Social Support and Adjustment During COVID-19 Epidemic: A Community-Based Study in Iran

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic is neither the first nor the last epidemic in human societies. Epidemic control requires cooperation and adherence to health and prevention protocols in the whole community. Social support and social adjustment may be effective in epidemic control. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the level of social support, social adjustment, and related factors during the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran. Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional study, including 1,145 individuals, was conducted from April to May 2020 in Iran. Social adjustment and social support were measured using the Bell Adjustment Inventory and Philips Social Support questionnaires. Each province was assumed as a cluster, and Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) models were used to determine the demographic variables that were related to social support and social adjustment during the COVID-19 outbreak. All analyses were conducted with SPSS26. Results: In this study, 58.9% of people were in the moderate and 39.9% in the high social support group. About 57.6% of people were in moderate and 30.8% in the high social adjustment group. People with a good (OR = 3.81, 95% CI: 2.29, 6.34) and moderate (OR = 2.02, 95% CI: 1.40, 2.92) financial situation had significantly higher social support scores. Master or doctorate graduates (OR = 2.38, 95% CI: 1.80, 3.15), and people with a good (OR =1.83, 95% CI: 1.20, 2.79) and moderate (OR =1.40, 95% CI: 1.17,1.69) financial situation had significantly higher social adjustment scores. Conclusions: The participants of this study had mainly moderate to high levels of social support and adjustment; however, they may not represent the whole Iranian society. Social support and adjustment are low in people with a poor financial situation and low education. These groups need more attention in epidemics.