Abstract:
Introduction: Globally, the growing prevalence of COVID-19 is a major public health concern.
This pandemic has made numerous psychological disturbances among professionals and
general public in the whole world, including Sri Lanka. This study was conducted to identify
the psychological disturbances (i.e., depression and anxiety) among the general public and
professionals, including healthcare professionals and military personnel during the COVID-19
pandemic in Sri Lanka. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was
conducted in selected three districts with 367 participants (general public n=134, healthcare
professionals n=128, military personnel n=102) during the 1st to 4th waves of COVID-19.
Depression and anxiety were assessed using the Peradeniya Depression Scale (PDS) and
Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 scale (GAD-7) respectively. Binary logistic regression was
used to determine the factors associated with depression and anxiety. Results: Mean age (+SD)
of the study population was 35.02 (+10.63) years and 51.8% were females. Higher level of
depression and anxiety were observed among 39.2% and 55.3% participants respectively, and
they were predominant among military personnel (73.5% vs 89.2%). Gender, professional
engagement and level of education are associated with both depression and anxiety (p>0.05)
further explaining that males, military personnel, and those who educated below A/L had higher
levels of depression and anxiety (p<0.05). Those who educated below A/L (OR=2.92, 95% CI)
and professional engagement (i.e., military and healthcare) (OR=4.4, 95%CI) emerged as the
associated factors for higher level depression while the similar factors associate with the anxiety
as well (those who educated below A/L; OR=3.44, 95% CI and professional engagement;
OR=3.9, 95% CI). Conclusions: A reasonable proportion of general public exhibited higher
level of depression and anxiety during the pandemic of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka. Frontline
workers, including healthcare professionals and military personnel and those who educated
below are more likely to exhibit depression and anxiety compared to the general public and
those who had tertiary education respectively.