Socio-psychological impact on Bangladeshi students during COVID-19


Syed Far Abid Hossain
College of Business Administration, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), Uttara Model Town, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0729-1456

Mohammad Nurunnabi
Department of Accounting, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Sheela Sundarasen
Department of Accounting, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0453-5489

Karuthan Chinna
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2035-344X

Kamilah Kamaludin
Department of Accounting, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8272-2717

Gul Muhammad Baloch
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Heba Bakr Khoshaim
Deanship of Educational Services, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5898-0991

Areej Sukayt
Department of Accounting, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

ABSTRACT

Background: The socio-psychological impact of COVID-19 has affected the whole world. Bangladesh, one of the most dangerous places as stated by WHO, was first infected at the beginning of March 2020, later than other countries. Bangladesh is now one of the 20 most affected countries in the world, but the psychological effects for university students during the epidemic period are not researched.

Design and methods: To address this gap, the present study attempts to discover the socio-psychological impact of COVID-19 on university students in Bangladesh. We conducted an online survey using a questionnaire with a simple random sampling technique and we received 474 responses.

Results: In this study, numerous psychological concerns were reported. The study is limited to university students, which may affect the generalizability of the research.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest a need to build awareness of the mental health implications of the pandemic for university students.

 

REFERENCES

International Monetary Found. Policy Responses to COVID-19. 2020. Available from: https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19

Our World in Data [Internet]. Bangladesh: Coronavirus Pandemic 2020. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/bangladesh?country=~BGD

European CDC. COVID-19 situation update worldwide, as of 9 June 2020. Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Slum Census and Floating population 2014. 2015. Available from: http://203.112.218.65:8008/WebTestApplication/userfiles/Image/Slum/FloatingPopulation2014.pdf

Mamun MA, Griffiths MD. First COVID-19 suicide case in Bangladesh due to fear of COVID-19 and xenophobia: Possible suicide prevention strategies. Asian J Psychiatry 2020;51:102073. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102073

Ahorsu DK, Lin C-Y, Imani V, et al. The fear of COVID-19 scale: Development and initial validation. Int J Ment Health Addict 2020. doi: 10.1007/s11469-020-00270-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00270-8

Sakib N, Bhuiyan AKMI, Hossain S, et al. Psychometric validation of the Bangla fear of COVID-19 scale: Confirmatory factor analysis and rasch analysis. Int J Ment Health Addict 2020. doi: 10.1007/s11469-020-00289-x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00289-x

Anwar S, Nasrullah M, Hosen MJ. COVID-19 and Bangladesh: Challenges and how to address them. Front Public Health 2020;8:154. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00154

WSWS.org [Internet]. Bangladesh Government downplays COVID-19 threat as job losses mount. 2020. Accessed: 2020 Jun 6. Available from: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/16/bang-m16.html

BBC News [Internet]. Coronavirus: Bangladesh locks down a million in Rohingya camps. 2020. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52227924

Hossain SFA, Shan X, Nurunnabi M. Is M-learning a challenge? Students attitudes toward the sustainable learning and performance. Int J e-Collab 2019;15:21-37.

Hossain MA, Rahman S, Karim MR. The Mental health of school-going children during existing lockdown situation due to COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Med Pharmacol 2020Available from: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202005.0346/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202005.0346.v2

Hossain MS, Ferdous S, Siddiqee MH. Mass panic during Covid-19 outbreak- A perspective from Bangladesh as a high-risk country. J Biomed Anal 2020;3:1–3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30577/jba.v3i2.40

Van D, McLaws ML, Crimmins J, et al. University life and pandemic influenza: Attitudes and intended behaviour of staff and students towards pandemic (H1N1) 2009. BMC Public Health 2010;10:130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-130

Lau SKP, Woo PCY, Li KSM, et al. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-like virus in Chinese horseshoe bats. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2005;102:14040–5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0506735102

Ahmed N, Jahangir Rony R, Tuz Zaman K. Social distancing challenges for marginal communities during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. J Biomed Anal 2020;3:5–14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30577/jba.v3i2.45

Amin S, Rob U, Billah M, et al. COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices among adolescent girls in Bangladesh. Harvard Dataverse 2020. Available from: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/citation?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/UBZXWD

Cao W, Fang Z, Hou G, et al. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry Research 2020;287:112934. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112934

Wang C, Cheng Z, Yue X-G, McAleer M. Risk Management of COVID-19 by universities in China. J Risk Financial Manag 2020;13:36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm13020036

Zung WWK. A rating instrument for anxiety disorders. Psychosomatics 1971;12:371–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0033-3182(71)71479-0

Hossain SF, Xi Z, Nurunnabi M, Anwar B. Sustainable academic performance in higher education: a mixed method approach. Interactive Learning Environments 2019:1-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2019.1680392

Roy D, Tripathy S, Kar SK, et al. Study of knowledge, attitude, anxiety & perceived mental healthcare need in Indian population during COVID-19 pandemic. Asian J Psychiatry 2020;51:102083. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102083

Abebe TB, Bhagavathula AS, Tefera YG, et al. Healthcare professionals’ awareness, knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and beliefs about Ebola at Gondar University Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study. J Public Health Afr 2016;7:570. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4081/jphia.2016.570

Qiu J, Shen B, Zhao M, et al. A nationwide survey of psychological distress among Chinese people in the COVID-19 epidemic: implications and policy recommendations. General Psychiatry 2020;33:e100213. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2020-100213

Banerjee D. The COVID-19 outbreak: Crucial role the psychiatrists can play. Asian J Psychiatry 2020;50:102014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102014

Most read articles by the same author(s)