Psychological Distress Among Urban Residents During COVID-19 Pandemic and Community Containment

Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging pandemic affecting the global population. The community-based quarantine can retard pandemic growth while risking population-wide psychological wellbeing, which potentially influences population compliance in following stipulated community quarantine. This study aimed to quantify psychological distress among Greater Jakarta Area residents during a community-containment period by measuring depression, anxiety and stress level using the Indonesian version of Depression, Anxiety and Stress Score 21 (DASS-21). Methods: This cross-sectional observational-analytic study employed an online questionnaire involving participants acquired through snowball sampling. The questionnaire comprises of two parts, namely demographic data and psychological distress indicators. Linear regression evaluated psychological distress as a response variable dependent on age, sex, and education. Outcomes: From 1205 female and 824 male participants, strongly associated variables in estimating psychological distress include female sex; t(1869.13)=8.91 (p<0.001), in an early to prime productive age; F(3)= 37.21 (p<0.001), and having low to moderate education levels; F(2)= 17.22 (p<0.001). Interpretation: Observed are subpopulations prone to having psychological distress during adversities. Proper countermeasures will address and evaluate such an issue. Further enactment of loosening the quarantine shall consider these subpopulations before imposing the policy. Funding Statement: This study received no external funding. Declaration of Interests: Authors declared no conflict of interest in conducting this study. Ethics Approval Statement: Ethical clearance acquired from Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia (No: KET-429/UN2.F1/ETIK/PPM.00.02/2020).