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Exploring factors in fear of COVID-19 and its GIS-based nationwide distribution: the case of Bangladesh
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health threat of international concern, intensifying peoples’ psychological risk and vulnerability by strengthening mental health stressors such as fear, panic and uncertainty. The unexpected fear of COVID-19 has been reported to be associated with suici...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8376996/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34407906 http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.984 |
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author | Mamun, Mohammed A. |
author_facet | Mamun, Mohammed A. |
author_sort | Mamun, Mohammed A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health threat of international concern, intensifying peoples’ psychological risk and vulnerability by strengthening mental health stressors such as fear, panic and uncertainty. The unexpected fear of COVID-19 has been reported to be associated with suicide occurrences, similar to prior pandemics. AIMS: Identifying the factors associated with fear of COVID-19 could help us to develop better mental health strategy and practice to improve the situation here in Bangladesh. This was the first attempt to present a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based distribution of fear of COVID-19 across the country's administrative districts in a nationwide sample. METHOD: Data for a total of 10 067 individuals were collected by an online survey during the first wave of the pandemic (1 to 10 April 2020); data for 10 052 participants were finally analysed after excluding 15 transgender individuals. The survey questionnaire included items concerning sociodemographic, behavioural and health-related variables, COVID-19-related issues, and the Bangla Fear of COVID-19 Scale. RESULTS: The mean fear of COVID-19 scores was 21.30 ± 6.01 (out of a possible 35) in the present sample. Female gender, highly educated, non-smoker, non-alcohol consumer, having chronic diseases, using social media, and using social media and not using newspapers as COVID-19 information sources were associated with a higher level of fear of COVID-19. Higher levels of fear of COVID-19 were found in districts of Magura, Panchagarh, Tangail, Sunamganj and Munshiganj; by contrast, Kushtia, Pirojpur, Chapainawabganj, Jhalokathi and Naogaon districts had lower fear of COVID-19. Based on the GIS-distribution, fear of COVID-19 was significantly associated with the district as well as in respect to its gender-based and education-level-based associations. However, fear of COVID-19 and COVID-19 cases were heterogeneously distributed across the districts; that is, no consistent association of higher COVID-19 cases with higher fear of COVID-19 was found. CONCLUSIONS: This study being exploratory in nature may help to facilitate further studies, as well as directing governmental initiatives for reducing fear of COVID-19 in at-risk individuals. Providing adequate resources and mental health services in the administrative regions identified as highly vulnerable to fear of COVID-19 is recommended. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8376996 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Cambridge University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83769962021-08-24 Exploring factors in fear of COVID-19 and its GIS-based nationwide distribution: the case of Bangladesh Mamun, Mohammed A. BJPsych Open Papers BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health threat of international concern, intensifying peoples’ psychological risk and vulnerability by strengthening mental health stressors such as fear, panic and uncertainty. The unexpected fear of COVID-19 has been reported to be associated with suicide occurrences, similar to prior pandemics. AIMS: Identifying the factors associated with fear of COVID-19 could help us to develop better mental health strategy and practice to improve the situation here in Bangladesh. This was the first attempt to present a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based distribution of fear of COVID-19 across the country's administrative districts in a nationwide sample. METHOD: Data for a total of 10 067 individuals were collected by an online survey during the first wave of the pandemic (1 to 10 April 2020); data for 10 052 participants were finally analysed after excluding 15 transgender individuals. The survey questionnaire included items concerning sociodemographic, behavioural and health-related variables, COVID-19-related issues, and the Bangla Fear of COVID-19 Scale. RESULTS: The mean fear of COVID-19 scores was 21.30 ± 6.01 (out of a possible 35) in the present sample. Female gender, highly educated, non-smoker, non-alcohol consumer, having chronic diseases, using social media, and using social media and not using newspapers as COVID-19 information sources were associated with a higher level of fear of COVID-19. Higher levels of fear of COVID-19 were found in districts of Magura, Panchagarh, Tangail, Sunamganj and Munshiganj; by contrast, Kushtia, Pirojpur, Chapainawabganj, Jhalokathi and Naogaon districts had lower fear of COVID-19. Based on the GIS-distribution, fear of COVID-19 was significantly associated with the district as well as in respect to its gender-based and education-level-based associations. However, fear of COVID-19 and COVID-19 cases were heterogeneously distributed across the districts; that is, no consistent association of higher COVID-19 cases with higher fear of COVID-19 was found. CONCLUSIONS: This study being exploratory in nature may help to facilitate further studies, as well as directing governmental initiatives for reducing fear of COVID-19 in at-risk individuals. Providing adequate resources and mental health services in the administrative regions identified as highly vulnerable to fear of COVID-19 is recommended. Cambridge University Press 2021-08-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8376996/ /pubmed/34407906 http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.984 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Papers Mamun, Mohammed A. Exploring factors in fear of COVID-19 and its GIS-based nationwide distribution: the case of Bangladesh |
title | Exploring factors in fear of COVID-19 and its GIS-based nationwide distribution: the case of Bangladesh |
title_full | Exploring factors in fear of COVID-19 and its GIS-based nationwide distribution: the case of Bangladesh |
title_fullStr | Exploring factors in fear of COVID-19 and its GIS-based nationwide distribution: the case of Bangladesh |
title_full_unstemmed | Exploring factors in fear of COVID-19 and its GIS-based nationwide distribution: the case of Bangladesh |
title_short | Exploring factors in fear of COVID-19 and its GIS-based nationwide distribution: the case of Bangladesh |
title_sort | exploring factors in fear of covid-19 and its gis-based nationwide distribution: the case of bangladesh |
topic | Papers |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8376996/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34407906 http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.984 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT mamunmohammeda exploringfactorsinfearofcovid19anditsgisbasednationwidedistributionthecaseofbangladesh |