the influence of psychological resources has identified an array of psychosocial risk factors of psychological distress during the pandemic, including high fear and exaggerated beliefs about the dangerousness of COVID (Taylor et al, 2020 ; Zacher & Rudolph, 2020 ), maladaptive coping strategies including denial, self‐blame, and substance use (Rettie & Daniels, 2020 ), intolerance of uncertainty (Glowacz & Schmits, 2020 ; Rettie & Daniels, 2020 ), low openness to experience (Kroska et al, 2020 ), avoidant coping (Dawson & Golijani‐Moghaddam, 2020 ; Mariani et al, 2020 ), hopelessness (Shanahan et al, 2020 ), and high levels of rumination (Zhou et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mental health and resilience during the coronavirus pandemic: A machine learning approach

et al. 2021

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Objective This study explored risk and resilience factors of mental health functioning during the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic. Methods A sample of 467 adults ( M age = 33.14, 63.6% female) reported on mental health (depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], and somatic symptoms), demands and impacts of COVID‐19, resources (e.g., social support, health care access), demographics, and psychosocial resilience factors. Results Depression, anxiety, and PTSD rates were 44%, 36%, and 23%, respectively. Supervised machine learning models identified psychosocial factors as the primary significant predictors across outcomes. Greater trauma coping self‐efficacy and forward‐focused coping, but not trauma‐focused coping, were associated with better mental health. When accounting for psychosocial resilience factors, few external resources and demographic variables emerged as significant predictors. Conclusion With ongoing stressors and traumas, employing coping strategies that emphasize distraction over trauma processing may be warranted. Clinical and community outreach efforts should target trauma coping self‐efficacy to bolster resilience during a pandemic.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health and resilience during the coronavirus pandemic: A machine learning approach

et al. 2021

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“…Certain demographic groups were identified as having a higher prevalence of anxiety or being more at risk of developing adverse mental health issues. Twenty-two studies found that females consistently had higher levels of anxiety than males [ 11 , 28 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 35 , 39 , 41 , 62 , 63 , 65 , 75 , 79 , 82 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 102 , 105 , 110 ]. However, two studies found that males were more anxious when living with dependents under 18 [ 50 , 61 ] and that younger males had higher instances of anxiety [ 56 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anxiety Linked to COVID-19: A Systematic Review Comparing Anxiety Rates in Different Populations

Saeed

Eslami

Nassif

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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The COVID-19 pandemic has incited a rise in anxiety, with uncertainty regarding the specific impacts and risk factors across multiple populations. A qualitative systematic review was conducted to investigate the prevalence and associations of anxiety in different sample populations in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four databases were utilised in the search (Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO). The review period commenced in April 2021 and was finalised on 5 July 2021. A total of 3537 studies were identified of which 87 were included in the review (sample size: 755,180). Healthcare workers had the highest prevalence of anxiety (36%), followed by university students (34.7%), the general population (34%), teachers (27.2%), parents (23.3%), pregnant women (19.5%), and police (8.79%). Risk factors such as being female, having pre-existing mental conditions, lower socioeconomic status, increased exposure to infection, and being younger all contributed to worsened anxiety. The review included studies published before July 2021; due to the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, this may have excluded relevant papers. Restriction to only English papers and a sample size > 1000 may have also limited the range of papers included. These findings identify groups who are most vulnerable to developing anxiety in a pandemic and what specific risk factors are most common across multiple populations.

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“…Second, the study included only female clients, and the research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic among the public in Oman has shown that the female gender is an independent risk factor to developing psychological stress. 42 Moreover, Omani women have a more positive attitude toward mental illness compared to Omani men. 43 Therefore, Omani women are more likely to seek mental health services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A promising future for tele-mental health in Oman: A qualitative exploration of clients and therapists’ experiences

Al-Mahrouqi

Al-Alawi²,

Al‐Alawi

et al. 2022

SAGE Open Medicine

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Objectives: Tele-mental health services can play an important role in overcoming barriers in mental health services in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. However, despite its potential, tele-mental health has not been widely adopted in Oman. This study is an exploratory investigation into the experiences of therapists and their clients in utilizing video-based tele-mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A total of 19 semistructured qualitative interviews were individually conducted, it included 13 adult clients with mental health conditions who received video-based tele-mental health care and six clinical psychologists who provided video-based tele-mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The clients reported favorable experiences using tele-mental health, with the primary benefits being convenience, easy accessibility to subspecialized care, reduced absenteeism from work with commuting costs, and alleviated mental health stigma. The therapists also expressed experiencing benefits from tele-mental health, such as reduced risk of intrahospital infection, reduced healthcare costs, and the achievement of work-life balance. Primary concerns were related to the lack of public tele-mental health services, lack of specified tele-mental health guidelines, shortage of trained therapists, limited access to high-speed Internet, electronic devices, privacy, and concerns toward the security of telehealth systems in general. Conclusion: Clients and therapists report that tele-mental health offers new opportunities to improve the quality of mental healthcare services in Oman, and that the challenges could be resolved by establishing governmental tele-mental health services along with developing tele-mental health guidelines and implementing local postgraduate clinical psychology programs in universities in Oman.

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Predictors of psychological distress among the public in Oman amid coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a cross-sectional analytical study

Cited by 16 publications

References 54 publications

Mental health and resilience during the coronavirus pandemic: A machine learning approach

Mental health and resilience during the coronavirus pandemic: A machine learning approach

Anxiety Linked to COVID-19: A Systematic Review Comparing Anxiety Rates in Different Populations

A promising future for tele-mental health in Oman: A qualitative exploration of clients and therapists’ experiences

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