The relationship between quality of life and fear of Turkish individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study.
Ahu Aksoy, Arzu Abiç, Filiz Değirmenci and 1 others
PMID 34561061WHAT IT FOUND
In 1060 Turkish adults, higher fear of COVID-19 was very weakly linked to lower self-reported physical and psychological quality of life.
Income less than expenses and sore throat, muscle pain, and headache were also linked to lower quality of life.
Key findings
01Fear scores had very weak significant inverse correlations with physical health (r = -0.188; p < .05) and psychological health (r = -0.077; p < .05) quality-of-life scores.
02Participants whose income was less than expenses had statistically lower quality-of-life scores in all domains.
03Participants who experienced sore throat, muscle pain, and headache had significantly lower quality-of-life scores in all domains.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was an online convenience and snowball sample, so it may not represent adults in Turkey who did not have internet access or digital tools. Most participants had at least a university degree, which limits how well the results apply to less educated groups. Data were collected over about two months, so the results may reflect that period of the pandemic. The correlations between fear and quality of life were very weak. The physical and psychological quality-of-life domain scores had low internal consistency in this sample (0.52 and 0.50), so those domain scores may be less reliable. The cross-sectional design cannot show whether fear led to lower quality of life or lower quality of life was linked with fear.
Declared interests
The authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that fear of COVID-19 caused lower quality of life. The study was cross-sectional, and the correlations between fear and quality of life were very weak.