Abstract

Prevalence of Anxiety-Related Disorders among Elementary and Early Adolescents after Suspended Schools during Pandemics of Covid19

Author(s): Amal I. Khalil*, **#, Neama Y. Hantira*, ***, Fareedah M Almaliki*, Fatimah A Faqihi*

Background: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools were closed, resulting in an unplanned transition from physical education to virtual education. Many countries implemented measures and precautions to decrease the spread of the virus, including social distances, and school closures, which affected the socialization and educational process. The aim is to identify the prevalence of Anxiety-Related Disorders among Elementary and Early Adolescents After Suspended Schools during the Covid19 Pandemic. Methods: A web-based quantitative, comparative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 520 students selected conveniently from 4 schools affiliated with the Ministry of Education in Jeddah after receiving approval of KAIMRC and IRP approval No. (IRB /0942/22/J). To achieve the goal of study two valid and reliable tools were used including Demographic and personal characteristics and the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale. Results: The majority of 97.3% of the participants were Saudi, 63.3% were aged 10 years and more, and 53.3% have 5 to less than 5 family members. More than 3 quarters 77.9% were seniors (grade 3-6) compared to 22.1% were in (grade 1-2) and 76.5% of the participants have an adequate economy. Also, the results revealed that only 30.8% of the participants had clinically significant anxiety symptoms compared to 69.2% had a normal range of anxiety symptoms with no significant correlation between OCD, agoraphobia, and fear of physical injury while a significant relation was found between students ‘age, grade, and socioeconomic status and generalized anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders and panic anxiety at (P. 0.01). Conclusion: Based on our study methodology, we were able to better understand the COVID-19 lockdown's impact on students and identify the target interventions that could be implemented quickly to help those children. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 24 S (Mental health and Prevention II), February-April 2023; 1-22.

PDF