?:abstract
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Objectives: This study aimed to compare psychosocial distress in areas in Korea with different prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after validating a questionnaire on psychological experiences and stress associated with the disease outbreak Methods: Using an online-based survey, psychosocial distress associated with COVID-19 was investigated in three regions, which were selected according to their prevalence of COVID-19 A total of 1,500 people from an online public panel in the three regions participated in the study The questionnaire included sociodemographic information, psychosocial experience and stress related to COVID-19, and the perceived stress scale (PSS), patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and generalized anxiety disorder-7 (GAD-7) Those questionnaires and scales were compared by level of prevalence of COVID-19 after validating the questionnaire on psychosocial distress associated with COVID-19 Results: The 19 items on psychosocial experience associated with COVID-19 comprised 5 subscales, with favorable Cronbach\'s α ranging from 0 69 to 0 88 Six stress items related to COVID-19 had a Cronbach\'s α of 0 79 Disturbance in eating and sleeping, difficulty with outside activities, stress from COVID-19, and PSS scores were greater in the areas where COVID-19 was highly prevalent Economic problems, daily activity changes, and anger toward society were higher in the higher-prevalence regions Discussion: Psychosocial distress associated with COVID-19 was closely related to the prevalence of the disease in the areas where participants lived Psychosocial interventions for distress associated with COVID-19 should be developed and prepared for people during this lengthy pandemic
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