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. 2021 Feb 26;16(2):e0247970.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247970. eCollection 2021.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lifestyle, mental health, and quality of life of adults in South Korea

Kang-Hyun Park  1 , Ah-Ram Kim  1 , Min-Ah Yang  1 , Seung-Ju Lim  1 , Ji-Hyuk Park  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lifestyle, mental health, and quality of life of adults in South Korea

Kang-Hyun Park et al. PLoS One. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose significant challenges to nations. The Korean government aimed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through stay-at-home strategies and maintaining social distance, which are likely to result in major changes in the lifestyle, mental health, and quality of life of citizens. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these factors in Koreans over 20 years old.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 104 adults in South Korea aged over 20 years. An online survey was conducted between August and October 2020, in which participants were asked to complete the Yonsei Lifestyle Profile to assess lifestyle changes, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale abbreviated version. To investigate the changes in people's lifestyles, depression, and quality of life post COVID-19, descriptive statistics were calculated for these indicators before and after the onset of the pandemic. The p-value was two-sided, and values <0.05, were regarded as statistically significant.

Results: There was a significant decline in physical and other meaningful activities, including activities of daily living, leisure, social activity, and education. However, there were no significant changes in nutrition, except in the consumption of carbohydrates and minerals. Participants reported that their quality of life and mental health had decreased after the pandemic struck.

Conclusions: We obtained novel data on the changes in the lifestyle, mental health, and quality of life of South Korean adults before and after the onset of the pandemic. The results of our study may assist health policymakers and practitioners in the development of health education or relevant interventions to deal with the pandemic situation as well as future crises.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Change in WHOQOL-BREF scores according to COVID-19.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Change in CES-D10 scores according to COVID-19.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Publication types

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea NRF2018S1A3A2074904 to Park, Ji-Hyuk.