COVID-19-Related Anxiety and the Coping Strategies in the Southeast Ethiopia

Figures & data

Table 1 Showing Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Study Participants in the Communities of Bale and East Bale Zone, Southeast Ethiopia, 2020 (n=573)

Variables	Category	Frequency (n)	Percent (%)
Age of respondents in years	<25 years	129	22.5
	25–34 years	213	37.2
	35–44 years	105	18.3
	>44 years	126	22.0
Gender of respondents	Male	383	66.8
	Female	190	33.2
Residence of respondents	Rural	453	79.1
	Urban	120	20.9
Level of education of respondents	No formal education	145	25.3
	Primary education(grade 1–8)	227	39.6
	Secondary school(grade 9–12)	125	21.8
	Collage and above(grade 12+)	76	13.3
Average monthly income in ETB	<500	96	16.8
	500–1499	191	33.3
	1500–2500	110	19.2
	>2500	176	30.7
Occupation of respondents	Governmental employ	70	12.2
	NGO employ	27	4.7
	Private worker	111	19.4
	Farmer	347	60.6
	Other	18	3.1
Marital status of respondents	Married	439	76.6
	Single	117	20.4
	Divorced/widowed	17	3.0
Role in family of respondents	Father/Mother	449	78.4
	Son	93	16.2
	Daughter	31	5.4
chronic illnesses	Yes	500	87.3
	No	73	12.7
House ownership	Yes	151	26.4
	No	422	73.6
Distance from health Facility	Near to health facility	374	65.3
	Long distance >1 hour	199	34.7
Substance use of respondents	Yes	188	32.8
	No	385	67.2
Information from Religious leader	Yes	112	19.5
	No	461	80.5
Information from radio/ TV	Yes	397	69.3
	No	176	30.7
Information from Social media	Yes	160	27.9
	No	413	72.1
Information from Health Worker	Yes	46	8.0
	N0	527	92.0
Information from Announcement	Yes	49	8.5
	No	524	91.5

Abbreviation: ETB, Ethiopian Birr

Table 2 Responses of Participants for the Anxiety 5 Questionnaire Among Community of Bale Zones, Southeast Ethiopia, 2020 (n=573)

Items	Not at All N (%)	Rare, Less Than a Day or Two, N (%)	Several Days N (%)	More Than 7 Day, N (%)	Nearly Every Day Over the Last 2 Weeks, N (%)
Felt dizzy, lightheaded, or faint, when you read or listened to news about the Corona virus	236 (41.2)	207 (36.1)	37 (6.5)	11 (1.9)	84 (14.3)
Have trouble of falling or staying asleep because you were thinking about the Corona virus	217 (37.9)	233 (40.7)	53 (9.3)	18 (3.1)	52 (9.0)
felt paralyzed or frozen when I thought about or was exposed to information about the corona virus	44 (7.7)	224 (39.1)	91 (15.9)	31 (5.4)	183 (31.9)
lost interest in eating when I thought about or was exposed to information about the corona virus	321 (56.0)	170 (29.7)	43 (7.5)	12 (2.1)	27 (4.7)
I felt nauseous or had stomach Problems when I thought about or was exposed to information about the corona virus.	463 (80.8)	64 (11.2)	23 (4.0)	10 (1.8)	13 (2.2)

Table 3 Copying Strategies from Anxiety Due to COVID-19 in Relation to the Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Respondents Among Communities of Bale Zones, Southeast Ethiopia,2020 (n=573)

Variables	Category	Coping Strategies
		Coped Frequency (%)	No coped Frequency (%)
Age of respondents	<25	64(49.61)	65(50.39)
	25–34	115 (53.99)	98 (46.01)
	35–44	55 (52.38)	50 (47.62)
	>44	56 (44.44)	70 (55.56)
Gender	Male	198 (51.70)	185 (48.30)
	Female	92 (48.42)	98 (51.58)
Residence	Rural	216 (47.68)	237 (52.32)
	Urban	74 (61.67)	46 (38.33)
Level of education	No formal education	59 (40.69)	86 (59.31)
	primary education (1–8)	106 (46.70)	121 (53.30)
	Secondary school (9–12)	66 (52.80)	59 (47.20)
	Collage and above (12+)	59 (77.63)	17 (22.37)
Average monthly income ETB	<500	38 (39.58)	58 (60.42)
	500–1499	82 (42.93)	109 (57.07)
	1500–2500	59 (53.64)	51 (46.36)
	>2500	111 (63.07)	65 (36.93)
Occupation	Governmental employ	53 (75.71)	17 (24.29)
	NGO employ	20 (74.07)	7 (25.9)
	Private worker	62 (55.86)	49 (44.14)
	Farmer	144 (41.50)	203 (58.50)
	Other	11 (61.11)	7 (38.89)
Marital status	Married	219 (49.89)	220 (50.11)
	Single	64 (54.70)	53 (45.30)
	Divorced/widowed	7 (41.18)	10 (58.82)
Role in the family	Father/Mother	219 (48.78)	230 (51.22)
	Son	54 (58.06)	39 (41.94)
	Daughter	17 (54.84)	14 (45.160
chronic illnesses	Yes	38 (52.05)	35 (47.95)
	No	252 (50.40)	248 (49.60)
House ownership	Yes	211 (50.00)	211 (50.00)
	No	79 (52.32)	72 (47.68)
Distance from health Facility	Near to health facility	220 (58.82)	154 (41.18)
	Long distance >1 hour	70 (35.18)	129 (64.82)
Substance use	Yes	94 (50.00)	94 (50)
	No	196 (51.00)	189 (49.09)
Information from Religious leader	Yes	42 (37.50)	70 (62.500)
	No	248 (53.80)	213 (46.20)
Information from radio/ TV	Yes	200 (50.38)	197(49.62)
	No	90 (51.14)	86 (48.86)
Information from Social media	Yes	95 (59.38)	65 (40.63)
	No	195 (47.22)	218 (52.78)
Information from Health Worker	Yes	17 (36.96)	29 (63.04)
	N0	273 (51.80)	254 (48.20)
Information from Announcement	Yes	25 (51.02)	24 (48.98)
	No	265 (50.57)	259 (49.43)

Table 4 Respondents Coping Strategies from Anxiety Due to COVID-19 Among Communities of Bale Zones, Southeast Ethiopia, 2020 (n=573)

Items	Never N (%)	A Little Bit N (%)	A Medium Amount, N (%)	Always N (%)
Can you follow a lot of directions at once, even in a crisis	138 (24.1)	334 (58.3)	49 (8.6)	52 (9.1)
Did you call the problem what it is and try to see the whole picture	95 (16.6)	295 (51.5)	89 (15.5)	94 (16.4)
Did you gather as much information as possible to increase my options	45 (7.8)	233 (40.7)	96 (16.8)	199 (34.7)
Generally try to make everything work in my favor	53 (9.3)	309 (53.9)	94 (16.4)	117 (20.4)
Can think of nothing else, except what’s bothering me	69 (12.0)	84 (14.7)	217 (37.9)	203 (35.4)
Try to get more resources to deal with the situation	86 (15.0)	303 (52.8)	92 (16.1)	92 (16.1)
Use humor in handling the situation	38 (6.6)	321 (56.0)	100 (17.5)	114 (19.9)
Can solve problems more effectively under stress	71 (12.4)	339 (59.2)	79 (13.7)	84 (14.7)
Take strength from spirituality or the successes of courageous people	36 (6.3)	168 (29.3)	112 (19.6)	257 (44.8)
Can benefit from my past experiences for what is happening now	90 (15.7)	311 (54.3)	100 (17.5)	72 (12.5)
Try to be creative and come up with a new solution	256 (44.7)	223 (38.9)	59 (10.3)	35 (6.1)
Brainstorm as many possible solutions as I can even if they seem far out	228 (39.8)	230 (40.1)	45 (7.9)	70 (12.2)
Tend to lie sick in bed	13 (2.3)	19 (3.3)	108 (18.9)	433(75.5)
Give up easily too often	32 (5.6)	35 (6.1)	170 (29.7)	336 (58.6)
Develop a plan with a series of actions to deal with the event	178 (31.0)	267 (46.6)	68 (11.9)	60 (10.5)

Table 5 Factors Associated with Level of Anxiety Due to COVID-19 Among Community of Bale Zones, Southeast Ethiopia, 2020

Variables	Category	Level of Anxiety		COR(95% CI)	AOR(95% CI)
		Dysfunctional	No Dysfunctional
Age of respondents	<25 years	27 (20.93)	102 (79.07)	1.00	1.00
	25–34 years	37 (17.37)	176 (82.63)	0.794 (0.46,1.38)	0.82 (0.44, 1.51)
	35–44 years	16 (15.24)	89 (84.76)	0.68 (0.34, 1.34)	0.62 (0.29, 1.34)
	>44 years	15 (11.90)	111 (88.10)	0.51 (0.26 1.01)	0.46 (0.21, 1.03)
Gender	Male	62 (16.19)	321 (83.81)	1.00
	Female	33 (17.37)	157 (82.63)	1.09 (0.68,1.73)
Residence	Rural	81 (17.88)	372 (82.12)	1.00	1.00
	Urban	14 (11.67)	106 (88.33)	0.61 (0.33,1.11)	0.44 (0.23,0.86)**
Level of Education	No formal education	24 (16.55)	121 (83.45)	1.69 (0.72,3.96)	2.17 (0.85, 5.49)
	Primary (1–8)	35 (15.42)	192 (84.58)	1.55 (0.68,3.51)	1.65 (0.71, 3.86)
	Secondary (9–12)	28 (22.40)	97 (77.60)	2.45 (1.05,5.71)*	2.22 (0.91, 5.45)
	Collage and above(12+)	8 (10.53)	68 (89.47)	1.00	1.00
Average monthly income ETB	<500	14 (14.58)	82 (85.42)	0.94 (0.47, 1.89)
	500–1499	33 (17.28)	158 (82.72)	1.15 (0.66, 2.01)
	1500–2500	21 (19.09)	89 (80.91)	1.30 (0.70, 2.44)
	>2500	27 (15.34)	149 (84.66)	1.00
Occupation	Governmental employ	11 (15.71)	59 (84.29)	1.00
	NGO employ	2 (7.41)	25 (92.59)	0.42 (0.09, 2.08)
	Private worker	18 (16.22)	93 (83.78)	1.04 (0.46, 2.35)
	Farmer	62 (17.87)	285 (82.13)	1.17 (0.58, 2.35)
	Other	2 (11.11)	16 (88.89)	0.67 (0.13, 3.34)
Marital status	Married	70 (15.95)	369 (84.05)	1.00
	Single	22 (18.80)	95 (81.20)	1.22 (0.72, 2.07)
	Divorced/widowed	3 (17.65)	14 (82.35)	1.13 (0.32, 4.03)
Role in the family	Father/Mother	73 (16.26)	376 (83.74)	0.81 (0.32, 2.04)
	Son	16 (17.20)	77 (82.80)	0.87 (0.31, 2.45)
	Daughter	6 (19.35)	25 (80.65)	1.00
Chronic illnesses	Yes	12 (16.44)	61 (83.56)	0.99 (0.51, 1.92)
	No	83 (16.60)	417 (83.40)	1.00
House ownership	Yes	73 (17.30)	349 (82.70)	1.00
	No	22 (14.57)	129 (85.43)	0.82 (0.49, 1.37)
Distance from health Facility	Near to health facility	68 (18.18)	306 (81.82)	1.00	1.00
	Long distance >1 hour	27 (13.57)	172 (86.43)	0.71 (0.44, 1.15)	0.58 (0.34,0.97)**
Substance use	Yes	36 (19.15)	152 (80.85)	1.31 (0.83, 2.07)	1.40 (0.87, 2.25)
	No	59 (15.32)	326 (84.68)	1.00	1.00
Information from Religious leader	Yes	18 (16.07)	94 (83.93)	1.00
	No	77 (16.70)	384 (83.30)	1.05 (0.59,1.83)
Information from radio/ TV	Yes	57 (14.36)	340 (85.64)	1.00	1.00
	No	38 (21.59)	138 (78.41)	1.64 (1.04,2.59*	1.76 (1.09,2.84)**
information from Social media	Yes	22 (13.75)	138 (86.25)	1.00
	No	73 (17.68)	340 (82.32)	1.35 (0.80, 2.26)
Information from Health Worker	Yes	5 (10.87)	41 (89.13)	1.00
	No	90 (17.08)	437 (82.92)	1.69 (0.65, 4.39)
Information from Announcement	Yes	8 (16.33)	41 (83.67)	1.00
	No	87 (16.60)	437 (83.40)	1.02 (0.46, 2.25)

Notes: * statically significant in bi-variable;**statistically significant in multivariable.

Abbreviations: AOR, Adjusted Odd Ratio; CI, Confidence Interval; COR, Crude Odd Ratio 1.00, Reference group