Physical Activity Mediates, Fear, Anxiety and Depression, Associated with the Covid-19 pandemic

This research study focuses on analysis of speech through mobile devices, combined with online physical activity survey to examine if level of physical activity mediates the level of fear, anxiety, depression, and coping associated with Covid-19 in the general population in Ghana, Botswana, Tanzania, and Nigeria. There are concerns that the COVID-19pandemic is having a significant impact on mental health of populations across the globe. This could have dire consequences on African populations because of under-resourced health systems, especially in the area of mental health. Research evidence has demonstrated that regular Physical Activity (PA), especially moderate to low intensity exercise is associated with low levels of depression and improved well-being. Furthermore, regular exercise has been found to be predictive of improved cognitive functioning and overall mental health. COVID-19 lockdowns, quarantines, and travel restrictions are likely to have negatively affected regular PA and exercise. Investigating the pandemic's impact on mental health of African populations and if PA in mediates these effects is urgent and key to developing targeted and effective strategies to address the challenge. An online survey will be administered to assess general well-being, anxiety depression and coping comprising: Demographic information items, the novel non-linguistic speech analysis app, International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ9). Data collection will be done in multiple sessions over ten months. In the first six weeks, phase one participants from the health care system and universities will be asked to complete online assessments once a week. Thereafter they will complete the assessments every other week for three months. Monthly assessments will be done for an additional 5 months. These assessment periods are designed to monitor changes in PA, anxiety, depression, and coping related to COVID-19 restrictions, the period under restrictions (a period when a second surge lockdown occurs), and the period after government restrictions have been fully lifted. The lockdowns and reopening are expected to vary from one country to the next. The survey will be extended to the public in phase three.Early detection of disease risk factors, and impact on physical and emotional health provides key information for crafting appropriate mitigation strategies. This study is expected to demonstrate increases in levels of fear, anxiety and depression and inactivity as a result of Covid-19 and lock downs in countries. Expected Outputs The project will identify and make available interventions on mental health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Create statistical models linking social isolation and lockdown measures, PA levels, depression, and coping. Create statistical models linking non-linguistic speech measurements, PA levels, depression, and coping. To test the robustness of the Fear of Covid-19 scale in sub-Saharan Africa.