Self reported psychological impact of covid-19 pandemic among general population of india

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic has a profound psychological impact on the health of people worldwide. It is taking a huge toll on mental health and wellbeing of people.
Material and Methods: It was a community based online cross sectional study involving general population more than 18 years of age. Data collection was done by using a goggle form link which was circulated via online platforms. Data was analyzed using SPSS software version 21. Qualitative data was expressed in proportions or percentages and quantitative data was expressed in mean and standard deviation. Chi square test was used to find out association of demographic factors with the extent of impact of pandemic on psychological health.
Results: 15.3%, 38.8% and 33.4% subjects admitted to have severe, moderate and mild psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic, respectively while 12.5% had no impact at all. The impact was more in case of young (<35 years) as well as old (>55 years), females, those having a business or private job, students and unemployed. Study subjects had very large (16.3%), moderate (39.7) or slight (30.9%) extent of fear about the uncertainty/loss of job or earnings because of the pandemic which was significantly higher among younger age group of 26 to 55 years and males. Almost 91% subjects had fear about getting COVID-19 complications and death with 42.4% having moderate fear, 35.3% mild fear and 12.8% very large extent of fear.
Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a considerable psychological impact on a large section of study population.