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Background and Objective: Coronavirus is spreading across the globe since December 2019. As India's first case was reported on January 30, 2020, the spread of this virus is experiencing by our population. As a result, there are extensive emotional distress and anxiety among populations due to this pandemic. Screening mental health is important for psychological well-being of any individual during this pandemic. The objective of this study was to validate the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) in an Indian population. Materials and Methods: The research proposal was laid out before an ethical clearance committee, which approved the conduct of the research and consequent publication of the paper. Data were collected from 246 respondents through online. CAS, developed by Lee (2020), was adopted for the study. Informed consent was given by all the respondents, and their participation was voluntary. AMOS and SPSS were used to calculate confirmatory factor analysis and other statistical analyses. Bartlett's test of sphericity and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test, and Cronbach's alpha, were also calculated. Convergent validity was calculated through average variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (CR) in Microsoft Excel. Results, and Conclusions: Bartlett's test of sphericity was highly significant measuring Chi-square = 494.004, df = 10, and P < 0.001. The KMO was acceptable at 0.805. Fit indices (P < 0.001, Chi-square/df = 3.24, goodness of fit index = 0.976, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.954, and comparative fit index = 0.977) are statistically significant. Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.822), AVE (0.526), and CR (0.745) were adequate. The overall findings of the analyses demonstrate that the CAS is a reliable and valid scale that evaluates the severity levels of dysfunctional anxiety linked to COVID-19 in an Indian sample. CAS is applicable to measure the level of dysfunctional coronavirus anxiety in the Indian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The causal impact of income shocks on mental well-being in developing countries is an under-researched area. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with the economic recession caused by the lockdowns to reduce transmission, provides a natural experimental setting to examine the causal impact of a decline in monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) on mental health of the general population in India during the pandemic. Aim: To evaluate the impact of income shocks on mental health of adults in metro cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: The data were collected using the abridged version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Schedule administered through a telephonic survey on adult residents of six metropolitan cities in September-August 2020 and July-August 2021. Results: In the present study, 994 adults participated from six metropolitan cities. Average treatment effects were estimated using Propensity Score Matching. The mean normalized scores are significantly higher for respondents whose MPCE had fallen (treated) vis-à-vis respondents whose MPCE had remained same or increased (control): anxiety (0.21 for treated vs -0.19 for control), stress (0.16 vs -0.14), and depression (0.04 vs -0.19). Propensity score matching reveals that the normalized scores for anxiety, stress, and depression were 33 (95% confidence intervals, CI: 20.0-46.7), 25 (95% CI: 12.9-36.9), and 36 (95% CI: 18.6-53.1) higher among the treated group vis-a-vis control group. The ATET was 34 (95% CI: 18.9-48.9), 26 (95% CI: 10.1-42.9), and 32 (955 CI: 12.3-50.7) for these three outcomes, respectively. The post-estimation tests indicated that the results are valid. Conclusions: The study advocates that policies to ensure income security should be made an integral part of the response packages to tackle pandemics like COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 has led to economic slowdown, loss of life, loss of livelihood, health complications, poor quality of life, deteriorated mental health, and poor education. One of the critical issues is decreased mental health among adolescents. Mental health was indeed a problem even before COVID-19, and the pandemic has substantially raised or catalyzed it to another level. Teachers reported that many college students who came to college after a long period of lockdown seem to be very confused, anxious, emotionally exhausted, and stressed. Parents are of the opinion that their children show irritation, anger, and frustrations at home. This study is an offshoot of this concern. Aim: This study aims to know the immediate effect of gratitude journals on mental well-being. Settings and Design: The study was conducted at the University Institute of Technology (UIT), Karuvatta, Alappuzha, Kerala. The experimental design was used for the study. Materials and Methods: One hundred and eight college students (F = 50 and M = 58) aged between 18 and 25 years from UIT, Alappuzha, Kerala, were selected randomly for this study. Students were divided equally into two groups, experimental group (n = 54) and control group (n = 54); both groups were tested to analyze mental well-being using Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Experimental group was made to fill the gratitude journal immediately after the pretest and the control group was allowed to do their daily routine. Posttest was conducted to find if there was any significant difference in the experimental group. Statistical Analysis Used: Paired sample "t"-test and ANCOVA were used for the statistical analysis. Results: It shows a significant difference at a 0.05 level. When the outcome was compared between experimental and control group, the experimental group showed an increase in their mental well-being score (P < 0.01), whereas the control group did not show any difference in mental well-being, (P = 0.540). Conclusions: This implies that a gratitude journal could be a good intervention even in short run to improve the mental well-being among college students and hence students can be better prepared for learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across India, there have been multiple studies conducted to address the issues of the mental health of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study estimated the pooled prevalence of psychological morbidity among healthcare workers during the early phase of the COVID 19 pandemic in India. We searched the following electronic bibliographic databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Wiley online library, and Google scholar for studies conducted from the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic until 25 September 2021. The methodological quality of each study was scored and outcome measures with uniform cut off scores as per various screening measurements were evaluated. According to the current meta analysis, the pooled estimates of depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia among Indian healthcare workers during the COVID 19 pandemic are 20.1% (95% CI: 15.6 to 24.6%; n = 21 studies), 25.0% (95% CI: 18.4 to 31.6%; n = 20 studies), 36% (95% CI: 23.7 to 48.2%; n = 22 studies) and 18.9% (95% CI: 9.9 to 28.0%; n = 6 studies) respectively. In subgroup analyses, low quality studies based on the JBI checklist (Score < 3/9) and studies using DASS 21 showed a higher pooled prevalence of depression and anxiety. About 20–36% of the healthcare workers in India reported having depression, anxiety, and stress during the early phase of the COVID 19 pandemic. The present study provides a comprehensive review of the overall burden of mental health problems among healthcare workers during the COVID 19 pandemic in India necessitating appropriate intervention strategies to protect these frontline groups before the memory of the pandemic crisis starts to fade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Covid19 pandemic has resulted in drastic changes in human lives across the globe in the form of lockdown and an uncertain future. Information regarding the COVID-19-related anxiety and well-being among the public in India is very limited, especially from the state of West Bengal. We conducted this e-survey among the general population of West Bengal to assess the anxiety levels and the well-being status during lockdown. This information would be helpful to guide family physicians to screen patients for anxiety from the primary care level. Aims: The main aim of this questionnaire based study was to assess the levels of anxiety and well-being status among the public including the frontline workers in West Bengal, India. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted with a validated e-questionnaire after Institutional Ethics committee approval, from 18th April, 2020 to 3rd May, 2020. The questionnaire had 12 questions which included the Generalized Anxiety disorder (GAD)-7 scale and the WHO-5 scale (5 question-items) to assess the well-being of the participants. The survey link was distributed through the social networking sites of WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and e-mails within West Bengal. Microsoft Excel (version 2016) was used to analyse the data. Results: A total of 355 responses were received 15.49% responders were observed to have anxiety and 37.74% participants had low well-being scores. Majority of healthcare workers (89.47%) were seen to have anxiety and a significant (52.03%) had a low well-being status. Conclusions: We report the presence of anxiety and low well-being among the general population of West Bengal. It is important to understand the current psychological status of the public for the family physicians as many would visit them with vague symptoms. There is a dire need to screen all patients including front line workers visiting primary care physicians for mental health to ensure better clinical outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]