Psychological Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ethiopia: The Need for Equal Attention of Intervention

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led individuals to suffer from different levels of mental health problems such as psychological distress, anxiety, depression, denial, panic, and fear. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of psychological distress and associated factors among the Ethiopian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods:A cross-sectional study was performed through an online survey using different online platforms. The questionnaire was created through Google Form and the survey link was administered by e-mail,LinkedIn,Telegram, and Facebook. Educated Ethiopian population who have access to the internet were invited to participate through an online survey and addressed to 929respondents. The psychological distress was assessed using the Kessler 10 item tool to measure psychological distress. Data were analyzed using SPSS andlogistic regression to examine mutually adjusted associations, expressed as adjusted odds ratios.A generalized additive model was also employed to identify additional predictors using R.Results:The prevalence of high psychological distress among the study population was 236(25.5%). Of all respondents, 421(45.1%) had low psychological distress, 274(29.4%) had moderate psychological distress, 164 (17.6%) had high psychological distress, and 72 (7.3%) had very high psychological distress.Psychological distress increased with being at young and middle-aged adults, getting information from social media, and not correctlypracticing infection prevention and control measures to prevent COVID-19 infection. Respondents with high perceived severity had increased psychological distress. On the contrary, those with the highest score of perceived response efficacy had low distress.Conclusion:Prevalence of psychological distress was substantial. Intervention of psychological distress is critically essential. The intervention target groupsare those whose information sourcesare from social media, young and middle-aged adults, and those who do not properly practice infection prevention and control measures to COVID-19 infection.