Perceived reasons and coping strategies for psychological distress among community dwelling adults in a rural area, Southern Sri Lanka

Abstract

Psychological distress in individuals due to varied reasons affects their day-to-day life and this has become a major public health problem in communities all over the world. A community based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 280 adults aged between 20-64 years, residing in the Nagoda Divisional Secretariat area, Galle, in order to determine the perceived reasons and coping strategies for psychological distress. A selfdeveloped pre-tested questionnaire was administered to ascertain the data related to perceived reasons for psychological distress and coping strategies. More than half (59.3%) of the participants were females and 39.6% were aged between 35-50 years. The most prevalent reported reasons for psychological distress were income (73.6%), future plans (64.6%), busy work schedule (70.4%) and personal appearance (71.4%). Most frequently reported perceived reasons for psychological distress were health condition of family members (53.6%), own health condition (52.1%), relationship issues (44.3%) and dietary pattern (44%). Three fourths of the individuals (75.7%) reported that they were watching television or listening to music as coping strategies. Only some of the male participants had practices of using alcohol (23.2%) and smoking (11.8%) as a stress coping method. Very few participants had reported healthy coping strategies including meditation (15.4%), engaging in exercise (14.6%), seeking support of counselling (13.9%), telling the problem to a familiar person (33.6%) and recreational activities (14.3%) respectively. Community dwelling adults reported varied reasons which lead to psychological distress and there is a lack of practices of healthy coping strategies which emphasizes the need for mental health development programmes at community level in order to improve the mental health among community dwelling adults.

Psychological distress in individuals due to varied reasons affects their day-to-day life and this has become a major public health problem in communities all over the world. A community based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 280 adults aged between 20-64 years, residing in the Nagoda Divisional Secretariat area, Galle, in order to determine the perceived reasons and coping strategies for psychological distress. A selfdeveloped pre-tested questionnaire was administered to ascertain the data related to perceived reasons for psychological distress and coping strategies. More than half (59.3%) of the participants were females and 39.6% were aged between 35-50 years. The most prevalent reported reasons for psychological distress were income (73.6%), future plans (64.6%), busy work schedule (70.4%) and personal appearance (71.4%). Most frequently reported perceived reasons for psychological distress were health condition of family members (53.6%), own health condition (52.1%), relationship issues (44.3%) and dietary pattern (44%). Three fourths of the individuals (75.7%) reported that they were watching television or listening to music as coping strategies. Only some of the male participants had practices of using alcohol (23.2%) and smoking (11.8%) as a stress coping method. Very few participants had reported healthy coping strategies including meditation (15.4%), engaging in exercise (14.6%), seeking support of counselling (13.9%), telling the problem to a familiar person (33.6%) and recreational activities (14.3%) respectively. Community dwelling adults reported varied reasons which lead to psychological distress and there is a lack of practices of healthy coping strategies which emphasizes the need for mental health development programmes at community level in order to improve the mental health among community dwelling adults