Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Mental health of the people of northern Iran during the quarantine time of 2020 following the coronavirus epidemic

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Fereshteh Araghian Mojarad 1
. Mohammad Ali Heidari Gorji 2
. Hamid Salehiniya 3
. Tahereh Yaghoubi 4

1 Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Center, Addiction Institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences

2 Diabetes Research Center, Nursing and Midwifery Nasibeh School, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences

3 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

4 Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Center, Addiction Institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences,

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus (COVID‑19) is an infectious respiratory disease. Quarantine is often
accompanied by unpleasant experiences for those who go through it. The aim of this study was to
determine the mental health status of people during quarantine in northern Iran.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross‑sectional study was conducted during the quarantine
period of coronavirus. Conventional sampling was done from March 6 to April 6. Six hundred and
forty‑two individuals were included. Inclusion criteria were living in Sari and being home quarantined
during the corona outbreak. Exclusion criteria included hospitalization history due to corona and
unwillingness to participate in the study. In this study, the General Health Questionnaire‑28 was used
online to collect the required data. To analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistics (t‑test,
analysis of variance, and correlation coefficient) were used.
RESULTS: In this study, individuals were included in the investigation with a mean age of
38.74 ± 11.89 (ranged from 15 to 73). Most of the participants were female (72.85%) and
married (71.34%). According to the results, 21.5% of the participants had poor mental health.
Mean mental health scores have a statistically significant relationship with gender, marital status,
education, occupation, quarantine period, patients with corona, and exposure to a patient with
corona (P ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, a negative correlation coefficient was observed between age and
mental health score (correlation coefficient = −0.31, significance >0.001).
CONCLUSION: The average score of mental health has a significant relationship with gender, marital
status, education, occupation, quarantine period, corona, and exposure to a patient with corona.
Given the high prevalence of mental disorders in people during the COVID‑19 epidemic, educating
people and planning to reduce the psychological effects of the epidemic can be helpful.

Keywords

COVID‑19
Iran
mental health
persons
quarantine
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 11, Issue 9
October 2021
Pages 1-6

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