Effect of COVID-19 on perceived stress among Bangladeshi people

Abstract

PurposeCOVID-19 pandemic has caused serious threat to peoples’ physical and mental health because of its high death toll all over the world within a very short period. As a result, people may be psychologically stressed, which can affect their quality of life. The main purpose of this study is to quantify the level of stress among the adults (age 18 and above) including all gender, religions and races of Bangladesh during this devastating pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis online survey-based study collected demographic data and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) to determine stress levels over past one month. The total numbers of respondents are 1,148 from May 29, 2020 to June 12, 2020; using the PSS to assess stress levels and to identify the potential variables having association with level of psychological stress, multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed.FindingsA scary proportion (81%) of respondents suffered from substantial amount psychological stress during this COVID-19 pandemic. It is an undeniable signal for us that, every 4 out of 5 respondents in our study is suffering from different level of psychological stress during this time. Comparing the level of stress, this study finds that elderly (60 and above), women, front-line workers (doctor and other health-care professionals) and second-line workers (public service holders, police and defense and banks or financial institutes) have high psychological stress compared to the other respondents.Originality/valueThis study will help policymakers to provide relevant mental health intervention strategies to cope with this challenge efficiently.