scholarly journals Depression among pet owners and non-pet owners: a comparative cross-sectional study in Dhaka, Bangladesh

F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 574
Author(s):  
Samar Kishor Chakma ◽  
Taswib Tajwar Islam ◽  
Mohammad Shahjalal ◽  
Dipak Kumar Mitra

Background: Depression is a major contributor to overall global disease burden, often beginning in the teenage years and continuing into later life. Previous studies have reported high global rates of depression during these formative years, including in Bangladesh. At the same time, the therapeutic effect that pet ownership can have on depression is increasingly being recognized. However, studies examining these effects in Bangladesh are scarce. This study examined the association between household pet ownership and depression among people older than 13 years in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using online and offline approaches. We used a snowball sampling technique to identify pet owners aged greater than 13 years residing in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Both web-based survey questionnaires using social media and hard copies were used to collect data from urban-dwelling pet owners. Logistic regression was used to identify the independent role of pet ownership in depression, adjusting for confounders including age, sex, marital status, known chronic disabilities, and other variables. Results: A total of 140 pet owners and an equal number of non-pet owners participated in the study. Pet owners were found to be 41% less depressed than non-pet owners (AOR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.31–1.14). In addition, males (AOR: 3.38; 95% CI: 1.50–7.62) who were either unmarried (AOR: 2.10; 95% CI: 1.05–4.16), smoked tobacco (AOR: 5.27; 95% CI: 1.50–18.53), or had a physical disability (AOR: 5.27; 95% CI: 1.50–18.53) were significantly more likely to be depressed. Conclusion: Regression analysis revealed that in Dhaka, pet owners were associated with lower levels of depression compared to non-pet owners. Keywords: Pets and depression, animal-assisted activities, pets and mental health, pets and psychological health.

Author(s):  
Huong Thi Le ◽  
Diep Ngoc Nguyen ◽  
Ahmed Sam Beydoun ◽  
Xuan Thi Thanh Le ◽  
Thao Thanh Nguyen ◽  
...  

Due to the rapid spread of coronavirus, Vietnam introduced its first national partial lockdown on April 1st, 2020. The public relied on online sources, whether through official websites or phone-based applications, to acquire up-to-date health information, provide accurate instructions, and limit misinformation. This study aims to provide insight regarding the current level of awareness of the pandemic, and to identify associated factors in Vietnamese participants to recommend necessary interventions. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a web-based survey during the first week of the lockdown period. There were 341 observations collected using a snowball sampling technique. A Tobit multivariable regression model was used to identify factors associated with the demand for each category of health information. The most requested information was the latest updated news on the epidemic, followed by information about disease symptoms and updated news on the outbreak. The prevalence of diverse socioeconomic, demographic, and ethnic factors in Vietnam requires consideration of the specific health information needs of unique groups. Identifying group-specific demands would be helpful to provide proper information to fulfill each population group’s needs.


Author(s):  
DIVYA GOEL ◽  
MAJID FAROOQ

Objective: The sudden emergence of wide spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to adoption of physical distancing or lockdown all over the globe to curtail the viral transmission. Although lockdown plays an important role, at the same time, it can adversely affect the psychological health of the population. In addition, because of stay at home order, people are more inclined to use the media which can further aggravate the mental health issues in population. This study was planned to study the perceived psychological issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Methods: An online social survey was conducted using semi-structured questionnaire, participants were added through snowball sampling technique. Results: A total of 455 people (264 females and 191 males) participated in the study. Majority of participants 228 (50.1%) felt stressed out during coronavirus lockdown period. Female gender was associated with greater negative psychological impact of lockdown. Most participants 263 (57.8%) were worried about the health of the loved ones. Most of the participants tried to seek information from different media. The difference between the stress level was highly significant (p=0.04639∗) between the participants depending on the duration for which they explore the information on different media. Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic was associated with stress in the majority of people in our sample, and media has a role to modulate the psychological impact of this lockdown. As COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, we need to verify these findings on larger population and policy-makers need to strengthen our mental health programs to mitigate the psychological impact of this pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hala Sacre ◽  
Aline Hajj ◽  
Danielle A Badro ◽  
Carla Abou Selwan ◽  
Randa Aoun ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundThis study aimed at examining the combined outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic and a collapsing economy on the quality of life (QOL) of the general Lebanese population.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted from 10-18 May 2020, via an online-based questionnaire using the snowball sampling technique. It enrolled 502 adult participants.ResultsThe QOL had a mean of 14.80[14.37;15.24]. A lower QOL was associated with female gender (beta=-1.533[-2.324;-0.743]), university education (beta=-2.119[-3.353;-0.885]), fear of COVID-19 (beta=-0.131[-0.199;-0.063]), fear of poverty (beta=-0.232[-0.402;-0.063]), verbal violence at home (beta=-3.464[-5.137;-1.790]), and chronic disease (beta=-1.307[-2.283;-0.330]). Better family satisfaction (beta=0.380[0.235;0.525]) and better financial situation (beta=0.029[0.003;0.055]) were significantly correlated with better QOL. In the subsample of workers/looking for a job, additional factors affected QOL: physical exercise (beta=1.318[0.370;2.265]) was associated with better QOL, while previous waterpipe smoking, being self-employed before the crisis (beta=-1.22[-2.208;-0.231]), working from home since the economic crisis (-1.853[-3.692;-0.013]), closure of the institution (beta=-1.201[-2.607;0.204]), and worrying about long-term effects of the crisis on one's employment status (beta=-0.433[-0.650;-0.216]) were associated lower QOL; the fear of COVID-19 was not significantly associated with QOL (p>0.05).ConclusionThis study showed that during the pandemic, economic and other factors, directly or indirectly related to COVID-19, significantly affected quality of life. The fear of COVID-19 and fear of poverty mainly impacted the QOL of the general population; however, the fear of COVID-19 lost its significance among workers, who reported that factors negatively affecting their QOL are directly related to their employment and the already collapsing economy in Lebanon.


2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1709-12
Author(s):  
Hashim Bin Mansoor ◽  
Usman Zafar Kayani ◽  
Reeja Khatoon ◽  
Erum Idrees ◽  
Hira Zafar Kayani ◽  
...  

Objective: To assess and interpret the utility and need of forensic dentistry in current judicial system of Pakistan. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, in the month of Jun, 2020. Methodology: This questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted in a 1-month time frame, and a sample of 100 lawyers was recruited using snowball sampling technique and only criminal lawyers were included which had a minimum of 5 years of experience. Data was analyzed using SPSS-24. Results: The results were quite significant, 81% (81 lawyers) of the population recognized the relationship of forensic dentistry with criminal litigation (p-value=0.006). Furthermore 86% (86 lawyers) believed that there are a limited number of practicing forensic dentists and a massive 96% (96 lawyers) of the population was not able to acquire the expertise of a forensic dentist. Conclusion: There is a major lack of trained forensic odontologists and training institutes in Pakistan, which has a significant effect on the legal practices of Pakistan. Furthermore, it defines the lack of specialization trend in forensic odontology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thao Thanh Nguyen ◽  
Xuan Thi Thanh Le ◽  
Nguyen Thao Thi Nguyen ◽  
Quang Nhat Nguyen ◽  
Huong Thi Le ◽  
...  

Background: The psychosocial impact of COVID-19 is greater among healthcare workers (HCWs) than the general population. This study aims to identify psychosocial problems faced by HCWs in Vietnam during the national partial lockdown between 1 and 22 April 2020 and to identify risk factors associated with psychosocial issues among this population.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the second week of April 2020 during the national lockdown in Vietnam. Snowball sampling technique was used to recruit participants through web-based surveys. The Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) was used to assess the impact of COVID-19 on HCWs through online surveys.Results: Of the 349 HCWs, we found 22.6% reported psychosocial problems. Most of participants reported having exposure to COVID-19 daily (48.7%). The majority of them also felt that their job put them at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections (90.3%) and expressed fear of potential infection (85.7%). Despite COVID-19 risks, 95.4% of participants, however, expressed their willingness to continue working at their current health facility. In addition, 94.8% of participants believed if they or their family members had been infected, their agency leaders would have provided them with appropriate medical care. Lastly, HCWs who worked in the internal medicine department who did not take care of COVID-19 patients or expressed fear of becoming infected were more likely to have higher total IES-R scores.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the support of healthcare leaders and assurance of care might be helpful in mitigating the psychological effects of COVID-19 among HCWs in Vietnam. These resources should be tailored to HCWs who are working in different areas of health services, including staff who are not working directly with COVID-19 patients. In addition, psychosocial health resources should be provided for not only physicians but also nursing staff.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 1144-1150
Author(s):  
Muralidharan V A ◽  
Gheena S

Covid -19 is an infectious disease caused by the newly discovered strain of coronavirus. As there is no vaccine discovered, the only way to prevent the spread is through following the practice of social isolation. But prolonged isolation may also lead to psychological stress and problems. The objective of the survey was to assess the knowledge and awareness of preventive measures against Covid 19 amongst small shop owners. A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted amongst the small shop owners.  A structured questionnaire comprising 15-17 questions had been put forth to assess the Covid 19 related knowledge and perception. The shopkeepers were contacted telephonically and responses recorded. The data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS statistics. Although the majority of the population had a positive perception about the preventive measures against the Covid spread, 36% of the shopkeepers were not aware of the preventive measures against the Covid spread. This study found optimal knowledge and perception of the preventive measures against Covid spread among the shopkeepers but misinformation and misunderstanding still prevailing. The shopkeepers are crucial in the prevention of the spread of Covid 19 and educating them might aid us in the fight against Covid- 19. 


Author(s):  
Michael C.J. Van der Elst ◽  
Birgitte Schoenmakers ◽  
Dominique Verté ◽  
Liesbeth De Donder ◽  
Nico De Witte ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Raquel Adjafre da Costa Matos ◽  
Rita de Cassia Coelho de Almeida Akutsu ◽  
Renata Puppin Zandonadi ◽  
Raquel Braz Assunção Botelho

Dietitians as healthcare professionals could decrease their quality of life during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic period; therefore, this study aimed to compare Brazilian dietitians’ perceptions of quality of life before and during the pandemic. This nationwide cross-sectional research aimed to evaluate Brazilian dietitians’ quality of life before and in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, using a previously validated self-administered instrument WHO-QOL-BREF in Brazilian-Portuguese. The questionnaire was composed of 26 items (four domains) to evaluate life quality (physical, psychological, social relationship, and environment). The questionnaire also presented some sociodemographic variables and three questions about the COVID-19 pandemic. It was applied using GoogleForms® platform (Google LLC, Mountain View, CA, USA). For the statistical analysis of data, Paired T-test, Chi-squared test, and Analysis of Variance were used. A total of 1290 Brazilian dietitians replied to the instrument. Comparing quality of life (QoL) before SARS-COV-2 (3.83 ± 0.59) and during the pandemic (3.36 ± 0.66), data was statistically different. Comparing prior and in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, all variables and domains presented statistical differences (better before the pandemic period). Among Brazilian dietitians, the psychological health domain was the most affected. The Sars-Cov-2 pandemic negatively impacted the QoL of Brazilian dietitians since health professionals face changes in their lives because of work.


Author(s):  
Saeed Mastour Alshahrani ◽  
Salem Dehom ◽  
Diaa Almutairi ◽  
Badr Saud Alnasser ◽  
Bandar Alsaif ◽  
...  

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