{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,17]],"date-time":"2026-10-17T08:59:12Z","timestamp":1792227552242,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,9]],"date-time":"2021-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1631145600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Background:<\/jats:bold> Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an outbreak that caused serious threats to people worldwide. Police officers are one of those frontline fighters during pandemic. Our study is the first to examine psychological health response among police officers in Ethiopia during the COVID-19 outbreak.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods:<\/jats:bold> A cross-sectional study design with a self-administered questionnaire was conducted among police officers from Dessie town from June 20 to July 10, 2020. A total of 385 questionnaires were completed correctly accounting for 91% of the total. The data were collected by using demographic information and psychological health assessment tools. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and Brief Resilient Coping Scale questionnaire were used to assess depression, anxiety, sleep, and coping status of participants.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:<\/jats:bold> The rate of depression was found to be 28.9%. Of these, 19.7% had mild, 7.3% had moderate, 1.6 had moderate\u2013severe, and 0.3% had severe depression symptoms. The rate of general anxiety symptoms was found to be 30.2%. Of these, 22.1% of the police officers had mild, 2.6% had moderate, and 5.5% had severe anxiety. Moreover, 13.8% of police officers had subthreshold insomnia and 2.1% had clinical (moderate\u2013severe) insomnia. Participants who are men, married, highly resilient, and have high social support were associated with lower depression, anxiety, and insomnia scores than those of women, being single or widowed\/divorced, low resilient coping score, and low social support, respectively.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusion:<\/jats:bold> A psychological health problem was found to be higher among police officers in Dessie town. Younger age, sex, marital status, having chronic diseases, coping, and social support with depression, general anxiety, and insomnia were found to be significantly associated with psychological health problems. There is a need for mental health services, support, and care of police officers during the pandemic.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.713954","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,9]],"date-time":"2021-09-09T11:49:30Z","timestamp":1631188170000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Depressive Symptoms, and Sleep Problem During COVID-19 Outbreak in Ethiopia Among Police Officers: A Cross-Sectional Survey"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Mekonnen","family":"Tsehay","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Moges","family":"Necho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Habtam","family":"Gelaye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abeba","family":"Beyene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mengesha","family":"Birkie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"103","DOI":"10.1080\/01460860600677643","article-title":"A review of instruments measuring resilience.","volume":"29","author":"Ahern","year":"2006","journal-title":"Issues Compr. Pediatr. Nurs."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajp.2020.102092","article-title":"Epidemic of COVID-19 in China and associated psychological problems.","volume":"51","author":"Ahmed","year":"2020","journal-title":"Asian J. Psychiatry"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.27189.1","article-title":"Psychological burden of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated factors among frontline doctors of Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study.","volume":"9","author":"Barua","year":"2020","journal-title":"F1000Res."},{"key":"B4","article-title":"Psychological impact and coping strategies of frontline medical staff in hunan between January and March 2020 during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hubei, China.","volume":"26","author":"Cai","year":"2020","journal-title":"Med. Sci. Monit."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"498","DOI":"10.1097\/00005053-199708000-00004","article-title":"Risk factors for posttraumatic stress symptomatology in police officers: a prospective analysis.","volume":"185","author":"Carlier","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. Nerv. Ment. Dis."},{"key":"B6","first-page":"157","article-title":"WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic.","volume":"91","author":"Cucinotta","year":"2020","journal-title":"Acta Biomed."},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"144","DOI":"10.1016\/j.genhosppsych.2020.03.011","article-title":"Psychological symptoms among frontline healthcare workers during COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.","volume":"67","author":"Du","year":"2020","journal-title":"Gen. Hosp. Psychiatry"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.2807\/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.17.2000257","article-title":"Estimating the generation interval for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) based on symptom onset data, March 2020.","volume":"25","author":"Ganyani","year":"2020","journal-title":"Euro Surveill."},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"653","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychres.2013.07.015","article-title":"Validity of the patient health questionnaire-9 for depression screening and diagnosis in East Africa.","volume":"210","author":"Gelaye","year":"2013","journal-title":"Psychiatry Res."},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1752-4458-6-23","article-title":"The prevalence of depression and associated factors in Ethiopia: findings from the national health survey.","volume":"6","author":"Hailemariam","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Ment. Health Syst."},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30183-5","article-title":"Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China.","volume":"395","author":"Huang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bbi.2020.03.028","article-title":"Impact on mental health and perceptions of psychological care among medical and nursing staff in Wuhan during the 2019 novel coronavirus disease outbreak: a cross-sectional study.","volume":"87","author":"Kang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Brain Behav. Immun."},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s40359-018-0249-9","article-title":"Social support in the general population: standardization of the Oslo social support scale (OSSS-3).","volume":"6","author":"Kocalevent","year":"2018","journal-title":"BMC Psychol."},{"key":"B14","article-title":"Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and corona virus disease-2019 (COVID-19): the epidemic and the challenges.","volume":"53","author":"Lai","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17186550","article-title":"Mental health in frontline medical workers during the 2019 novel coronavirus disease epidemic in China: a comparison with the general population.","volume":"17","author":"Liang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens9070519","article-title":"Coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19): challenges and a global perspective.","volume":"9","author":"Malik","year":"2020","journal-title":"Pathogens"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"238","DOI":"10.1080\/15332640.2018.1494658","article-title":"Psychometric properties of the insomnia severity index in ethiopian adults with substance use problems.","volume":"19","author":"Manzar","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Ethn. Subst. Abuse"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"44","DOI":"10.7453\/gahmj.2012.1.5.013","article-title":"Resilience training program reduces physiological and psychological stress in police officers.","volume":"1","author":"McCraty","year":"2012","journal-title":"Glob. Adv. Health Med."},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jare.2020.03.005","article-title":"COVID-19 infection: origin, transmission, and characteristics of human coronaviruses.","volume":"24","author":"Shereen","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Adv. Res."},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpsychores.2009.04.004","article-title":"Psychosocial and coping responses within the community health care setting towards a national outbreak of an infectious disease.","volume":"68","author":"Sim","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Psychosom. Res."},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1092","DOI":"10.1001\/archinte.166.10.1092","article-title":"A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7.","volume":"166","author":"Spitzer","year":"2006","journal-title":"Arch. Int. Med."},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"718","DOI":"10.1007\/s12103-020-09548-y","article-title":"Police stress, mental health, and resiliency during the COVID-19 pandemic.","volume":"45","author":"Stogner","year":"2020","journal-title":"Am. J. Crim. Just."},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"592","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajic.2020.03.018","article-title":"A qualitative study on the psychological experience of caregivers of COVID-19 patients.","volume":"48","author":"Sun","year":"2020","journal-title":"Am. J. Infect. Control"},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2147\/prbm.s288562","article-title":"Factors associated with psychological distress and brief resilient coping level during the COVID-19 pandemic among health-care professionals in Dessie, Ethiopia.","volume":"13","author":"Tsehay","year":"2020","journal-title":"Psychol. Res. Behav. Manag."},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"749","DOI":"10.1007\/s00787-020-01541-4","article-title":"Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of psychological health problems in Chinese adolescents during the outbreak of COVID-19.","volume":"29","author":"Zhou","year":"2020","journal-title":"Eur. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.713954\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,9]],"date-time":"2021-09-09T11:49:38Z","timestamp":1631188178000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.713954\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,9]]},"references-count":25,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.713954"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.713954","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,9]]},"article-number":"713954"}}