Abstract:

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the new coronavirus outbreak on the anxiety and quality of life of society. Methods: The sample of this descriptive study consisted of 335 individuals between the ages of 18 and 85, living in various provinces of Turkey. A personal information form was used to collect descriptive data, the coronavirus anxiety scale was used to determine the level of anxiety, and the short form of quality of life scale was used to measure the quality of life. The data of the research were collected through Google forms between June 1 and August 1, 2020. For the evaluation of the data, descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, Student’s t test, and Pearson correlation test were used. Results: A total of 55% of the participants were between the ages of 18 and 24, 68% were women, 75% were university graduates, and 88% had no chronic disease. According to the study findings, the physical and mental health score averages of the participants, which are the subgroup of quality of life, were determined to be low (physical: 14.91 ± 2.07 and mental: 15.55 ± 3.91), while their anxiety levels were high (16.35 ± 2.92). It has been determined that there is a relationship between quality of life and anxiety levels and age, gender, educational status, and healthy lifestyle behaviors and that there was a statistically significant negative correlation between the subdimensions of quality of life and the level of anxiety (P < .05). Conclusion: The anxiety levels of society are determined to be high and the quality of life is determined to be low due to the new coronavirus. Demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and occupation have been found to have an impact on anxiety and quality of life and that studies should be conducted to increase the quality of life and strengthen social support resources, taking these factors into consideration in the future.

Keywords: