Psychological Wellbeing and Personal Coping Strategies during COVID-19 Lockdown: An Empirical Study

This study analyzes the factors affecting psychological wellbeing and personal coping strategies adopted by individuals, “during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic”. Ox CAP-MH and Brief COPE was used to develop an online survey. Using the data collected from 351 respondents of the Indian general population, it was found that psychological well-being was affected by activity levels & social involvement; endogenous & exogenous sense of influence; leisure, bias & self worth; adaptability & mindfulness; and mental stress & sleep. Factors associated with personal coping strategies included positive reframing & active coping; defence mechanisms & self-doubt; use of emotional support & planning for the recovery of the pandemic covid-19 by personal coping; substance use & humour; spirituality; persistence threshold; using social support system. Finally result obtained is “the attitude of females and males varies”, towards the majority of the factors. The implications theoretically and in practice have been discussed.


INTRODUCTION
According to WHO, "Corona viruses (CoV) are one of the broad family of disease-causing viruses. It causes diseases that vary like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). General indicators of infection include trouble breathing, fever, and cough [1]. In some cases, it causes shortness of breath, and in more severe cases, respiratory failure, pneumonia, failure of the kidneys, and sometimes death may be triggered by the infection".
In Wuhan, Hubei, China, COVID-19 was initially discovered in December 2019 and has since been an ongoing epidemic. The epidemic was called whose "global emergency". Around 13.2 million-plus cases have been reported worldwide, as of 15th July 2020. It has also resulted in the death of more than 577,000 people across the world with the recovery of more than 7.37 million people (COVID-19 Dashboard, John Hopkins University, 2020) [2].
The COVID-19 epidemic, which soon arose as a global pandemic is not only a health concern but also a significant cause of worry that is affecting mental stability and "psychological well-being" of many individuals worldwide [3].
While the cases in countries around the world are increasing, the symptoms of anxiety and fear have been triggered, among the masses. The pandemic has caused uncertainty about the future as it has caused economic instability, work losses, financial deprivation, and social alienation within a brief period. The general population is scared and there is apprehension amongst others relating to the health and well-being of themselves and their loved ones [4].
Keeping the emergency in mind, a variety of scientific trials has been carried out around the globe to find a vaccine. However, the effect on psychological health and mental well-being and associated therapies and programs for COVID-19 stay mostly understudied. The recorded rise in mental health problems related to social isolation, physical distance, and quarantine mechanisms render more work crucial in this field to examine, identify, and customize effective therapies systematically.
Therefore, this empirical study aims to add to the current information base by analyzing the factors affecting psychological well-being as well and the personal coping strategies adopted by individuals in India. The study also aims to analyze "the difference in the attitudes of males and females" towards the same [5].

Literature Review
Psychological well-being is a part of the overall health and quality of life of an individual. It is evident from the fact that social well being is the impact of mental strength. It further emphasizes that it also means the absence of infirmity or disease. According to WHO, is "the perception of an individual of their position in life; about their concerns, expectations, goals, and standards, in the context of value systems and culture surrounding them" [6]. Further, it is stated that "the concept is broad-ranging and is affected in a complex way by the psychological state, social relationships, physical health, and personal beliefs of a person".
Apart from this, Richard Burns has stated psychological well-being as the positive functioning of intra-and inter-individual levels, which may include the aspects of how one is related to others. He further stated that psychological well-being also refers to selfreferent attitudes that cover the aspects of the sense of personal growth and mastery of an individual [7].
Several other works have concentrated on disparities in psychological well-being around the board, including gender, social connectedness degrees, individual nature, money spending behaviour [8], levels of income, and age. Some recent works have also shown a significant and broad variety on society in general and individuals in particular.
The reported adverse psychological consequences involve signs of anger, posttraumatic stress, and confusion [9]. Longer duration of Quarantine, fear of infection, the inadequacy of supplies and information, and loss in terms of finance were some of the stressors mentioned by them regarding the impact of an epidemic outbreak on happiness, concluded that there was a drop of 74% in the overall emotional well-being as the epidemic of coronavirus set its foot in China. In yet another study conducted by for management students of the final year, on psychological well-being; they observed a percentage of 43 for the level of depression among students. Some of the reasons mentioned for the same included revocation of job offers, the downturn of the economy, issues related to finance, and tension regarding the future. The study [10] shows the association of longer quarantine durations with increased Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms' prevalence.
Moreover, a systematic review health hazards due to covid reveals that 50.4% of healthcare workers showed symptoms of depression. Another 34% of healthcare workers were facing sleep difficulty, while the other 44.6% were experiencing anxiety. Also [11], in their study on mental health and the impact of economic uncertainty during COVID-19 pandemic established that there is a positive relation of economic uncertainty to uncertainty of job and disturbance of identity whereas, with psychological well-being, it possesses a negative relationship.
Consequently, this research is carried out based on the factors influencing psychological wellbeing and personal coping strategies. This study would help in finding out the root cause factors for the negative and positive effects on psychological well-being, as well as the personal coping strategies, which can be utilized to devise therapeutic strategies across the COVID-19 crisis to enhance the mental health of disadvantaged populations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data was obtained using the means of Google terms. The questionnaire for psychological wellbeing was designed using standardized "Oxford Capabilities Questionnaire-Mental Health (Ox CAP-MH)" and for that of personal coping strategies, Brief COPE questionnaire was used; with slight modifications. The modification included the removal of Question no. 7 and 8a of Ox CAP-MH, before the analysis, as they didn't relate to the research topic.
Ox CAP-MH is an index of 16 statements whereby items are ranked on a scale of 1-5.
The first section consisted of Demographic data, followed by Ox CAP-MH in second and third and finally culminating with Brief COPE in the fourth section. The basic demographic data included Employment Status, Age, Gender, Annual Income, Marital Status, Family structure, Accommodation during the lockdown, and City of residence during the lockdown.
The data has been collected from the general population of India, by sending the google form link through LinkedIn, WhatsApp and email using the method of convenience sampling. The survey comprised 351 respondents, aged between 18 years and 67 year [12].

Objectives of the Study
 To analyze the factors affecting "psychological well-being" of individuals, during the lockdown of COVID-19 pandemic.  To analyse the factors affecting personal coping strategies adopted by individuals, during the lockdown of COVID-19 pandemic.  To find out the factors affecting psychological well-being, during the lockdown of COVID-19 pandemic.  To find out the attitude of female and male towards the factors affecting personal coping strategies, during the lockdown of "COVID-19 pandemic".

Hypotheses
For further study the following hypotheses have been developed: H01: In the shutdown of the COVID-19 pandemic what terms of the elements that impact psychological wellbeing? H11: "The attitude of women and men is significantly different" in the context of psychological variables during the COVID-19 latch. H02: "No significant difference in female and male attitudes" in the lockdown of the COVID-19 epidemic regarding the personal coping techniques. H02: H12: "The attitude of men and women differs significantly"

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The data gathered from a total of 351 respondents, which includes 168 females and 183 males are depicted from Tables. Table 1 and Table 2 show the reliability statistics which refers to a respondent's tendency to respond to an identical or near-identical statement or question in the same or similar manner, in almost similar circumstances [13].
Here, the Cronbach's alpha, which is a mean reliability coefficient, has a satisfactory value of 0.758 for Ox CAP-MH, and for that of Brief COPE it is 0.851, which is quite good.  Table 3 and Table 4 represent the list of complete statements or questions for which the short names are used in the analysis tables.
The Descriptive statistics reflect the summary statistics for data measures and scale variables.
Here, the mean values for the variables of Ox CAP-MH, range from 2.71 to 3.85, and for that of the Brief COPE variables, the mean statistics range from 1.78 to 2.94, as shown by Table 5 And Table 6. Table 5 show the statistics for figures indicate the proportion of variance as the common variance, for different variables used in the analysis. This can also be stated as the common variance that is attributed to the underlying factors. A strong value of this metric (from 0.5 to 1) suggests the suitability of the "factor analysis" with the data at hand, while a small statistical is inappropriate.
Here, the KMO statistic for Ox CAP-MH is computed as 0.797 (Table 7), which is in the middling range, and for that of Brief COPE, it is 0.808 (Table 8), which is in the meritorious range, which shows the adequacy of the sample.
The hypothesis as to whether the matrix for population correlation is the one for identity matrix (Business Research Methods, Pg. 640).
Here, the statistic for chi-square approximate is 1923.855 (Table 7) and 5742.743 (Table 8), with 105 (Table 7) and 378 (Table 8) degrees of freedom, respectively, for Ox CAP-MH (( Table 6) and Brief COPE (Table 8) shows relationship among variables chosen for factor analysis". Hence, "factor analysis" is deemed a good methodology for further data analysis. Table 9 show the Rotated Component Matrix for Ox CAP-MH and Brief Cope, respectively. The columns in this figure show the component-wise distribution of post-rotation factor loading for different variables, for the factor concerned. The Varimax procedure has been used for the purpose of rotation and a cut-off point of 0.5 has been decided, to interpret the results. Therefore, all the variables having a correlation of 0. 5 Table 12 represent the statistics for "independent sample t-Test" for 2 separate groups of gender viz. female and male.
As shown in Table 12, the Sig. for some of the variables. Therefore, we can conclude that there is a significant difference in the attitude of female and male towards COVID-19 pandemic, with respect to the following variables-    Variables Included Name of the Factor 1 1. "I've been turning to work or other activities to take my mind off things." Positive Reframing and Active Coping 7. "I've been taking action to try to make the situation better." 10. "I've been getting help and advice from other people." 12. "I've been trying to see it in a different light, to make it seem more positive." 20. "I've been accepting the reality of the fact that it has happened." 2 6. "I've been giving up trying to deal with it." Defence Mechanisms and self-doubt 8. "I've been refusing to believe that it has happened." 9. "I've been saying things to let my unpleasant feeling escape." 13. "I've been criticizing myself." 26. "I've been blaming myself for things that happened."  (1) "Don't limit your health in any manner as compared to most of your age" Ox CAP-MH Variable 1 "You can socially meet friends or relatives (DURING LOCK-DOWN), with p value=0.000; Ox CAP-MH variable 2 i.e., 2)" with p value=0.000; variable Ox CAP-MH 3 i.e., 3) (DURING LOCK-DOWN), p value=0.000; variable 6, i.e., 6), p value=0.000; OXCAP-MH variable 8 i.e., 8) "(DURING LOCK-DOWN) [15].
Similarly in Table 12 the Sig. for some of the variables. Hence, attitude of female and male towards the factors affecting personal coping strategies, during the lockdown of COVID-19 pandemic, variables stated below in Table 4.

CONCLUSION
An in-depth expertise is very important to analyse, define and tailor effective approaches for treatments related to psychological health and mental wellbeing. The current research has been undertaken with the objective to analyse the factors influencing individuals' psychological wellbeing, and the different personal coping strategies and mechanisms that have been adopted by them in lockdown.
In this study, we not only revealed factors but also towards the variables included in the factors affecting psychological well-being (i.e. activity levels & social involvement; endogenous & exogenous sense of influence; leisure, bias & self worth; adaptability & mindfulness; and mental stress & sleep), and the factors affecting personal. With the pandemic's virtually ubiquitous existence, modern understanding, together with that of personal coping strategies and mechanisms, would not only help us tackle the present pandemic successfully, by devising therapeutic strategies; it will also improve our capacity to cope efficiently with potential disasters in the future. The Varimax procedure has been used for the purpose of rotation and a cut-off point of 0.5 has been decided, to interpret the results. Therefore, all the variables having a correlation of 0.5 and above have been included and others with lower correlation have been excluded.

FUTURE SCOPE
In the future, studies must be undertaken specifically keeping the underprivileged sections in mind, as they are the ones who are more prone to sufferings, during the times of crisis.
The correlation between age and other wellbeing and coping strategies can be found. The difference in the attitudes of residents living in metro and non-metro cities, towards these factors can also be identified.