Analysing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health of people using fuzzy MCDM methods

Abstract

Recently, a large portion of the world's population has experienced an unprecedented devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of its outbreak, not much was known about this disease and therefore, quarantine and social distancing were the only ways suggested to prevent its spread among humans. Although the current situation is much better than before however, strict social distancing norms as well as frequent long-lasting lockdowns with stringent guidelines and actions to control the spread in the early days have affected the physical and psychological health of the people. Consequently, this study was carried out to attain the following major objectives: (i) to identify the potential psychological problems/factors that might have been caused due to COVID-19 led social distancing and lockdowns, and (ii) to determine the ranks of the identified psychological factors to reflect their degree of criticality. The first objective was achieved by gathering information about the potential psychological factors from the experts. Data, in terms of linguistic variables, was collected from the experts and analyzed using two fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods i.e. Fuzzy Best Worst Method (F-BWM) and Fuzzy TOPSIS (F-TOPSIS) which led to the accomplishment of the second objective. The results of this study revealed that anxiety, stress, panic attacks, frustration, and insomnia were the top five critical psychological factors that might have affected people due to this pandemic. Consistency of the results was ensured by comparing the obtained ranks with the ranks found using the Fuzzy WSM and Fuzzy MABAC methods. In addition, the robustness of the results was ascertained by conducting the sensitivity analysis. Based on the findings of the study, the identified factors were categorized into most, average, and least critical psychological factors. This research might help the relevant authorities to understand the extent of the seriousness of the various psychological factors caused by this pandemic, so that an effective strategy may be developed for better management, control, and safety.