Prevalence and Factors Associated with Mental and Emotional Health Outcomes among Africans during the COVID-19 Lockdown Period-A Web-based Cross-Sectional Study

Raymond Langsi; Uchechukwu L Osuagwu; Piwuna Christopher Goson; Emmanuel Kwasi Abu; Khathutshelo P Mashige; Bernadine Ekpenyong; Godwin O Ovenseri-Ogbomo; Timothy Chikasirimobi G; Chundung Asabe Miner; Tanko Ishaya; Richard Oloruntoba; Obinna Nwaeze; Deborah Donald Charwe; Kingsley Emwinyore Agho

doi:10.3390/ijerph18030899

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Mental and Emotional Health Outcomes among Africans during the COVID-19 Lockdown Period-A Web-based Cross-Sectional Study

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jan 21;18(3):899. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18030899.

Authors

Raymond Langsi¹, Uchechukwu L Osuagwu^{2

3}, Piwuna Christopher Goson⁴, Emmanuel Kwasi Abu⁵, Khathutshelo P Mashige³, Bernadine Ekpenyong^{3

6}, Godwin O Ovenseri-Ogbomo^{3

7

8}, Timothy Chikasirimobi G⁹, Chundung Asabe Miner¹⁰, Tanko Ishaya¹¹, Richard Oloruntoba¹², Obinna Nwaeze¹³, Deborah Donald Charwe¹⁴, Kingsley Emwinyore Agho^{3

15}

Affiliations

¹ Health Division, University of Bamenda, Bambili P. O. Box 39, Cameroon.
² Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism Translational Research Unit, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia.
³ African Vision Research Institute (AVRI), Discipline of Optometry, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 3629, South Africa.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, College of Health Sciences, University of Jos, Jos 930003, Nigeria.
⁵ Department of Optometry and Vision Science, School of Allied Health Sciences, College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast 00233, Ghana.
⁶ Department of Public Health, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, College of Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Cross River State 540271, Nigeria.
⁷ Department of Optometry, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Optometry, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Benin, Benin City 300283, Nigeria.
⁹ Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, School of public health, Biomedical sciences and technology, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega 50100, Kenya.
¹⁰ Department of Community Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of Jos, Jos 930003, Nigeria.
¹¹ Department of Computer Science, University of Jos, Jos 930003, Nigeria.
¹² School of Management and Marketing, Curtin Business School, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6151, Australia.
¹³ County Durham and Darlington, National Health Service (NHS) Foundation, DL3 0PD, UK.
¹⁴ Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 977, Tanzania.
¹⁵ School of Health Science, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia.

Abstract

Mental health and emotional responses to the effects of COVID-19 lockdown in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are of serious public health concern and may negatively affect the mental health status of people. Hence, this study assessed the prevalence of mental health symptoms as well as emotional reactions among sub-Saharan Africans (SSAs) and associated factors among SSAs during the COVID-19 lockdown period. This was a web-based cross-sectional study on mental health and emotional features from 2005 respondents in seven SSA countries. This study was conducted between 17 April and 17 May 2020 corresponding to the lockdown period in most SSA countries. Respondents aged 18 years and above and the self-reported symptoms were feeling anxious, being worried, angry, bored and frustrated. These were the main outcomes and were treated as dichotomous variables. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the factors associated with these symptoms. We found that over half (52.2%) of the participants reported any of the mental health symptoms and the prevalence of feeling bored was 70.5% followed by feeling anxious (59.1%), being worried (57.5%), frustrated (51.5%) and angry (22.3%) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multivariate analysis revealed that males, those aged >28 years, those who lived in Central and Southern Africa, those who were not married, the unemployed, those living with more than six persons in a household, had higher odds of mental health and emotional symptoms. Similarly, people who perceived low risk of contracting the infection, and those who thought the pandemic would not continue after the lockdown had higher odds of mental health and emotional symptoms. Health care workers had lower odds for feeling angry than non-healthcare workers. During the COVID-19 lockdown periods in SSA, about one in two participants reported mental health and emotional symptoms. Public health measures can be effectively used to identify target groups for prevention and treatment of mental health and emotional symptoms. Such interventions should be an integral component of SSA governments' response and recovery strategies of any future pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; bored and angry; feeling anxious; frustrated; mental health; psychological problem; sub-Saharan Africa; worried.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Africa South of the Sahara
COVID-19 / psychology*
Communicable Disease Control
Cross-Sectional Studies
Emotions
Female
Humans
Internet
Male
Mental Health*
Middle Aged
Pandemics*
Prevalence
Young Adult