Mitigating the Psychological Impacts of COVID-19 in Southern Nigeria; Public Awareness of Routine Exercises and Preventive Measures

Abstract

Psychological impacts of COVID-19 outbreak include anxiety and depression. These effects of the pandemic could be avoided by awareness of preventive measures to control the spread of the disease, and to prophylactic measure (routine exercise) to mitigate the psychological impacts of the pandemic. This study aimed at investigating the level of public awareness to the preventive and prophylactic measures against the psychological impacts of COVID-19 outbreak in southern Nigeria. A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with 1200 community-dwelling working-class individuals were purposefully recruited from three states in the southern Nigeria. Data collected was analysed and presented in descriptive (Frequencies and percentages) and inferential (Chi-square) statistics. P-value was 0.05. Result showed that few respondents (34%) were aware of the preventive measures against psychological impacts due to COVID-19 widespread, through information got majorly from mass and social media. Majority (63%) of the respondents were aware of the efficacy of the prophylactic measure, routine exercises, to mitigating anxiety and depression due to COVID-19 pandemic. There was less public awareness of the effects of the preventive and prophylactic measures on the psychological impact of the pandemic in southern Nigeria. Thus, there is need for policy makers to broaden and strengthen awareness strategies on both measures to improve psychosocial wellbeing especially in the faces of endemic and pandemic.