Assessment of prevalence and determinants of anxiety and psychological distress symptoms in Ebola child and adolescent survivors and orphans in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publication date: Dec 01, 2024

To date, only three studies investigated the mental health of youth affected by Ebola virus disease (EVD). None explored anxiety and psychological distress symptoms in survivors or orphans. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and determinants of anxiety and psychological distress symptoms among survivors and orphans of the 2018-2020 Ebola epidemic in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A representative sample of 416 participants (mean age = 13. 37, SD = 2. 79, 51. 20 % girls, 146 survivors, 233 orphans, and 34 orphan-survivor participants) completed measures evaluating anxiety, psychological distress, exposure, resilience, stigmatization related to Ebola and COVID-19. 55. 88 % and 55. 96 % of survivors and orphans experienced severe symptoms of anxiety and psychological distress. Participants who were both survivors and orphans presented higher prevalence of anxiety and psychological distress (94. 12 % and 100 %) compared to survivors (74. 03 % and 81. 82 %) or orphans (37. 99 % and 33. 33 %), χ = 70. 63, p

Concepts Keywords
Congo Adolescent
Democratic Anxiety
Orphans Anxiety
Virus Child
Child, Orphaned
COVID-19
COVID-19
Cross-Sectional Studies
Ebola virus disease
Female
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola
Humans
Male
Prevalence
Psychological Distress
Psychological distress
Resilience
Resilience, Psychological
SARS-CoV-2
Social Stigma
Stigmatization
Survivors

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease MESH anxiety
disease MESH psychological distress
disease MESH COVID-19 pandemic
disease MESH Ebola virus disease
disease MESH Social Stigma

Original Article

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