Psychological and nutritional effects on a COVID-19-quarantined population in Bangladesh

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak worldwide, many people were instructed to stay at home as a precautionary measure for not catching the disease. The same measure was imposed in Bangladesh, where people were in self and mandatory quarantine for 14 days. The objectives of this study were to assess the psychological and nutritional changes of a quarantined population in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 outbreak. A total of 5792 individuals comprised the population of this study. Subjects were respondents to an online questionnaire that was administered through social media. The questionnaire included questions on personal information, items of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression (CES-D) scale. Data were collected and analyzed by factor analysis and regression utilizing an SPSS program. Results of the CES-D scale indicated that 24% of respondents (scored ≥16) were depressed and had a significant association with nutritional behavior changes (misconceptions). Data of the IER-S scale showed that 35% of respondents scored ≥20, which indicated that they had a probability of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—however, there this did not have a significant relationship with nutritional misconceptions. The quick spread of the COVID-19 outbreak caused people to be depressed and made them adopt nutritional attitudes that can be considered as misconceptions. If the government and health care workers become aware of such findings, measures and policies can be taken to alleviate the resultant sufferings.