Psychological Status During Covid-19 Pandemic Among The General Population In Bhutan

Background: Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) on 31 December 2019 in Wuhan (Hubei, China), an increasing amount of information, concern, and restrictive public health measures put on to contain the spread of infection have impacted the mental health of the people. The psychological status of the Bhutanese population during this novel coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic is unknown.Aim: To measure the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression in Bhutanese population during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also aimed to explore the potential differences in psychological status between the demographic variables.Methods and material: A cross-sectional web-based survey was done using a non-probabilistic snowball sampling methodology. Data were collected using the socio-demographic data questionnaire and the Depression Anxiety and Stress scale-21 (DASS-21). Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data, and independent t-tests and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to compare the psychological status among different groups.Results: A total of 663 respondents were recruited. Of them, 21.27% of the participants reported mild to severe levels of depression, 25.04% reported mild to severe levels of anxiety, and 10.56% were stressed. Young and those unemployed during the pandemic showed greater negative psychological symptoms.Conclusion: The results show that psychological problems are prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings can help government and health professionals safeguard the psychological wellbeing of the community in the face of COVID-19 outbreak in Bhutan and worldwide