Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health of People: Scoping Review

Background. The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed existing realities. These changes are directly related to the danger of this disease and the mode of infection. Since SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted from person to person by airborne droplets, it was necessary to introduce restrictive measures aimed at distancing people from each other such as the mandatory wearing of medical masks, the observance of social distance.Purpose. The presented study was aimed at reviewing the current literature on the impact the introduction of restrictive measures to combat the spread of coronavirus infection on the psychology of workers as well as to identify the types of emerging psychological disorders.Materials and Methods. The search of the papers published from 2020 to 2021 and indicated in Scopus database was conducted. A total of 1516 papers were identified, 32 articles were selected based on the predetermined eligibility criteria and included in this review.Results. The review found that the greatest impact on mental health was experienced by healthcare workers. The most common symptoms are anxiety, stress and depression. In addition, we managed to find out that most of the articles relevant to the topic of this review were written in China and Italy. According to the results, both during past pandemics and during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, doctors were at increased risk for the psychological impact exerted during the pandemic.Implications. It would be desirable that further studies in the field cover a wider range of human activities as well as more countries. This would help for a more extensive analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human mental health.