The Level of Fear Experienced by the Individuals and their Applications to Health Institutions during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Aim: The study aims to investigate the effect of the level of fear experienced by individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic on their application to health institutions. Method: This descriptive study was conducted between July and September 2020 with the participants who met the inclusion criteria in Turkey. When the mean COVID-19 Fear Scale score was considered and the standard deviation values ​​were taken as 18.83 ± 6.01, the sample size was determined as 98 individuals, with 95% confidence level, 90% test power, and 0.331 effect size. With the snowball sampling method, the study was carried out with 577 people who filled out the Google form. The Personal Information Form and the COVID-19 Fear Scale were used as data collection tools. The data were analyzed with SPSS 20.0. Descriptive statistics, correlation, Mann-Whitney U (U), and Kruskal-Wallis tests were performed to analyze the data. Ethics committee approval was obtained prior to the study. Results: The mean age of the participants was 32.06 ± 11.25 (min 18-max 71); 77.8% were female; 66% were university graduates, and 54.9% were single. The total mean score of the participants from the COVID-19 Fear Scale was determined as 16.84 ± 5.68 (min 7-max 34), which points to moderate level of fear. The COVID-19 Fear Scale scores of the female participants, the participants with high income, and those living with their families were found to be higher ( p < 0.05). The COVID-19 Fear Scale scores were found to be higher in those who sleep less than 7 hours a day, who have a psychological disorder, who applied to health institutions during the coronavirus process, and who postponed their application to health institutions in an emergency due to the fear of infection ( p < 0.05). Conclusion: It has been determined that during the coronavirus process, 21.5% of individuals attend in person to health institutions and 40.7% of individuals attend in person to health institutions in emergencies. It was found that the level of fear was higher in the participants who applied to health institutions during the pandemic. The participants who postponed their application to health institutions in emergencies due to the fear of infection were found to have higher levels of fear.

The Factors That Affect the Fear of COVID-19 in Students of the Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Departments: A Descriptive Study

“…14 In the studies conducted in miscellaneous populations, it is shown that the fear of COVID-19 is greater in women. 15,16 Although there is no significant difference between genders in terms of FCV-19S scores in the present study, the fear of COVID-19 is detected greater in the female gender, similar to research in literature. 6,17 Moreover, developing COVID-19 prevention and management policies that contain a special focus on gender and determining whether men are willing to declare the fear lesser in further studies are proposed.…”

COVID-19 fear among junior undergraduate nursing students during the pandemic in South Africa

“…However, respondents who reported less than 7 h of sleep per night rated the item, 'I am most afraid of COVID-19', significantly lower compared with those who reported more than 7 h of sleep per night (3.48 ± 1.55 vs. 3.81 ± 1.43, K = 8.87, p = 0.012). Studies have found that a high proportion of respondents experienced abnormal https://www.hsag.co.za Open Access sleeping patterns such as increased hours of sleep and poor sleep quality related to the COVID-19 pandemic (Güven & Altay 2022;Son et al 2020).…”