Page 41 - IJSA, Vol. 4, No 1, 2021
P. 41

International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2021
                      рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa

            Figure 17 shows that 11.9% respondents felt fearful most   Figure 20 shows that a few respondents (13.4%) actually
            of the time, 56.7% – rarely felt fearful.          felt depressed, while 73.1% – rarely felt depressed.
            Figure 17                                          Figure 20
            Distribution of Respondents’ Answers to Query 17   Distribution of Respondents’ Answers to Query 20






















                                                               Despite the fact that the study was conducted in India, its
            A total of 78.8% respondents rarely thought that their life   results  can  be  useful  to  scientists  for  research  on  the
            had been a failure, but 7.6% – thought that their life had   COVID problem around the world.
            been a failure most of the time (Figure 18).
            Figure 18                                          Discussion
            Distribution of Respondents’ Answers to Query 18   Our study explored the mental health status of the general
                                                               population amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally,
                                                               there  is  a  higher  prevalence  of  symptoms  of  adverse
                                                               psychiatric outcomes among the public when compared
                                                               to  the  prevalence  before  the  pandemic  (Huang  et  al.,
                                                               2019). The quarantine  imposed  due to the  coronavirus
                                                               outbreak  adversely  influenced  people’s  economy
                                                               because of an increase in the rate of unemployment. This
                                                               led  to  an  increased  financial  crisis  among  people  and
                                                               decrease in the quality of life. All these factors can put
                                                               individuals  at  greater  risk  for  developing  adverse
                                                               psychological symptoms.
                                                               Xiong et al. (2020) found that there are relatively high
                                                               rates  of  symptoms  of  anxiety  depression  and  post-
                                                               traumatic  stress  disorders,  psychological  distress  and
                                                               stress  in  the  general  population  during  the  COVID-19
                                                               pandemic in China. But in our study, most of the people
            Figure 19 shows that 64.7% respondents most of the time   (13.4%) felt depressed and 11.9% had sleep disturbances
            were  hopeful  about  the  future,  but  8.8%  –  rarely  felt   most of the time.
            hopeful.                                           According to a study by Brooks et al. (2020), the severity
            Figure 19                                          of  stress  related  symptoms  will  depend  upon  the
            Distribution of Respondents’ Answers to Query 19   quarantine duration and extent, the fear of being infected,
                                                               feeling lonely. In our study, we found 11.6% of people
                                                               felt  fearful  most  of  the  time  and  13.4% of  people felt
                                                               lonely most of the time.
                                                               According to Zhang and Ma (2020), they found a higher
                                                               prevalence of insomnia,  anxiety, depressive symptoms,
                                                               somatization,  and  obsessive-compulsive  symptoms  in
                                                               mental health staff.
                                                               A systematic review and meta-analysis (including studies
                                                               from  2000  to  2014)  showed  an  impact  of  an
                                                               epidemic/pandemic  on the mental health of health care
                                                               professionals, as “probable” percentage of cases (Vyas et
                                                               al.,  2016).  In  this  review,  psychological  distress  was
                                                               assessed  in  13  studies,  with  an  average  rate  among
                                                               exposed HCPs of approximately 40% (range: 11–75%).
                                                               Insomnia was assessed in four studies, with an average
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