The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Disease Exposed with Mental Health in Turkey (Pages 16-19)

Abdulbari Bener1,2,3, Ebru Morgul4, Muhammed Atak5 and Cem Cahit Barışık6

1Dept. of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics, Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Cerrahpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey; 2Dept. of Evidence for Population Health Unit, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, The university of Manchester, Manchester, UK; 3Dept. of Public Health, Medipol International School of Medicine, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey; 4Dept. of Psychology, School of Humanities and Society Sciences, İbn Haldun University, Istanbul, Turkey; 5Dept. of Public Health, Çapa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey; 6Dept. of Radiology, Medipol International School of Medicine, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12970/2310-8231.2020.08.04

Download PDF

Abstract: Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of COVID-19 in community.
Subjects and Methods: This is a cross-sectional community-based survey and conducted among the population of Turkish on their level of awareness of COVID 19.The survey based on structured questionnaire methods were conducted to survey the KAP level about COVID-19. A multi-stage stratified random sampling method was performed between March to June 2020, a total of 5500 persons were approached and 4422 (63.7% of males and 36.3% of females) (80.4%) participants completed the questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis.
Results: Of the total number of subjects surveyed, 90% of subjects recognized the term “COVID-19”. Educational level inreses awareness of COVID -19 virus. The majority 89% use medical masks and gloves to prevent against COVID-19 virus. Most people believe that there is no effective treatment or vaccine for COVID-2019, although, early prevention may help most patients contracted from the infection. In addition, a wide majority think that risk of COVID-19 is higher than AIDS or Cancer (70.6%). Over 88% people are afraid to travel due to COVID-19 virus and also majority 87% fearing to contact relatives or friend with COVID positive.
Conclusion: The survey revealed a high level of fatigue, stress and fear among the respondents. The recent experience with COVID-19 provided lessons on policy making.

Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic, fear, depression, OCD, fatigue.
Read more