Psychosocial stress and trauma during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

The COVID‐19 outbreak has become a global health crisis affecting both the physical and mental health of people across the world. Likewise, the people of Bangladesh are going through a menacing mental health catastrophe with the outbreak of coronavirus that resulting in stress and trauma. Hence, this situation is altering people's lifestyles and generating complexities in psychological well‐being. The study was based on the review of published articles and media reports related to stress and trauma during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Bangladesh. A total of 10 peer‐reviewed articles and 45 newspaper reports were included following an extensive literature search. The contents were searched on Google, Google Scholar, PubMed, local online newspapers, social networking sites, and different webpages and published articles in different journals on COVID‐19 from March 5 to October 25, 2020. The review study finds that the mental health of people in Bangladesh has severely been affected by the outbreak of coronavirus. All of the government, voluntary, and civil organizations need to give further emphasis on psychosocial and bereavement counseling in order to support those experiencing mental shocks resulting from the COVID‐19 crisis. There is the need to strengthen more consultative and collaborative efforts from all public health experts, social workers, psychologists, and policymakers in doing so. Social workers in this context will be able to make meaningful contributions in supporting those affected people to better adjust to the challenging situation.

Experiences of the Frontline Healthcare Professionals Amid the COVID-19 Health Hazard: A Phenomenological Investigation

“…Nyashanu et al 22 argued that the shortage of PPEs, insufficiencies in COVID-19 preparedness, and lack of scope for maintaining social distancing were among the reasons for the stress and fear affecting healthcare personnel, in addition to the health catastrophe itself. According to Hossain et al 6 healthcare providers were stressed and traumatized due to a lack of required safety equipment, fear of infection, and lack of COVID-19 management coordination. Such stress, mental trauma, lack of needed resources, and management failures led to a decline in work competence among these professionals.…”

“…The COVID-19 health hazard has had a devastating effect on Bangladesh, causing harm to people’s health and well-being. 6 People of all classes and professions are being seriously afflicted by the disaster’s waves. People who work in the medical health service have to deal with a lot of problems both at work and at home.…”

“… 5 Moreover, frontline workers’ health and quality of life deteriorated, as their shifts became longer and longer and less predictable according to the dictates of the emergency and the collapsing health service. 6 Anxiety, fear, and trauma are common at the time of a health emergency, and a global health catastrophe has a pervasive nature that seems to disrupt everything else. Furthermore, the severe workload, social stigma, lack of adequate PPE, death of colleagues, and absence of close relatives make frontline workers even more susceptible to mental and emotional stress.…”

Social assistance programs during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Bangladesh: Does faith‐based approach matters?

“…The consequence of pandemic was more pronounced in the least developed countries, with large number of people experiencing starvation (J‐PAL, 2020 ). The World Economic Forum (WEF) reported that financial crisis during COVID‐19 pandemic was more severe than that of 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) (Hossain et al, 2021 ).…”

“…As a result of the pandemic, almost every country enforced a lockdown (a state of isolation or restricted movement) to limit the spread of the contagious coronavirus (Tang et al, 2020).The outbreak does not only generate serious health problem among the people but also induce economic downturn globally (Tang et al, 2020).The consequence of pandemic was more pronounced in the least developed countries, with large number of people experiencing starvation (J-PAL, 2020). The World Economic Forum (WEF) reported that financial crisis during COVID-19 pandemic was more severe than that of 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) (Hossain et al, 2021).Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of the United Nations affirms basic human rights to social protection. Also, the International Labor Organization (ILO) (2011) actively supports policies that promote human rights and provides assistance to countries to facilitate sufficient levels of social protection to all members of society (Bachelet & Office, 2012).…”