Covid-19 Lockdown: Psychological Implications on Life Quality

Abstract

Being a new infection that is highly communicable in nature, spreading fast across the globe, and the fact that there is yet to be known cure for it, COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of worry in every part of the world leading to global lockdown in the matter of social restriction such as on international and national transport links, market or business transaction, school and organization activities, and all related social and religious gathering. Back home in Nigeria, COVID-19 lockdown spanned from early May 2020 to the end of July 2020. Movement was restricted during this period. Gradually, lockdown was eased but a curfew of 8pm to 6am was introduced across major cities in the country to curtail the spread of the virus. This study examined the psychological implications of COVID-19 pandemic with a particular focus on a sample of 1000 drawn from across the length and breadth of the country using online data collection channels. The ages of respondents ranged from 18-50 years. The Sample was made up of 42.3% females and 57.7% males. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder was assessed using GAD-7 and stress was measured using Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). Analysis of data was carried out using Chi Square test and the results show that significant higher number of females experiencing GAD than their male counterparts while males suffered more stress than females. Also findings indicate that the younger and middle aged persons suffered GAD more than the older persons while in the reverse order older persons suffered more stress than the younger and middle aged persons. It was therefore recommended among others that general healthcare professionals should collaborate with psychotherapists in the management of this pandemic and future one in order to promote people’s psychological wellbeing in society. Also, mental health experts should come up with awareness campaign on basic means of overcoming psychological distress on media and in communities generally in Nigeria to foster mental healthiness. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2020-01-02-04 Full Text: PDF