The Psychological and Behavioral Responses to COVID 19 in Iraqi Community

Background: COVID-19 is a pandemic disease with a stress impact on society. Generalized anxiety disorders, and psychological and behavioral responses may be outcomes of COVID-19 disease. Aim: To clarify the generalized anxiety disorders, and psychological and behavioral responses that may be outcomes of COVID-19 disease. Materials and Methods: A self-administered structured questionnaire was adapted from a survey used in a similar study conducted in Karachi, Pakistan, to assess the psychological and behavioral responses to COVID-19. The questionnaire was translated into an Arabic version and made available online via Google Forms. Results: The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Iraqi community ranged from 32% to 95.8% across various indicators. The COVID-19 pandemic had a behavioral impact on the Iraqi community, with indicators ranging from 4.3% to 83.8%. Generalized anxiety disorders (GAD) were absent with a range of 22.2% to 52.9% for the 7 items of the GAD-7 tool. However, the functional impairment was present in 84.5%. Age, sex, education, and marital status were associated with significant effects on differences in GAD disorder and functional impairment. GAD score was with a mean of 7.74 ± 5.53. 33.4% had a normal score, 31.6% had a mild score, 21.5% had a moderate score, and 13.5% had a severe score. Thus, the GAD was an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic in about 2/3 of the studied cohort. This finding confirms the health impact burden on society and the study';s aim. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic had a psychological and behavioral impact on the Iraqi community.