A Survey of Attitudes, Anxiety Status, and Protective Behaviors of the University Students During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Turkey

Abstract

A new coronavirus disease began on 31 December 2019 in Wuhan/China and has caused a global outbreak in only a few months resulting in millions being infected. In conjunction with its’ physical side effects, this outbreak also has a tremendous impact on psychology health. This study aims to assess the spread and frequency of protective behaviors, emotional and anxiety status among the Turkish population using a rapid survey during the COVID-19 outbreak. An online questionnaire was administered to 3,040 respondents between the ages of 18–30. This cross-sectional study was conducted from Apr 2 to Apr 8, 2020. While questions related to the outbreak were created by members of our neuroscience department, the Turkish version of the Abbreviated Beck Anxiety Inventory was included in our survey to measure anxiety status. Pearson correlation coefficient was used for statistical analysis. We found that 90% of respondents report washing hands more frequently since the outbreak while %50 wear protective gloves. Respondents were more fearful of their relatives catching the coronavirus disease than they were of themselves catching it. In response to the question, “What are your emotions about the coronavirus?”, 38% responded with “worried”. There was a significant correlation between anxiety status and consumption information from the media about COVID-19. Individual early protection behaviors might slow transmission of the outbreak. Our results showed that the behavior of the participants has changed in predictable ways during the COVID-19 outbreak. Understanding how emotional responses such as fear and anxiety status vary and the specific factors that mediate it may help with the design of outbreak control strategies.

COVID-19-Induced Anxiety and Associated Factors Among Urban Residents in West Shewa Zone, Central Ethiopia, 2020

“…30 This could be due to variation in the outbreak magnitude, educational status, information accessibility, and the study period. 18,28 In this study only 38.0% of urban residents had high preventive behavior towards the COVID-19 outbreak. This figure is lower than the finding from Iran that reported high preventive behaviors related to the COVID pandemic.…”

“…[25][26][27] These discrepancies could be attributed to differences in assessment tools, study period (data was being anxiousness toward pandemic increase at beginning, then decrease and finally collected after a few months when the community gives less attention. Community reaction and stable, 28 variations in sociodemographic characteristics, environmental and sociocultural determinants that could contribute to handle the psychiatric issues during the pandemic. 29 The study also indicated that a majority of the urban residents had a moderate degree of risk perception towards the COVID pandemic.…”

Is It Just About Physical Health? An Online Cross-Sectional Study Exploring the Psychological Distress Among University Students in Jordan in the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The study has found that 44% of students reported a moderate level of worrisome and fear of catching COVID-19, while 80% of students reported a 'severe level' of scare and worries about their close relatives' health. The authors expected that the high levels of anxiety among the students in their study could be attributed to shifting to online learning along with other pandemic control measures such as social isolation and financial constraints (Akdeniz et al, 2020). Similarly, the aforementioned worries were also reported by the students in our study as part of their major concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Anxiety and Suicidal Thoughts During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Country Comparative Study Among Indonesian, Taiwanese, and Thai University Students

“…First, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major life stressor that has direct and indirect influences on students’ psychological well-being. The direct influences include the students’ emotional feelings toward COVID-19 (eg, fear of being infected) [ 19 - 21 ], and the indirect influences include the government’s reaction in relation to transmission control (eg, feeling depressed when receiving threatening COVID-19 news or feeling lonely because of social distancing) [ 7 ]. Second, university students are at a critical life-transition period (ie, school-to-work transition [ 22 ]).…”