COVID-19 PANDEMIC: PSYCHO-SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES DURING THE SOCIAL DISTANCING PERIOD AMONG NAJRAN CITY POPULATION

Background: COVID-19 is a global pandemic that endanger the health and enforced social distancing for the whole world. Social distancing may generate stress, anxiety, and depression. Understanding the psychosocial consequences of COVID19 during social distancing may help decision-makers to take suitable decisions that help in increasing awareness.This study aims to evaluate the psychosocial consequences of COVID-19 pandemic during the social distancing period and explore the relationship between social media use and psychological stress during COVID-19 outbreak among Najran city population. Subjects and methods: Descriptive correlational research design was utilized to carry out this study. A snowball sampling technique, was used to recruit participants live in Najran city during the COVID-19 pandemic (1508 participant). Results: A statistically significant differences (P<0.05) are observed between Saudi and non-Saudi participants in all social aspects assessed except for time spent on social media. In addition, a high mean of depression, stress, and anxiety subscale scores are observed in non-Saudi compared to the Saudi participants with statistically significant differences (p=0.000). As well as high DASS-21 total scores in non-Saudi compared to the Saudi participants. Also, there are positive statistically significant correlations (<= 0.05) between participants' time spent in social media and their depression, stress, anxiety, and total DASS scores during the COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusion: The findings of the present study indicate that COVID-19 pandemic generates stress, anxiety and depression among Najran population especially, non-Saudi. This poor psychological condition is exaggerated with prolonged social media use. COVID-19 also has negative impact on social wellbeing and use of social media cannot replace direct contact with friends. The current study results may be utilized to formulate interventions that enhance psychosocial health and resilience during the COVID-19 outbreak.