The Initial Mental Health Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic Across Some Ecuadorian Provinces
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Abstract
On March 11, Ecuador declared a state of emergency over the Covid-19 epidemic. This led to unprecedented public measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 taken, including physical isolation. The psychological consequences in the short and medium term are not yet fully known. As the event is recent, there is limited research on the psychological impact to the general public during the peak of the epidemic. The aim of this study is to establish the prevalence of reported symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, and identify risk factors contributing to psychological distress in the general population in Ecuador with relation to the Covid-19 epidemic. This was done by applying a survey, including socio-demographic variables and the DASS-21 scale test, to 789 people from Ecuador. The results indicate that a concerning number of people reported severe or extremely severe levels of depression (10.3%), anxiety (19.4%) and stress (13.5%).
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