Practical and emotional problems reported by the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic when using a self-guided digital problem-solving intervention: A content analysis (Preprint)

BACKGROUND In order to better direct assessments and interventions towards the general population during the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and future crises with societal restrictions, data on the types of practical and emotional problems people are suffering from are needed. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine what types of practical and emotional problems the general population is suffering from during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to construct an empirically derived inventory based on the findings. METHODS A total of 396 participants from the general public, with practical and/or emotional problems, accessed a self-guided digital problem-solving intervention for a period of one week to report and solve problems they experienced. Prior to accessing the intervention, participants completed a short self-assessment regarding symptoms of depression and anxiety. Content analysis was used to account for the types of problems participants reported. A set of items for an inventory was later proposed based on the problem categories derived from the analysis. RESULTS A majority of participants had either clinically relevant symptoms of depression or anxiety. The problems reported were categorized as 13 distinct types of problems. The most common problem was difficulties managing daily activities. Based on the categories, a 13-items inventory was proposed. CONCLUSIONS The 13 types of problems, and the proposed inventory, could be valuable when composing assessments and interventions for the general population during the ongoing pandemic or similar crises with societal restrictions. The most common problem was of practical nature, indicating the importance of including examples of such problems within assessments and interventions. CLINICALTRIAL This article does not report results of a health care intervention, but was nevertheless retrospectively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT04677270).