Study highlights
Emergence: The outbreak of this COVID-19 occurred in China in
December 2019. Novel Corona Virus has been declared as a pandemic
condition in March 2020. This has now spread to almost 210 Countries
around the globe.
Impact: Impacting billions of people life’s and sending
billions of people into lockdown, turned people’s lives upside down,
miserably affecting the economy, creating a negative impact on the
employment and their income. The drastic impact of COVID is visible in
every sector, every region, especially in low and lower-middle-income
countries.
Objective of the study : The study was conducted for the
assessment of the impact of lockdown and social isolation on the mental
health and to blow the whistle on emerging silent mental health pandemic
that is inevitable, and will have long term consequences on people
lives, productivity and happiness.
Study population and sample: The study was conducted in Karachi
the biggest city of Pakistan, an industrial hub, and a port city
comprised of over 15 million population. The city was under complete
lockdown for last four weeks. Because of the large population, the
stigma attached to mental health, and ethical considerations the
questionnaire was kept anonymous and the non-probability convenience
sampling technique was used where as 6876 people participated in the
study.
Demographic: T he demographic elements comprised of age (18-65
in five categories), gender (Male & Female), professionals, students,
and entrepreneurs (self-employed and owners).
Rating instruments: Both PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were applied for this
study to have a more robust understanding of the psychological impact of
lockdown, social isolation, economic issues and worries.
Data Collection: Questionnaire was designed on “Google Form”
and its link was shared with the respondent via Emails, Whatsapp,
Facebook, and LinkedIn using 100 research volunteers. The respondents’
cooperation and readiness was high as it was anonymous, easy to complete
within 3 minutes, and submission over a single click through their cell
phone. The survey started on 16th April and completed
within seven days. The statistical analytical tool SPSS was implied for
descriptive analyses.