scholarly journals The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health & wellbeing among home-quarantined Bangladeshi students: A cross-sectional pilot study

Author(s):  
Abid Hasan Khan ◽  
Mst. Sadia Sultana ◽  
Sahadat Hossain ◽  
M Tasdik Hasan ◽  
Helal Uddin Ahmed ◽  
...  

Background: COVID-19 is imposing threat both on physical and mental health since its outbreak. Bangladesh adopted lockdown strategy with potential consequences on day to day life, mental and physical health and this study aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and wellbeing among Bangladeshi students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between 9th and 23th April 2020 among 505 college and university students. Data was collected by using online questionnaire including DASS 21 and IES. Descriptive analysis and bivariate linear regression were performed to examine the association of variables. Results: 28.5 % of the respondents had stress, 33.3% anxiety, 46.92% depression from mild to extremely severe, according to DASS 21 and 69.31% had event-specific distress from mild to severe in terms of severity according to IES. Perceiving physical symptoms as COVID-19 was significantly associated with DASS stress subscale (B=3.71, 95% CI: 1.01 to 6.40), DASS anxiety subscale (B= 3.95, 95% CI: 1.95 to 5.96), DASS depression subscale (B=3.82, 95% CI: 0.97 to 6.67) and IES scale (B=7.52, 95% CI: 3.58 to 11.45). Additionally, fear of infection, financial uncertainty, inadequate food supply, absence of physical exercise and limited or no recreational activity had significant association with stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic symptoms. Conclusion: This COVID-19 outbreak imposes psychological consequences on people to a great extent which requires attention from the concerned authorities to cope with this situation mentally. The perception about the outbreak can also play a big role in psychological impact.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0248684
Author(s):  
Hridaya Raj Devkota ◽  
Tula Ram Sijali ◽  
Ramji Bogati ◽  
Meraj Ahmad ◽  
Karuna Laxmi Shakya ◽  
...  

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has been creating a panic and distressing situations among the entire population globally including Nepal. No study has been conducted assessing the psychological impact of this pandemic on the general public in Nepal. The objective of this study is to assess the mental health status during COVID-19 outbreak and explore the potential influencing factors among the population attending the hospital fever clinics with COVID–19 symptoms. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted between May—June, 2020 with a sample of 645 participants aged 18 and above in 26 hospitals across Nepal. Telephone interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire along with a validated psychometric tool, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress (DASS-21) scale. The metrics and scores of symptoms and their severity were created and analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the association of potential covariates with outcome variables. Results The prevalence of anxiety, depression and stress were 14%, 7% and 5% respectively. In reference to Karnali, participants from Bagmati province reported higher level of anxiety (OR 3.44, 95% CI 1.31–9.06), while stress (OR 4.27, 95% CI 1.09–18.32) and depressive symptoms (OR 3.11, 95% CI 1.05–9.23) observed higher among the participants in Province 1. Women were more at risk of anxiety (OR 3.41, 95% CI 1.83–6.36) than men. Similarly, people currently living in rented houses reported more stress (OR 2.97, 95% CI 1.05–8.43) and those living far from family reported higher rates of depressive symptoms (OR 3.44, 95% CI 1.03–11.46). Conclusion The study identified increased prevalence of stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms during the initial stage of COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal. Considering the findings, there is urgent need to develop and implement appropriate community-based mental health programs targeting individuals who have had COVID-19 symptoms and who are prone to develop adverse mental health outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-102
Author(s):  
Isha Tajane ◽  
Aamena Golwala ◽  
Devanshi Nangia ◽  
Isha Chavan

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced children to spend increased amounts of time at home resulting in adverse effects on their physical and psychosocial wellbeing. Parents need to be aware about the changes in the mental and physical health of the children. Objectives: To identify the physical and mental health problems the children are facing because of the lockdown and to assess the awareness of such problems amongst the parents. Design: A cross sectional online survey was conducted to assess the impact of COVID-19 on physical and mental health of the children from parents' perspectives. Setting: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Main Outcome Measure: Parent reported questionnaire. Results and conclusion: There were a significant increase in the number of hours spent on mobile phones, sitting, and sleeping during the lockdown as compared to before the lockdown whereas the number of hours spent on physical activity significantly decreased and also impacted their mental health. By taking part in the survey, the parents of the children became aware of the changes occurring in their child. These findings can guide immediate programmatic and policy efforts to preserve and promote child health during the COVID-19 outbreak and crisis recovery period, and to inform strategies to mitigate potential harm during future pandemics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Cheikh Ismail ◽  
Maysm N. Mohamad ◽  
Mo'ath F. Bataineh ◽  
Abir Ajab ◽  
Amina M. Al-Marzouqi ◽  
...  

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has taken unprecedented precautionary measures including complete lockdowns against COVID-19 to control its spread and ensure the well-being of individuals. This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 and societal lockdown measures on the mental health of adults in the UAE. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an English and Arabic online questionnaire between May and June 2020. The psychological impact was assessed by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the social and family support impact was evaluated using questions from the Perceived Support Scale (PSS). A total of 4,426 participants (3,325 females and 1,101 males) completed the questionnaire. The mean IES-R score was 28.0 ± 14.6, reflecting a mild stressful impact with 27.3% reporting severe psychological impact. Over 36% reported increased stress from work, home and financial matters. Also, 43–63% of the participants felt horrified, apprehensive or helpless due to COVID-19. Females, younger participants, part-timers, and college or University graduates were more likely to have a high IES-R score (p < 0.05). The majority of participants reported receiving increased support from family members, paying more attention to their mental health, and spending more time to rest and relax. The results of this study demonstrate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among the UAE residents and highlight the need to adopt culturally appropriate interventions for the general population and vulnerable groups, such as females and younger adults.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
S. Phadnis ◽  
S Sengupta ◽  
A Chakraborty

Introduction: The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the economy and has resulted in changes to the working arrangements of employees who are based at home and may continue to work from home (WFH). Organizations are expected to develop an inclusive policy for their employees to promote mental health whilst working from home. The aim of this study was to document the impact of WFH on mental health and determine the expectations of employees from their organizations regarding occupational health policy. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the impact of work from home on mental health and to document the mental health support needs of employees. Google form was floated through social media platform to receive the responses. A total of 74 responses were received. Descriptive analysis was conducted using Microsoft Excel, while qualitative answers were manually analysed. Results: About 67% employees (n=45) mentioned that their workload has increased significantly during work from home. Thirty five percent (n=26) felt lonely and lost and 47% (n= 34) felt disconnected from the real world, indicating the mental health impact of work from home. Fifty three percent employees (n=40) mentioned that there were no efforts made by their organization to reduce the mental health impact of work from home. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that there is an urgent need to create a comprehensive occupational health and safety policy inclusive of strategies to improve mental health by the organizations in light of “work from home” as a “new-normal”.


Author(s):  
Alejandro Gil-Salmerón ◽  
Guillermo López-Sánchez ◽  
Rubén López-Bueno ◽  
Shahina Pardhan ◽  
Igor Grabovac ◽  
...  

Introduction: Evidence on sexual behaviour and COVID-19 shows a change in sexual habits; however, there is no research on the association between mental health and sexual activity. Aim: To examine the relationship between mental health and sexual activity during the quarantine in Spanish adults. Methods: A sample of 305 adults filled out an online questionnaire. Sexual activity was assessed with one question. Anxiety and depression symptoms were assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), respectively. To check associations between levels of both anxiety and depressive symptoms (exposure) and weekly prevalence of sexual activity (outcome), we conducted multiple logistic regression adjusted for control variables (marital status, employment, average household annual income, place of living, pre-COVID-19 sexual activity, current smoking, current alcohol consumption, chronic physical conditions, chronic psychiatric conditions, physical symptoms, and days of confinement). Results: Higher depression level was associated with lower weekly sexual activity in a dose-response fashion in the three implemented models. Participants with higher levels of depression were associated with significantly lower sexual activity in the fully adjusted model (OR: 0.09, 95% CI 0.01–0.61). Mild anxiety-level participants consistently presented significantly lower ORs for lower sexual activity than their minimal-anxiety category counterparts. Particularly, the fully adjusted model showed the lower values (OR: 0.40, 95% CI 0.19–0.84). Conclusion: The results of this study support existing evidence stressing the association between mental health and sexual activity in quarantined adults.


Author(s):  
Mehak Agarwal ◽  
Prithvi Ravi ◽  
Chitra A. Ramesh ◽  
Judson J. Neslin

Background: We conducted this survey to determine the impact of covid-19 on the mental health of people during the pandemic and period of lockdown. We evaluated certain factors such as sleep changes, anxiety, mood swings, irritability, inability to concentrate, smoking and alcohol consumption changes.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. We conducted an online questionnaire and circulated it via various social media platforms to record and evaluate responses of people. SPSS 16 version software and Microsoft excel sheet were used.Results: According to the results, people suffered from negative symptoms such as stress, fear, changes in smoking habits, changes in alcohol consumption, mood swings, inability to concentrate, sleep disturbances. Most people also started new coping mechanisms to help their psychological symptoms.Conclusions: An association between mental health and the outbreak of a pandemic was noticed. People experiencing these should get help and practice relaxation methods to prevent progression of their symptoms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 997-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sander K. R. van Zon ◽  
Sijmen A. Reijneveld ◽  
Carlos F. Mendes de Leon ◽  
Ute Bültmann

Abstract Objectives The aim of this study is to examine associations and interactions of education, and physical and mental health with unemployment in early, mid, and late work life. Methods This cross-sectional study uses data from 69,118 respondents from Lifelines. Health status was measured with the RAND-36, education was self-reported, and participants working <12 h per week or indicating to be unemployed were considered unemployed. The relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) was calculated to measure interaction on the additive scale. Results Interactions of low education and poor mental health were found in early [RERI: 2.14; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.63, 3.65], mid (1.41; 0.61, 2.20) and late (0.63; 0.09, 1.17) work life. Interaction between low education and poor physical health was only found in mid-work life (1.27; 0.61, 1.93). Conclusions Low education and poor physical and mental health exacerbate each other’s impact on unemployment varying by work life stage. Policies addressing unemployment may become more effective if they better account for the physical and mental health status of adults in certain stages of their work life.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. e050523
Author(s):  
Zarina Thasneem Zainudeen ◽  
Intan Juliana Abd Hamid ◽  
Muhd Nur Akmal Azizuddin ◽  
Firdaus Farhani Abu Bakar ◽  
Salina Sany ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo investigate the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 on Malaysian families.DesignA cross-sectional study performed using an anonymous online questionnaire distributed through social media, email and the Department of Social Welfare.SettingMalaysian families were invited to answer the questionnaires. The sampling was performed between 12 May 2020 and 9 June 2020.InterventionThe psychological impact was assessed using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and Children’s Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES). The mental health status was assessed using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) 21.Main outcome measure(1) Psychological impact on Malaysian families. (2) Prevalence of mental health status of Malaysian families during COVID-19 pandemic.ResultA total of 409 Malaysian families have responded (409 parents and 348 children), 154 respondents (38%) reported high psychological impact (score 14) for psychological construct and 189 respondents (46%) reported high psychological impact (score 6) for behavioural construct. A significantly higher proportion of respondents with not permanent employment status of the family lead reported high psychological impact. The prevalence of anxiety reported from family respondents was 23%. Forty-five children answered the DASS-21 questionnaire; 28.5% reported anxiety, 31.4% reported depression and 13.3% reported stress. The job security status of the family lead was found to be the predictive factor for the mean total IES-R score (psychological construct) and ethnicity for mean total CRIES-8 and CRIES-13.ConclusionRates of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic were high. Findings suggest that urgent measures to ensure job security among Malaysian families are important to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychosocial and mental health outcomes.


Author(s):  
Hasan S. Alamri ◽  
Wesam F. Mousa ◽  
Abdullah Algarni ◽  
Shehata F. Megahid ◽  
Ali Al Bshabshe ◽  
...  

Objective: Little is known about the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) among the health care workers in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 among the health care workers. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May till mid-July among 389 health care workers from government and private hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Data was collected using a pre-structured online questionnaire that measured adverse psychological outcomes, including the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale. The Pearson chi-square test was used to assess the distribution of depression and anxiety among health care workers. Results: A high level of anxiety was recorded among the health care workers, and 69.3% of health care workers below the age of 40 were found to have depression. There was a significant increase in depression among staff with chronic health problems (72.1% vs. 61.9%; p = 0.048). High anxiety levels were detected among young staff compared to others (68.7% vs. 43.8%; p = 0.001). Moreover, 82.1% of the female staff were anxious, as compared to 55.6% of the males (p = 0.001). Conclusions: We found increased prevalence of adverse psychological outcomes among the health care workers in Saudi Arabia during the outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, there is a need for proper screening and development of corresponding preventive measures to decrease the adverse psychological outcomes.


Author(s):  
Alfonso Urzúa ◽  
Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar ◽  
Diego Henríquez ◽  
David R. Williams

There is not much evidence on the effects of south–south migration and its consequences on physical and mental health. Our objective was to examine the mediating role of Acculturative Stress in the association between ethnic discrimination and racial discrimination with physical and mental health. This research is a non-experimental, analytical, cross-sectional study. A total of 976 adult Colombian migrants living in Chile were interviewed. We used the Everyday Discrimination Scale, the acculturative stress scale, and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-12) for health status; we found that racial and ethnic discrimination had a negative effect on physical and mental health. In the simultaneous presence of both types of discrimination, racial discrimination was completely absorbed by ethnic discrimination, the latter becoming a total mediator of the effect of racial discrimination on mental and physical health. Our findings are consistent with the literature, which suggests that there are various types of discrimination which, individually or in their intersectionality, can have negative effects on health.


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