Psychological Distress Among a Tunisian Community Sample During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Correlations with Religious Coping

Abstract

Despite advances in medicine and technology, when facing epidemics people continue to turn to religion to deal with such unpredictable life-threatening events. We aimed to assess psychological distress in the general population of Tunisia during the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine the contribution of religious coping (RC) in the reports of anxiety and depression at the time of the survey. We carried out and online cross-sectional study using a non-probability snowball sampling technique. A total of 603 responses were recorded. The “Depression Anxiety Stress Scales,” the “Brief religious coping scale" and the “Arabic religiosity scale” were used. We found that 28.3%, 24.4% and 19.4% of the participants reported severe or extremely severe levels of depression, anxiety and stress, respectively. The mean score for positive RC was 22.8 ± 5.3, while that for negative RC was 14 ± 5.8. After controlling for confounders, multivariate analysis showed that negative RC significantly and positively contributed to depression and anxiety scores in our respondents, indicating that greater use of negative RC was associated with higher levels of psychological distress. No significant relationship was found between overall religiosity or positive religious coping and either depression or anxiety symptoms. Religious beliefs may have an impact on how people cope with emerging infectious disease outbreaks. Religion should be considered by professionals as an important variable to consider in therapy for individuals who engage in RC or perceive religious needs.

Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression Among the General Population in Africa During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Sex was the most reported demographic variable. Most studies indicated higher levels of anxiety among females compared to males ( 27 , 28 , 30 , 35 , 43 , 45 – 50 , 54 , 59 , 60 , 63 , 68 – 70 , 72 , 73 , 75 , 81 , 83 , 94 , 95 ) with the exception of one study which demonstrated an association between anxiety and being male ( 38 ). Urban residency ( 52 , 62 , 69 , 81 , 83 ), living alone (without family) and lower family income or socioeconomic status were also identified as risk factors for anxiety ( 35 , 44 , 48 , 49 , 69 ).…”

“…Among the various healthcare professions, medical laboratory work was significantly associated with higher anxiety compared to others (AOR = 2.75, 95% CI: 1.78–4.79) ( 47 ). Younger age ( 30 , 35 , 45 , 54 , 67 , 71 , 72 , 76 , 79 , 82 , 83 , 85 ), being a widow or single ( 38 , 42 , 67 , 73 ), being unemployed ( 38 , 67 , 73 ) and being a student ( 35 , 52 , 71 ) were also significantly associated with COVID-19 related anxiety. Additionally, negative use of religious coping mechanisms was significantly associated with greater anxiety ( 36 , 45 ).…”

“…Anxiety was highest among those infected with SARS-CoV-2 (OR=9.59, 95% CI: 2.28–40.25) ( 73 ) and was significantly associated with having an infected relative or friend ( 39 , 44 , 46 , 58 , 96 ), being involved in discussions regarding COVID-19 related illness or death ( 45 ), fear of contamination ( 39 , 76 ), fear of death ( 76 ) and exposure to individuals with SARS-CoV-2 or who were at risk of having SARS-CoV-2 ( 15 , 43 , 58 , 74 , 95 ). History of or having an existing mental illness ( 30 , 35 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 69 ) as well as a history of an existing medical condition or chronic disease ( 46 , 49 – 51 , 79 , 83 , 94 , 96 ) were associated with greater anxiety. Poor knowledge of COVID-19 ( 48 , 49 ) and preventive practices were associated with increased odds of developing anxiety among pregnant women ( 41 ).…”

“…Displacement due to conflict ( 80 ), lack of emotional support from family or society ( 46 , 66 , 79 , 97 ), and experiencing discrimination or racism (AOR = 5.02, 95% CI: 1.90–13.26) ( 84 ) were significantly associated with COVID-19 related anxiety. Reading or watching COVID-19 related news via media or internet sources was associated with increased anxiety ( 27 , 43 , 45 , 46 ). Healthcare workers were anxious about their relatives and family members contracting SARS-CoV-2 from them ( 39 , 51 , 85 , 95 ).…”

“I Discovered I Love to Pray Alone Too”: Pluralist Muslim Women’s Approaches to Practicing Islam during and after Ramadan 2020

“…Studies tend to be clustered in the following groups: (1) at the interface of state/local authority policies and Muslim practices (Al-Astewani 2020; Bi 2020; Piwko 2021; Kostecki and Piwko 2021; Thurston 2020) (2) analyses of institutional religious responses (Kühle 2021) and media representations of Muslim communities during the pandemic (Poole and Williamson 2021;Rajan and Venkatraman 2021). The handful of studies conducted with Muslims tend to be quantitative, and conducted in Europe, MENA, and South Asia (Ali et al 2020;Fekih-Romdhane and Cheour 2021;Jaspal et al 2020;Ripon et al 2020;Thomas and Barbato 2020). No studies, to our knowledge, have been published about American Muslims' experiences of COVID-19 at the time of publication.…”