Fear, Psychological Impact, and Coping During the Initial Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic Among the General Population in India

Introduction Public health emergencies such as pandemics affect the health, safety, and well-being of both individuals and societies. Thus, this study aims to better understand the fear due to coronavirus disease (COVID) and associated levels of anxiety, depression, stress, and coping in the general public of India during the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak. Materials and methods This was a cross-sectional study to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 and coping levels among the general population during the coronavirus pandemic's initial phase. An online survey was conducted using a snowball sampling technique. Results A total of 489 people responded to the survey. The prevalence rates of depression, anxiety and stress were 27.2%, 21.5%, and 15.3% respectively. Female gender, age below 35 years, history of medical or psychiatric illness, and those who had personal contact with persons with COVID-19 were significantly associated with presence of depression, anxiety, and stress whereas spending more than 1 hour on COVID-19-related information was associated with significant stress. Conclusion This study concludes that the prevalence rates of psychological problems were high during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are directly related to the fear associated with COVID-19 but had an inverse relationship with the resilient coping levels.