Religious Coping Strategies During COVID-19 Outbreak and Anxiety Face at the Total Lockdown Resolution Among Tunisian People

Background: coronavirus, a highly contagious virus, spreads quickly and can be fatal in severe cases. With no specific medicines, it constitute not only threat to the life and health of people but has also a large impact on their mental health and coping strategies. We assessed the religious coping strategies in COVID-19 pandemic and determinate the level of anxiety face to the end of the lockdown in a sample of n = 80 Tunisian. Methods: An online questionnaire survey was conducted from 24 April to 23 May 2020 to evaluate anxiety face to the end of lockdown and religious coping responses face to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. We used the brief religious coping scale (R-COPE) and Hospital anxiety and depression scale-anxiety (HADS-A). Results: Two-thirds of the participants exhibited anxiety symptoms at the end of the total lockdown. The negative religious coping was much less prevalent than positive religious coping. Significant relationships were found only for demographic variables: Higher educated reported more positive religious coping. No correlation was found between religious commitment and religious coping. Participants with positive religious coping style have higher level of anxiety during lockdown resolution. In conclusion, the COVID-19 outbreak in Tunisia had an impact on the mental health status of the general public even after the lockdown resolution.