Abstract

 Socialization is an important aspect of health, especially as it relates to psychological health. With the many safety measures implemented during COVID-19, including social distancing and self-quarantining, social interaction was severely impeded during this on-going impasse. So, this paper poses a crucial question; does social isolation due to COVID-19 affect the psychological well-being of Jamaicans? As we, the researchers, scoured the internet among other sources, we found it difficult to find materials on the subject matter. As such, we found it prudent to fill in this gap. We aim to determine the effects of multiple factors such as age and employment status on the psychological well-being as it relates to social isolation of Jamaicans during COVID-19. This descriptive research seeks to determine the correlation between the variables by the data collection method, survey in the form of a questionnaire which was formulated using surveys previously used in established research. The questionnaire was distributed via various social media platforms and the data retrieved from said questionnaire was analysed using the SPSS statistical tool. The findings of this research revealed that current psychological well- being of Jamaicans have declined since the COVID-19 pandemic (High-to-Very High Well-being: Before 97%; during 87.8% or means of the scores were 47.4±6.2, 45.7±9.1, respectively). The current psychological well-being model of Jamaica is determined by four factors (psychological well-being for the past period, G means the gender, SI denotes voluntary social isolation, and A being the age at last birthday), and they account for 47.1% of the variance in current psychological well-being. This shows that the COVID-19 pandemic is influencing the psychosocial state of Jamaicans, and so effective intervention programmes are needed to aid people in coping with this infectious pandemic. 

Keywords: COVID-19, Psychological well-being, Influence, Social isolation, Well-being, Jamaicans