ABSTRACT
Background: Today the world is facing an unprecedented situation owing to the effects of COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by SAR-COV-2 virus, with clinical spectrum ranging from asymptomatic to mild respiratory symptoms to rapid death. COVID-19 was first reported in a hospital in Wuhan city, China on 29th Dec 2019. Subsequently the disease spread rapidly throughout the country. The first case of COVID-19 outside of China was confirmed in Thailand in January, 2020. The disease has spread far and wide all over the world effecting almost every country in the world making it a global pandemic. As of now more than 200 million people have been effected across 213 countries and territories leading to loss of lives. As there is no treatment for the novel corona virus till date, lockdown, and social distancing and vaccination is the only practical and safe option to slow down the spread of the virus. Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, 35% of the population has experienced mental distress. Material(s) and Method(s): It is a community based cross-sectional study on parents having children from 0-5 years of age. The study was conducted in different municipal wards of Guwahati city, Assam. 5 municipal wards are selected randomly out of which 260 parents will be selected randomly. Based on the previous study "Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on mental health and perceived strain among the caregivers tending children with special needs" conducted by Sapna Dhiman and Shilpa Jain, School of Psychotherapy, Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University, New Delhi India and published in Research in Developmental Disabilities, 6th October 2020. The prevalence of anxiety was found to be 20.5%. Result(s): Out of the 260 parents that were interviewed, 77 (29.6%) reported having a family member who was diagnosed with COVID-19, while 183 (70.4%) reported not having any family member who was diagnosed with COVID-19. Among the 87 parents who are govt. sector employees, 79 (90.8%) did not suffer from stress, while 8 (9.2%) suffered from stress. Among the 125 parents who are private sector employees, 93 (74.4%) did not suffer from stress, while 32 (25.6%) suffered from stress. Among the 30 parents who own business, 19 (63.3%) did not suffer from stress, while 11 (36.7%) suffered from stress. Among the 3 parents who reported being involved in agriculture, 2 (66.7%) did not suffer from stress, while 1 (33.3%) suffered from stress. Among the 15 parents who reported being unemployed, 9 (60%) did not suffer from stress, while 6 (40%) suffered from stress. Conclusion(s): Thus, through this study, one can conclude that the ongoing pandemic has certainly taken a toll on the mental well-being of parents and as such taking measures to identify and address the issue is the need of the hour. Thus, awareness should be created about identifying signs of various mental health issues so that people can identify and seek necessary medical help at the earliest. Copyright © 2023, Dr Yashwant Research Labs Pvt Ltd. All rights reserved.