Psychosocial Impacts of COVID-19 and 2014-16 Ebola Virus Disease Outbreaks on Australian - based West Africans: A Narrative Summary of Systematic Reviews

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in widespread infection control and prevention interventions. These interventions did not only disrupt normal life activities but caused emotional and psychosocial pain, which lead to anxiety, fear of infection, stress, and distress, among others. Methods: This followed the narrative approach of traditional literature review method. Two systematic reviews had been done using the PRISMA-ScR design. In this narrative, a summary of the findings from the two systematic reviews of literature are provided. Result: The literature review identified an array of psychosocial health problems, which includes stress, fear, anxiety, and depression. This review indicates the paucity of information of the phenomenon interest. Conclusion: Infectious diseases outbreaks such as the 2014-16 West African EVD epidemic and the recently concluded COVID-19 pandemic have resulted to widespread negative psychosocial pain.