Depression, Anxiety and State Guilt in Individuals under Quarantine in an Institution due to COVID-19 and the Related Factors.

Introduction: This study identifies depression, anxiety and state guilt of Turkish citizens kept in quarantine for 14 days in an institution where they are brought upon their request within the scope of infection control measures and the related affecting risk factors during the coronavirus pandemic.

Methods: A total of 385 individuals under quarantine for 14 days between the dates of April 20-May 21, 2020 were included in the study. The data were collected using a socio-demographic data form (age, gender, employment status, having sleep disorder, duration of television review and Internet use, etc.), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Guilt Scale (GS) after the participants were informed about the study objective and they signed the informed consent form.

Results: A total of 385 participants, 84 of whom were women, with a mean age of 35.32±11.7 were included in the study. According to BAI and BDI, 14.5% of the participants had anxiety and 17.1% had depression symptoms. The regression analysis found that female gender, having sleep disorder, using Internet for 8 hours or more and having chronic illness were risk factors for anxiety; while female gender, being aged 18-30, having sleep disorder, having psychiatric illness, and using Internet for 8 hours or more were risk factors for depression. The state guilt did not show any significant correlation with any socio-demographic factor.

Conclusion: Female gender, being young, having a history of psychiatric illness, having chronic illness, having sleep disorder, using Internet for 8 hours or more were found to be risk factors for more anxiety and depression symptoms. It is important to educate people about the methods of how to maintain healthy sleep during quarantine, to effectively fight against the excessive circulation of misinformation and to provide sufficient medical care to those with psychiatric and chronic diseases, being more vulnerable against infections.