Psychological effects of COVİD-19 pandemic and evaluation of protective behaviors

Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic period, it was to evaluate the psychological effects of the people according to the state of being affected by the disease and their compliance with the measures that can be taken for disease control. The groups we formed for our study were the case group consisting of COVID-19 patients and the control group consisting of those who had never had the disease before. In the study, while investigating the differences in behavioral and psychological effects between both groups, we aimed to perform an epidemiology and symptom screening in COVID-19 patients. Methods: The case group consisted of 200 participants and the control group consisted of 202 participants. The presence of a previously known psychiatric illness and being a health worker were among the exclusion criteria. Both groups filled out the questionnaire questions prepared by the researcher consisting of demographic information, perception of disease transmission, compliance with infection control measures, disease control perception and separate symptom questions for the case group and a data collection form including GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scales. Results: 99 of the case group participants were male (49.5%) and 101 were female (50.5%). 100 of the control group participants were male (49.5%), 102 were female (50.5) The mean age of the case group was 36.6 ± 10.9 years, while the mean age of the control group was 35.3 ± 12.6 years. GAD-7 mean total score of the case group participants was 3.97 ± 4.22, PHQ-9 mean total score was 6.15 ± 4.92, while the mean total score of GAD-7 of the control group participants was 3.81 ± 4.46, PHQ-9 The mean total score was 4.98 ± 4.47. While there was no difference in the GAD-7 total score between the two groups, the PHQ-9 total score was higher in the case group (p = 0.012). The frequency of depressive symptoms was 55% in the case group, 46.5% in the control group, and 34% in the case group, and 32.2% in the control group, and the frequency of anxiety and depressive symptoms was higher in all groups compared to the pre-pandemic period. The levels of anxiety and depression were found to be higher in women than men (p <0.001), and as the compliance with infection control measures increased in all participants, the level of depressive symptoms decreased (p = 0.008). In addition, while there was no significant difference between the two groups in the answers to the questions of compliance with the infection control measures, the level of compliance of the women with the infection control measures was higher in the total group (p <0.001). Conclusion: Anxiety and depression states of all participants were higher than before the pandemic period. The depression level of the case group was higher than the control group. Anxiety and depression levels were higher in women. As the compliance with infection control measures increased in all participants, a decrease was found in the depression score. Women's compliance with infection control measures was higher than men.