Factors affecting the fear levels and access to healthcare in quarantined individuals with fear of COVID-19

In this study, it was aimed to determine the factors affecting the fear levels in quarantined individuals with fear of COVID-19 and their access to health services. The sample of the descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of 221 participants who applied to Almus State Hospital on January 1, 2021 - February 28, 2021, were diagnosed with COVID-19 or were quarantined due to being in contact, had no communication barrier due to language barriers or mental problems, and agreed to participate in the research. created. 114 of these participants stated that they were afraid because of COVID-19. The research was completed with 114 people under quarantine and fear of COVID-19. Data were collected with the Personal Information Form and the COVID-19 Fear Scale. Necessary legal permissions and ethics committee approval were obtained to conduct the study. Descriptive statistics, t-test for independent groups, one-way analysis of variance, Chi-square test and linear regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data. 50.2% of the participants (221 people) are male, 40.3% are between 35-54 years old, 75.6% are married, 38.0% are primary school graduates and 46.2% are residents of the district. it was determined. It was determined that 51.6% of the participants had quarantine fear. It was determined that the total mean score of the participants (114 people) who were given a quarantine decision and stated that they were afraid from the COVID-19 Fear Scale was 23.53±3.81, that women scored higher on the scale than men, and this was statistically significant (p< 0.05). The difference between the participants' gender, age, marital status, educational status, number of children, place of residence, feeling of something bad will happen and anxious thinking attitude and the mean score they got from the COVID-19 Fear Scale was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). It was determined that those who received training about the quarantine process had a lower mean score from the COVID-19 Fear Scale than those who did not receive training (p<0.05). Access to health services is negatively affected by 38.6% of participants who feel fear. 57.8% of the negatively affected participants stated that they could not go to the controls mostly for other health problems. As a result, the average score obtained from the COVID-19 Fear Scale of the participants who were quarantined and stated that they were afraid was found to be high. It was determined that less than half of them were adversely affected in terms of benefiting from health services and more than half of those affected did not undergo examination for other health problems. During the quarantine period, it is recommended to provide families with accurate, reliable and accessible information sources and to provide education about the situations they may encounter.