Impact of COVID 19 Pandemic on People’s mental health: A review of literature

Background
The COVID pandemic of 2019 has impacted lives all across the globe. People of all age and gender were infected
by the virus. The pandemic not only caused the illness of the body but also of mind. The lockdowns imposed by
different countries also caused a considerable amount of fear and confusion among the people.

Research Problem
To find out how the COVID 19 Pandemic has impacted the metal health of people.

Review of literature
Roy, D. et al.: This research study was done in India in which a google form of questionnaire was used and was
sent using WhatsApp, Emails and other online methods. 662 people took part in this research study. The
sociodemographic questions used in this study were age, sex, occupation, religion, education,area of residence and
household. The questionnaire had questions on different sections such as awareness, attitude, anxiety and
perception towards mental health.
The awareness section had 6 multiple option questions. The researchers employed Likert scale for attitude, anxiety
and perception towards mental health care, the attitude section had 7 items which were to be rated on a 5 point
Likert scale, anxiety section also had a 5 point Likert scale on which 18 items had to be rated, perception towards
mental health had 4 items to be rated on a 3 point Likert scale. The tools of descriptive statistics such as Mean and
Standard Deviation were used to analyze the findings of the study.
The study found the people to be very anxious about 80%. About 72% of the people were found to be worried
about the use of preventive tools such as sanitizers and disinfectants. 12.5% of people reported a disturbances in
their sleep cycles. About 80% of people found the need for mental health care.
This study suggested that online or offline methods of mental health therapy to be provided to the ones who need
it.
The shortcomings of the study were that tools used for data collection were online and the language used was
English so the findings of the study cannot be said to apply to the whole population. Also there was a chance the
people who participated in the study may have had the same behavior even before the pandemic.

Lu, W . et al.: This research study was conducted in a hospital in China, the study used many psychoanalytic tools
such as numerical rating scale (NRS), the Hamilton anxiety scale (HAMA), Hamilton Depression Scale
(HAMD) the study also used a questionnaire these tools were employed to measure the levels of fear, anxiety and
depression in people. The total number of participants in this study were 2,299 of those 2042 were from medical
staff and the remaining 257 were from administrative staff.
This study was sort of a comparative study between the medical staff and the administrative staff of the hospital in
which researchers tried to find which staff was more affected by the pandemic.
The study found that medical staff was more affected by the pandemic as it had to directly take care of patients
whereas the administrative staff only interacts with the patients indirectly. The people in the medical staff were
found to be relatively more anxious and depressed.
Though the findings of the study were true to a high extent and the tools and questionnaire used were valid
uniformly around the world but the scope of the study was only limited to the hospital and cannot be applied
externally.
This research study suggested that special attention to the mental health of those in the frontline should be given as
they are the most affected.

Wang, Y . et al.: This research study was done in random parts of China. In this study around 600 questionnaires
were used. The time period of this study is February 2020. The scales used in the study are self-rating anxiety scale
(SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS). The questionnaires were conducted online.
The research study found that women were more likely to be anxious in the time of the pandemic, and so are the
people above the age of 40 years. The people who possessed higher educational qualifications were less likely to
be depressed and anxious because they were more aware.
This research study suggested that people should consume media carefully and refrain from trusting non reliable
sources of information.
Some of the shortcomings of this research study are: first the method for collecting data in this research study was
online so the people who had no internet connectivity were excluded from the research, second the research was
conducted when the pandemic was in the early growth stage so the results may not have been that accurate.

The shortcomings of the study were the tools used for data collection were Tencent and the application used was
WECHAT. Through the findings of the study were true to a high extent and the tools and questionnaire used were
valid uniformly around the world but the scope of the study was only limited to the hospital and cannot be applied
externally.

Shacham, M. et al.: This research study was done in some random parts of Israel. And this study is done with the
help of around 338 Israeli dentists and dental hygienists. In this study all the participants were approached through
social media, and some parts of dedicated mailing lists and forum, which was under the period of March 30 to
April 10, 2020. After the completion of the study on around 338 Israeli dentists and dental hygienists, in addition to
the demographic data, questions related to COVID19 were asked and answered as well the quiz was very helpful
for the people of Israel because it was mention in the major column of a reputed newspaper. Subjective overload,
self-efficacy and psychological distress scales were also evaluated in the study. And the data was analyzed by
using multivariate logistic regression.
The scientific aspect of the study helps the prof. to find out some facts which caused after COVID 19 Mental
health of the people was measured at just one moment in time. The selection criteria for participants leaved the
rooms for bias, since a random selection was not carried forward, and it was influenced by online self-selection for
participation.
So, the shortcomings of the study, it was based on true and valuable aspects of the major areas of Israel.
This research study suggested that special attention to the mental health of those in the frontline should be given as
they are the most affected.

Ahmed, Z. et al.: This study was done in some major parts of China. This study was conducted as a cross-
sectional online survey which was conducted under the Tencent Company. The link of the application was shared
through the application named WECHAT. Around 1074 people of China participated in this research program. The
participants completed an online questionnaire which included the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Beck
Depression Inventory- II (BDI-II), Alcohol used Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), Warwick Edinburgh
Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) and there was a section for personal details was available. Basically, the chi-
square test was used to assess the interaction between the sociodemographic factors and mental health state and the
drinking behavior (anxiety, depression, alcohol consumption, mental wellbeing).
The scientific study was conducted through self-assessment and scales were used to assess problems related
anxiety, depression, alcohol abuse and mental wellbeing, and all these problems being subject to recall bias. In this
study more than 50% of the participant were from Wuhan Province. Which was the epicenter of COVID-19, so the
data cannot be generalized to the entire population.

Bacon, A.M. & Corr, P.J. .: This study was done in some random parts of United Kingdom. The study scope
was done with the population of 202 interviewees which were recruited via prolific. The process of study was
cross-sectional in which the UK respondents (NO.202) were recruited via prolific during the study- a platform for
the online research participants. During the study participants accessed the study through a web link and answered
a questionnaire about personality (RST-PQ), and some measures of disease attitudes, which generally concerns
about the impact of corona virus in United Kingdom on health services and on socioeconomic infrastructures,
personal safety and probability of voluntary self-isolation during the research the questionnaires used in the United
Kingdom were : The beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) , Illness
Attitudes Scale (IAS) and Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of personality questionnaire (RST-PQ).
The scientific approach of this research is relatively small, in addition to the need for a basic level of health
knowledge, and related to the coronavirus’s behavior, generally which may have influenced the responses. In this
research no differentiation was made between individuals who were isolated and those who intended to do so, and
those who can influence the results, since behavioral health intensions do not always result in behavior. In addition,
the study is cross-sectional and, although personality traits are considered reasonably stable, it is possible that
concerns and responses to the virus may change overtime as the situation evolves, for ex, there was no mandatory,
LOCKDOWN, when the data was collected.
The shortcomings of the study were that tools used for data collection were physical and the language used was
English so the findings of the study is cannot be said to apply to the whole population also there was a chance the
people who participated in the study may had the same behavior even before the pandemic.
Zhang,Y .&Ma ,Z.F. : This research study was conducted in China via Online medium.
There was an online survey distributed in social online platform and the participant completed a modified and
validated questionnaire on which evaluated the impact of event scale as an indicator on negative impact on mental
health and on social and family support and on lifestyle changes related to mental health. Total 263 participants
aged 18 or above participated in online survey which was distributed via online mode.
This study found that after the pandemic more than half of study participant reported not having increased stress at
work. 76.8% did not experienced increased financial stress due to pandemic and
74.5% did not experienced increased stress at home. On the other side 52.1% of the participants reported feeling
horrified and apprehensive due to COVID pandemic and 46% felt powerless due to pandemic.
The shortcomings of the research were that result found may have suffered from recall bias.
Some relevant information was not collected income and possible infection or symptoms among friends.
Tan, W. et al: This research study was conducted in China in which a cross sectional study
conducted with 1323 members of the workforce who returned to work after the lockdown and
quarantine in Chongqing, China.
Workers were asked to complete an online questionnaire about their attitude toward the COVID19
Epidemic and the return to work along with psychological parameters.
The structured questionnaire consisted of question that covered several areas included question
like the
Demographic and occupational data and
Physical symptoms and self- assessment of their state of physical health in last 14 days
Impact of event scaled revised
Insomnia severity index
Preventive measures at physical and organizational level.
Multiple linear regression with background elimination method were used to examine the
association between outcome variables and demographic variables and its preventive measures.
The shortcomings of the findings were that use of self- report questionnaire is subject to recall
bias about interviewees mental states. Random sampling was not used which comprises the
generalization of results.

Chen Y. et al This research was conducted in China in which 3 Municipal 124 pediatric medical
staff in Guiyang participated and there was a cross sectional study conducted in which the data
was collected through an anonymous and self- assessed questionnaire
The questionnaire consisted of 3 parts
Basic demographic data, self- assessment rating depression scale and self -rating anxiety scale
Individuals who worked in high risk setting such as COVID 19 wards and department fever
clinics, infectious disease departments , emergency rooms and pulmonary medicine department or
X-ray labs were classified as having exposure to high-risk work.
The findings suggests that the mental health services for the frontline pediatricians should receive
more attention and are urgently needed during this epidemic outbreak of COVID-19
The shortcomings in the research were that self-assessment scales were used being subject to
recall bias and there is no information about the mental health of the individual before the
outbreaks.
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