Quality of life among Bangladeshi Youth during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic: A single-site survey

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological, mental health and quality of life among Bangladeshi residents. STUDY DESIGN: A purposive cross-sectional study of quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic was performed. METHODS: Respondents completed a modified questionnaire that determined the Impact of Event Scale (IES), indicators of psychological distress impact, impact on government strategies, awareness and lifestyles, and impact on expectation of quality life change. A total of 465 (male = 330 and female = 135) respondents participated in this study. RESULTS: The overall mean age of respondents was 28.42 ± 7.07 years, and 63.4%, 44.1% and 50.3% were unmarried, were in the middle-income family group and had a masters or PhD qualification, respectively. The overall mean IES score of respondents was 80.89 ± 8.91, which reflects a stressful impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental health problems. Only 27.75% of respondents had an IES score ≥75. More than half of respondents (57.8%) reported that they did not feel lonely and hopeless. In terms of preventative measures, the majority of the respondents (80.2%) reported that they did not wash their hands frequently with soap and sanitiser for at least 20 s to reduce spread of the virus. During the pandemic, more than half of the respondents (56.8%) claimed that they faced serious problems in education. CONCLUSIONS: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant mental and physical health problems.