Analysis of the Mental State of People on COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic would have probably affected the mental state of people due to its severity and recurrence. Aim: In this background, a study was undertaken to understand the mental state of people on the pandemic through the analysis of their feelings towards various psychological aspects related to the pandemic. Tools used: Negative and positive feelings on various aspects related to the pandemic were analyzed based on data collected on-line from 200 randomly selected respondents from Kerala State of India using a questionnaire containing ten items with five-point responses scored from 0 to 4, as proposed by Pedrozo-Pupo et al (2020). The total mental state score of the respondents was worked out as the sum of scores of the items. The level of negative mental state in relation to the condition of “no negative mental state experienced” was calculated. The data was analyzed through Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney-U Test and Odds ratio test. Results: Majority of the respondents have not experienced high level of negative feelings/mental state on the pandemic, while most of them experienced the positive feelings well. Females experienced comparatively high level of negative feelings related to the pandemic than males. Younger people had comparatively higher negative feelings than those who are aged. Chi-square test showed that age influences the mental state of people on the pandemic. Mann-Whitney-U Test revealed that the difference in mental state score between people aged 20 to 50 and 50 to 80 years is significant. The Odds ratio for age and sex indicates that respondents in the 20-50 age group have 113 % more chance of getting a lower total mental state score / experiencing higher level of negative mental state on the pandemic than those in the 50-80 age group, while females have 93 % more chance of getting a lower total mental state score / experiencing higher level of negative mental state than males. Conclusions: Majority of the respondents did not experience high level of negative feelings/mental state on the pandemic, while most of them experienced the positive feelings well. Comparatively high level of negative feelings was experienced by females than males, and by younger people than aged. The usefulness of undertaking studies on the psychological outcome of COVID among different sections of people in various States of India is highlighted in the paper, which may be helpful for those working in the health sector to advocate specific measures to overcome probable psycho-somatic disorders arising out of the pandemic