Minimising Stress Exposure During Pandemics Similar to COVID-19

Abstract

The misinterpretation of the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential for creating devastating stress that might turn into anxiety and other psychological diseases. The social isolation, quarantine, and lockdown can increase stress responses and generate more status of uncertainty. The body of knowledge has a significant gap in relevant to practising resilient practices such as visualising a ‘stress mitigation strategy’ during a long-term pandemic. Based on the synthesis of the literature, a framework for compensating stress during and after pandemics is proposed. The researchers discuss the importance of such a framework as a pressure relief valve in the accumulated ‘pandemic stress exposure’. The proposed framework can be used for future outbreaks once more research empirically tests it and optimise its constraints.