Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the physical, mental and financial health of many individuals. Individuals living in impoverished crowded settings may be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19-related stressors. How substantially marginalized groups like impoverished urban-dwelling individuals have been impacted during this pandemic is poorly understood. The present study aimed to investigate the associated factors of financial concerns and symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the COVID-19 pandemic among impoverished urban-dwelling individuals residing in Dhaka, Bangladesh.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between August and September 2020 using face-to-face interviews in six disadvantaged neighborhoods (“slums”) in Dhaka. Individuals were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire consisting of questions assessing socio-demographics, lifestyle, financial well-being relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, depression, and PTSD.Results: Four-hundred-and-thirty-five individuals (male = 54.7%; mean age = 45.0 ± 12.0 years; age range = 18–85 years) participated. Most (96.3%) reported that their household income decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors associated with decreased household incomes included female gender, primary education, joblessness, food scarcity and depression. Depression symptoms were linked to female gender, joblessness, divorce, living in a joint family, excessive sleep and smoking. Low incomes, excessive sleep, joblessness and food scarcity were positively associated with PTSD symptoms. In contrast, less sleep appeared protective against PTSD.Conclusions: Public health initiatives, in particular mental health services that target stress and biocentric approaches that consider how humans interact with multiple facets of nature, should be introduced to mitigate against potential financial and psychological effects of the pandemic on impoverished urban-dwelling individuals in Bangladesh.
Highlights
The outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in China at the end of 2019, and the virus rapidly spread globally (Wang et al, 2020a; Xiang et al, 2020)
This study revealed no gender-related difference relating to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, which differs from a recent study from China during the COVID-19 pandemic that reported higher PTSD symptomatology among females compared to males (Liu et al, 2020)
The present study indicated that job loss and food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with more severe PTSD symptomatology
Summary
The outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in China at the end of 2019, and the virus rapidly spread globally (Wang et al, 2020a; Xiang et al, 2020). In order to limit the spread of COVID-19, the government of Bangladesh declared nationwide restrictions on public activities and movement across the country in March, 2020 (Rahman et al, 2020a; The Daily Star, 2020; Islam et al, 2021a) While these pandemic-related constraints were critical for preventing COVID-19, they negatively impacted occupational opportunities, increased insecurity and generated financial challenges (Bhuiyan et al, 2020; Galicki, 2020). Pandemic issues such as spatial distancing, isolation, and quarantine, as well as social and economic consequences, have led to anger, boredom, fear, frustration, grief, depression, fear, grief, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), shame, and stress (Brooks et al, 2020; Islam et al, 2020d,f; Tasnim et al, 2021). The present study aimed to investigate the associated factors of financial concerns and symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the COVID-19 pandemic among impoverished urban-dwelling individuals residing in Dhaka, Bangladesh
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