COVID-19-Related Anxiety and the Coping Strategies in the Southeast Ethiopia

Background: The pandemic of coronavirus disease spreading is impacting mental health globally. Even though the pandemic is challenging for patients, the community, policy-makers, as well as health organizations, and teams, the data on COVID-19 and its association with anxiety and coping mechanisms towards infection among community members are currently limited. Thus, the study is intended to assess COVID-19-related levels of anxiety and coping strategies among community members of Bale and East Bale Zones, Southeast Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based survey was carried out among 634 study participants of Bale and East Bale Zones from June 1 to 20, 2020. The level of anxiety was determined by using the 5-item Coronavirus Scale and the coping strategies were determined by using the 15-item Coping and Adaptation Processing Scale. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were used to collect the data. Bi-variable analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to estimate the relationship among the variables. Results: COVID-19-related dysfunctional level of anxiety was found 95 (16.58%). About 290 (50.6%) respondents were copied from anxiety that occurred as a result of COVID-19. Factors significantly associated with the dysfunctional level of anxiety related to COVID-19 were being an urban resident (AOR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.23, 0.86), those who had no information from TV/radio (AOR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.84), and walking a long distance more than 1 hour from the health institution (AOR=0.58, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.97). Conclusion: COVID-19-related dysfunctional levels of anxiety were 16.58% in the study community. Half of the community was coped with COVID-19-related anxiety. Being an urban resident and walking along distances more than 1 hour from the health facility were the factors that decreased the odds of having a dysfunctional anxiety, whereas respondents who had no information from TV/radio increased the odds of having a dysfunctional anxiety. Accordingly, focusing on these identified factors could improve a dysfunctional level of anxiety in the study community.