The Relationship between Anxiety Levels and Perceived Social Support during the Pandemic of COVID-19 in Turkey

Özmete E., Pak M.

SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH, cilt.35, sa.7, ss.603-616, 2020 (SSCI) identifier identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 35 Sayı: 7
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/19371918.2020.1808144
  • Dergi Adı: SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, AgeLine, CAB Abstracts, CINAHL, EBSCO Education Source, EMBASE, Geobase, MEDLINE, Social services abstracts, Sociological abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.603-616
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: COVID-19, State Anxiety, Trait Anxiety, Perceived Social Support, MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALE, UNCERTAINTY, INTOLERANCE, HEALTH, DEPRESSION, DISORDERS, HIV/AIDS, EPIDEMIC, CRISIS, IMPACT
  • Atatürk Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The uncertainty which is threatening and stressful prevents a person's perception of control and leads to maladaptive psychological reactions such as anxiety. We aimed to define the relationship between the state/trait anxiety levels and perceived social support in the COVID-19 pandemic as a global crisis and stressor. Our main hypothesis was that perceived social support would negatively affect the levels of anxiety. A cross-sectional community-based study was carried out using the relational screening model. The data were collected between March 20 and April 15, 2020, by using an online survey (N = 630). Anxiety levels of individuals, particularly the state anxiety were high during the pandemic. Also, perceived social support and state/trait anxiety levels were analyzed for various variable categories. Anxiety levels decreased significantly when perceived social support increased. Perceived social support as a determinant of state and trait anxiety should be the focus of social work practices in this period.