Abstract

PSYCHOSOCIAL CHALLENGES AND EMERGING ISSUES OF COVID-19: A PERCEPTION-BASED SURVEY

Background: Coronavirus pandemic situation is acknowledged as a terrifying situation to human beings and has generated a tremendous loss in many perspectives to human life worldwide. People get impacted by physical, psychosocial, economic, and environmental crises amidst any pandemic crisis. Objectives: The current study aimed to interpret and explore the perception of the impact of a pandemic crisis on mental health, emerging issues, and governance among the people of a developing country during the lockdown of Covid-19, the second wave. This study also assessed their knowledge to assess their level of mental preparedness during Covid-19. Methods and Materials: An online cross-sectional survey was performed among a sub-set of a developing country population using a modified pre-validated structured tool. The sample size was 124. Responses were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics of Chi-square and regression analysis. Results: About 55.47% (71) had adequate knowledge. The mean knowledge score was 6.04, with a Standard Deviation (SD) of 2.16, indicating a low knowledge level. There was a higher significant association between demographics and mental health in terms of variables of psychosocial domains (p<0.05). Also, a negative association was found between their knowledge and their profession (p<0.05). Conclusion: Partial lockdown at the time of the study due to Covid-19 has led the majority of the people to undergo mental stress disregarded to their age, education, or their boundness to the healthcare profession. The healthcare system needs to emphasize enhancing appropriate knowledge to adopt preventive measures and efficient protocols, including vaccination. 

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