The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: a longitudinal study

Background: This study aims to longitudinally assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the general Spanish population. It uses four assessment points: two weeks after the start of confinement, one month after, two months after, and one year after the first evaluation. Methods: Eva...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ausín Benito, Berta, González Sanguino, Clara, Castellanos López, Miguel Ángel, Saiz Galdós, Jesús, Zamorano, Sara, Vaquero, Carlos, Muñoz López, Manuel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/98468
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/98468
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Coronavirus
COVID-19
Quarantine
Longitudinal
Mental health
Psicología (Psicología)
61 Psicología
Descripción
Sumario:Background: This study aims to longitudinally assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the general Spanish population. It uses four assessment points: two weeks after the start of confinement, one month after, two months after, and one year after the first evaluation. Methods: Evaluations were conducted through an online survey, with a sample of 3,480 people at the first data collection and 1,041, 569, and 550 people at successive evaluation points. Depressive symptoms (PHQ-2), anxiety (GAD-2), post-traumatic stress (PCL-C-2), social support (EMAS), loneliness (UCLA-3), and discrimination (InDI-d) were evaluated. Results: Significant changes were found in the variables depression and anxiety with a greater presence of this kind of symptomatology after one year (p < .01). There were also significant changes in the variable social support, which showed a substantial reduction after one year (p < .001). Similarly, there were significant variations in the variable intersectional discrimination (p < .001), with greater levels of discrimination. The temporal models show no significant differences in terms of post-traumatic symptomatology (p = .12) or loneliness (p = .19). Conclusions: The pandemic had a negative impact on mental health and these effects were further exacerbated one year later.