Isolation, Economic Precarity, and Previous Mental Health Issues as Predictors of PTSD Status in Females Living in Fort McMurray During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic represents an instance of collective trauma across the globe; as such, it is unique to our lifetimes. COVID-19 has made clear systemic disparities in terms of access to healthcare and economic precarity. Our objective was to examine the mental health repercussions of COVID-19 o...
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Published in | Frontiers in psychiatry Vol. 13; p. 837713 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Switzerland
Frontiers Media S.A
2022
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The COVID-19 pandemic represents an instance of collective trauma across the globe; as such, it is unique to our lifetimes. COVID-19 has made clear systemic disparities in terms of access to healthcare and economic precarity. Our objective was to examine the mental health repercussions of COVID-19 on adult females living in Fort McMurray, Canada in light of their unique circumstances and challenges.
To investigate this issue, we analyzed responses gathered from an anonymous cross-section of online survey questionnaire responses gathered from females living in the Fort McMurray area (
= 159) during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 24-June 2, 2021). This included relevant demographic, mental health history, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as COVID-19 data. Chi-squared analysis was used to determine outcome relevance, and binary logistic regression was employed to generate a model of susceptibility to PTSD.
159 females completed the survey. The prevalence of putative PTSD in our sample was 40.8%. A regression analysis revealed 4 variables with significant, unique contributions to PTSD. These were: a
; a
;
; and
. Specifically, women with a previous diagnosis of either depression or anxiety were ~4-5 times more likely to present with PTSD symptomatology in the wake of COVID-19 (OR = 3.846; 95% CI: 1.13-13.13 for depression; OR = 5.190; 95% CI: 1.42-19.00 for anxiety). Women who reported having lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic were ~5 times more likely to show evidence of probable PTSD (OR = 5.182; 95% CI: 1.08-24.85). Receiving inadequate support from family and friends made the individual approximately four times as likely to develop probable PTSD (OR = 4.258; 95% CI: 1.24-14.65), while controlling for the other variables in the regression model.
Overall, these results support our hypothesis that volatility in factors such as social support, economic stability, and mental health work together to increase the probability of women developing PTSD in response to a collective trauma such as COVID-19. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Reviewed by: Ravi Philip Rajkumar, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), India; Cyprian Mostert, Aga Khan University, Pakistan This article was submitted to Anxiety and Stress Disorders, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry Edited by: Manasi Kumar, University of Nairobi, Kenya |
ISSN: | 1664-0640 1664-0640 |
DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.837713 |