Salud Mental

Assessment of corona-phobia in university students with the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S): A cross-sectional analysis

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

Muhammad Salman
Zia Ul Mustafa
Abdul Wahab Javaid
Naureen Shehzadi
Tauqeer Hussain Mallhi
Yusra Habib Khan
Fozia Masood
Khalid Hussain

Abstract

Introduction. Disease phobia may impose distressing manifestations along with compromised quality of life, particularly in young age. COVID-19 caused substantial psychological concerns in general population which required the attention of health authorities to address the issue as soon as possible.

Objective. This study was aimed to determine COVID-19 phobia in Pakistani youth during the current pandemic.

Method. A cross-sectional study was conducted to ascertain the extent of fear of COVID-19 among university students in Lahore, Pakistan using the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S). Psychological, somatic, social, and economic factors were ascertained among students. The relationship of demographics with the phobia score was determined through appropriate statistical tests.

Result. This study included 374 students with a male preponderance (64.7%). The mean C19P-S score was 59.08 ± 14.44 (IQR: 50 - 70), with no significant difference among demographics except gender (male 57.65 ± 14.77 vs female 61.70 ± 13.47; p = .009). The mean psychological, psycho-somatic, economic, and social subscale scores were 19.59 ± 5.00 (25th percentile = 16 and 75th percentile = 24), 12.29 ± 4.56 (25th percentile = 10 and 75th percentile = 15), 11.22 ± 3.67 (25th percentile = 8 and 75th percentile = 14) and 15.97 ± 4.04 (25th percentile = 13.75 and 75th percentile = 19), respectively. Male students had a significantly lower score on social and psychological subscales than females (< .05).

Discussion and conclusion. One fourth of the students achieved a fear score > 70 on C19P-S. These results indicate the need of dire maneuvers for reducing corona-phobia among university students.
Keywords:
COVID-19, fear, phobia, Pakistan, coronavirus, students, youth, phobia scale

References

Abuhammad, S., Alzoubi, K. H., & Khabour, O. (2021). Fear of COVID‐19 and stigmatization towards infected people among Jordanian people. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 75(4), e13899. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.13899

Amin, S. (2020). The psychology of coronavirus fear: Are healthcare professionals suffering from corona-phobia?. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 13(3), 249-256. doi: 10.1080/20479700.2020.1765119

Arpaci, I., Karataş, K., & Baloğlu, M. (2020). The development and initial tests for the psychometric properties of the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S). Personality and Individual Differences, 164, 110108. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110108

Arpaci, I., Karatas, K., Baloglu, M., & Haktanir, A. (2022). COVID-19 phobia in the United States: Validation of the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-SE). Death Studies, 46(3), 553-559. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2020.1848945

Asif, S., Mudassar, A., Shahzad, T. Z., Raouf, M., & Pervaiz, T. (2020). Frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences. 36(5), 971-976. doi: 10.12669/pjms.36.5.1873

Bashar, S., I., Inda, A., & Maiwada, R. M. (2020). Perceivedeffects of corona-phobia and movement control order on Nigerian postgraduate students in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Asia Proceedings of Social Sciences, 6(2), 117-120. doi: 10.31580/apss.v6i2.1307

Bhuiyan, A. I., Sakib, N., Pakpour, A. H., Griffiths, M. D., & Mamun, M. A. (2020). COVID-19-related suicides in Bangladesh due to lockdown and economic factors: case study evidence from media reports. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 19(6), 2110-2115. doi: 10.1007/s11469-020-00307-y

Bibi, A., Blackwell, S. E., & Margraf, J. (2021). Mental health, suicidal ideation, and experience of bullying among university students in Pakistan. Journal of Health Psychology, 26(8), 1185-1196. doi: 10.1177/1359105319869819

Chang, J. J., Ji, Y., Li, Y. H., Pan, H. F., & Su, P. Y. (2021). Prevalence of anxiety symptom and depressive symptom among college students during COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 292, 242-254. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.109

Choi, S. (2021). “People look at me like I AM the virus”: Fear, stigma, and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative Social Work, 20(1-2), 233-239. doi: 10.1177/1473325020973333

Deng, J., Zhou, F., Hou, W., Silver, Z., Wong, C. Y., Chang, O., ... Huang, E. (2021). The prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and sleep disturbance in higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Research, 301, 113863. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113863

Dsouza, D. D., Quadros, S., Hyderabadwala, Z. J., & Mamun, M. A. (2020). Aggregated COVID-19 suicide incidences in India: Fear of COVID-19 infection is the prominent causative factor. Psychiatry Research, 290, 113145. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113145

Fatima, M., Habib, A., Khan, S., Butt, M. H., Mallhi, T. H., Khan, Y. H., ... Masood, I. (2022). Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Behavior and Risk Perception of COVID-19 Pandemic among University Students. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 1-4. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2022.1

Government of Pakistan. (2022). COVID-19 situation! Retrieved from https://covid.gov.pk/

Khan, A. A., Lodhi, F. S., Rabbani, U., Ahmed, Z., Abrar, S., Arshad, S., ...Khan, M. I. (2021a). Impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on psychological well-being of the Pakistani general population. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 564364. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.564364

Khan, M. N., Akhtar, P., Ijaz, S., & Waqas, A. (2021b). Prevalence of depressive symptoms among university students in Pakistan: asystematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, 603357. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.603357

Khan, Y. H., Mallhi, T. H., Alotaibi, N. H., Alzarea, A. I., Alanazi, A. S., Tanveer, N., & Hashmi, F. K. (2020). Threat of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan: the need for measures to neutralize misleading narratives. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 103(2), 603-604. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0654

Khan, Y. H., Salman, M., Butt, M. H., & Mallhi, T. H. (2022). Viral Fever of unknown Origin during COVID‐19 and Dengue Outbreaks in Pakistan; Is Media spreading panic during pandemic?. Journal of Medical Virology, 94(5), 1792-1793. doi: 10.1002/jmv.27569

Khokher, S., & Khan, M. M. (2005). Suicidal ideation in Pakistani college students. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 26(3), 125-127.

Latif, A. (2021). Indian double-mutant COVID-19 variant traced in Pakistan. Retrieved from https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/indian-double-mutant-covid-19-variant-traced-in-pakistan/2257580

Majeed, M. M., Saleem, Z., Sarwar, H., Ramzan, Z., Iqbal, S. N., & Naeem, M. M. (2021). The Psychology of Coronavirus Fear: Are Dentists of Pakistan Suffering from Corona-Phobia?. Journal of the Pakistan Dental Association, 30(1), 1-6. doi: 10.25301/JPDA.301.1

Malik, S., Ullah, I., Irfan, M., Ahorsu, D. K., Lin, C. Y., Pakpour, A. H., ... Minhas, R. (2021). Fear of COVID-19 and workplace phobia among Pakistani doctors: A survey study. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 833. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10873-y

Mamun, M. A., & Griffiths, M. D. (2020). First COVID-19 suicide case in Bangladesh due to fear of COVID-19 and xenophobia: Possible suicide prevention strategies. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 51, 102073. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102073

Mamun, M. A., & Ullah, I. (2020). COVID-19 suicides in Pakistan, dying off not COVID-19 fear but poverty?–The forthcoming economic challenges for a developing country. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 87, 163-166. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.028

Mertens, G., Gerritsen, L., Duijndam, S., Salemink, E., & Engelhard, I. M. (2020). Fear of the coronavirus (COVID-19): Predictors in an online study conducted in March 2020. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 74, 102258. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102258

Mint. (2021). Detection of Covid-19 variants sparks fear in Pakistan. Retrieved from https://www.livemint.com/news/world/detection-of-covid-19-variants-sparks-fear-in-pakistan-11619952767761.html

Mustafa, Z. U., Haroon, S., Aslam, N., Saeed, A., Salman, M., Hayat, K., ...Khan, A. H. (2022). Exploring Pakistani Physicians’ Knowledge and Practices Regarding High Alert Medications: Findings and Implications. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 13, 744038. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.744038

Ng, K. H., & Kemp, R. (2020). Understanding and reducing the fear of COVID-19. Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B, 21(9), 752-754. doi: 10.1631/jzus.B2000228

Rafiq, N., Rafique, S., Griffiths, M. D., & Pakpour, A. H. (2021). Fear of COVID-19 among Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students in Pakistan. Trends in Psychology, 1-16. doi: 10.1007/s43076-021-00115-w

Rodríguez-Hidalgo, A. J., Pantaleón, Y., Dios, I., & Falla, D. (2020). Fear of COVID-19, stress, and anxiety in university undergraduate students: apredictive model for depression. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 591797. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.591797

Saleem, Z., Majeed, M. M., Rafique, S., Siqqiqui, Z., Ghandhi, D., Tariq, H., & Zegarra-Valdivia, J. A. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic fear and anxiety among healthcare professionals in Pakistan. Research Square, 1-16. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-37608/v2

Salman, M., Asif, N., Mustafa, Z. U., Khan, T. M., Shehzadi, N., Tahir, H., ... Mallhi, T. H. (2020a). Psychological impairment and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic among students in Pakistan: across-sectional analysis. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 1-7. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2020.397

Salman, M., Mustafa, Z. U., Asif, N., Zaidi, H. A., Hussain, K., Shehzadi, N., ... Saleem, Z. (2020b). Knowledge, attitude and preventive practices related to COVID-19: a cross-sectional study in two Pakistani university populations. Drugs & Therapy Perspectives, 36(7), 319-325. doi: 10.1007/s40267-020-00737-7

Salman, M., Mustafa, Z. U., Rao, A. Z., Khan, Q. U. A., Asif, N., Hussain, K., ... Rashid, A. (2020c). Serious inadequacies in high alert medication-related knowledge among Pakistani nurses: Findings of a large, multicenter, cross-sectional survey. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 11, 1026. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.01026

Salman, M., Mustafa, Z. U., Raza, M. H., Khan, T. M., Asif, N., Tahir, H., ... Hussain, K. (2022). Psychological Effects of COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers and How They Are Coping: A Web-based, Cross-sectional Study during the First Wave of COVID-19 in Pakistan. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 1-13. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2022.4

Singh, S., Roy, D., Sinha, K., Parveen, S., Sharma, G., & Joshi, G. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on mental health of children and adolescents: A narrative review with recommendations. Psychiatry Research, 293, 113429. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113429

Sullivan, K. M., Dean, A., & Soe, M. M. (2009). On academics: OpenEpi: aweb-based epidemiologic and statistical calculator for public health. Public Health Reports, 124(3), 471-474. doi: 10.1177/003335490912400320

Uvais, N. A. (2021). ‘Coronaphobia’ Among Undergraduate Students: A Pilot Survey Study. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 33(8), 990-991. doi: 10.1177/10105395211007645

Viladrich, A. (2021). Sinophobic stigma going viral: Addressing the social impact of COVID-19 in a globalized world. American Journal of Public Health, 111(5), 876-880. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306201

Villa, S., Jaramillo, E., Mangioni, D., Bandera, A., Gori, A., & Raviglione, M. C. (2020). Stigma at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 26(11), 1450-1452. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2020.08.001

World Health Organization [WHO]. (2020). Pakistan: WHO coronavirus disease (COVID-19) dashboard with vaccination data. Retrieved from https://covid19.who.int/region/emro/country/pk