Housing and mental health during outbreak of COVID-19

Abstract

With global health concerns of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19), house quarantine was considered to prevent the outbreak of the disease and to ensure physical health. However, it may cause serious mental health problems. The present study aimed to evaluate housing preference, housing satisfaction, and mental health of residents during house quarantine of COVID-19 considering housing type, spaces, environmental factors, and function and activities. In this regard, quantitative data were gathered through administering online questionnaires. In April 2020, responses were collected from 421 residents who lived in Tehran, then the collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software. According to the results, environmental factors had a higher mean than spaces and functions and activities throughout housing preference, and the best mental health was related to the very high satisfaction level of the roof, green space, and exercising outdoor indicators. Findings of housing type revealed that people who lived in private houses had better mental health than residents of low-rise or high-rise housing.