Psychological distress in individuals due to varied reasons affects their day-to-day life and this
has become a major public health problem in communities all over the world. A community
based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 280 adults aged
between 20-64 years, residing in the Nagoda Divisional Secretariat area, Galle, in order to
determine the perceived reasons and coping strategies for psychological distress. A selfdeveloped pre-tested questionnaire was administered to ascertain the data related to perceived
reasons for psychological distress and coping strategies. More than half (59.3%) of the
participants were females and 39.6% were aged between 35-50 years. The most prevalent
reported reasons for psychological distress were income (73.6%), future plans (64.6%), busy
work schedule (70.4%) and personal appearance (71.4%). Most frequently reported perceived
reasons for psychological distress were health condition of family members (53.6%), own
health condition (52.1%), relationship issues (44.3%) and dietary pattern (44%). Three fourths
of the individuals (75.7%) reported that they were watching television or listening to music as
coping strategies. Only some of the male participants had practices of using alcohol (23.2%)
and smoking (11.8%) as a stress coping method. Very few participants had reported healthy
coping strategies including meditation (15.4%), engaging in exercise (14.6%), seeking support
of counselling (13.9%), telling the problem to a familiar person (33.6%) and recreational
activities (14.3%) respectively. Community dwelling adults reported varied reasons which lead
to psychological distress and there is a lack of practices of healthy coping strategies which
emphasizes the need for mental health development programmes at community level in order
to improve the mental health among community dwelling adults.
Psychological distress in individuals due to varied reasons affects their day-to-day life and this
has become a major public health problem in communities all over the world. A community
based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 280 adults aged
between 20-64 years, residing in the Nagoda Divisional Secretariat area, Galle, in order to
determine the perceived reasons and coping strategies for psychological distress. A selfdeveloped pre-tested questionnaire was administered to ascertain the data related to perceived
reasons for psychological distress and coping strategies. More than half (59.3%) of the
participants were females and 39.6% were aged between 35-50 years. The most prevalent
reported reasons for psychological distress were income (73.6%), future plans (64.6%), busy
work schedule (70.4%) and personal appearance (71.4%). Most frequently reported perceived
reasons for psychological distress were health condition of family members (53.6%), own
health condition (52.1%), relationship issues (44.3%) and dietary pattern (44%). Three fourths
of the individuals (75.7%) reported that they were watching television or listening to music as
coping strategies. Only some of the male participants had practices of using alcohol (23.2%)
and smoking (11.8%) as a stress coping method. Very few participants had reported healthy
coping strategies including meditation (15.4%), engaging in exercise (14.6%), seeking support
of counselling (13.9%), telling the problem to a familiar person (33.6%) and recreational
activities (14.3%) respectively. Community dwelling adults reported varied reasons which lead
to psychological distress and there is a lack of practices of healthy coping strategies which
emphasizes the need for mental health development programmes at community level in order
to improve the mental health among community dwelling adults
