Study Of Factors Associated With Psychosocial Well-Being During The COVID-19 Pandemic In Senegal

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the global population was particularly vulnerable to psychological distress. However, the impacts of pandemics on the state of psychosocial well-being in Africa remain insufficiently studied, particularly in Senegal. Our study aimed to fill this gap by exploring these determinants. This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study representative of the population of Senegalese people aged 18 and over. 813 individuals were collected by telephone call based on the random dialing method after a marginal quota survey stratified by sex, age and region during the period from June 11 to July 10, 2020. The state of well-being was assessed using the WHO well-being index. The determinants were assessed using cumulative ordinal regression well-being modeling with R software version 4.1.0. About half of our population had a moderate level of well-being (48.2%) and about a tenth had a low level (6.6%) including 4 2.6% with a low economic level. The analysis revealed that poor knowledge about the cause of the disease (OR = 1.31; 95% CI [1.09-1.58]), reduced time spent in public places (OR = 1.53; 95% CI [ 1.15-2.04 ]); trust in institutional sources of information (OR = 1.26; 95% CI [ 1.06-1.49 ]) and cancellation or postponement of a social event (OR = 1.34; 95% CI [ 0.96-1.89 ]) are factors related to the decline in psychosocial well-being towards the low level. The study highlights the importance of implementing appropriate communication strategies to strengthen the knowledge of populations at all levels, but also the need to pay particular attention to vulnerable groups and to provide psychosocial support throughout pandemics.