Measuring the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic fear on Stress, Anxiety, and Depression among General Public in Sindh

Abstract

The study has examined the level of stress, anxiety, and depression among the general public due to
coronavirus. Coronavirus has been declared as an international pandemic that started in Wuhan, China in
December 2019. The outbreak changes the lives of people and restricted them to self-quarantine. The world
is at risk of poor economic conditions. The pandemic reaches to 210 countries. Coronavirus challenged
people to live in some other ways, an unprecedented way. With this deadly pandemic new problem arises
among the public. The virus is a big threat to the lives of people as the number of deaths reaches more than
100 thousand. The data was collected by using a structured questionnaire from the public of Sindh province,
Pakistan in March and April. The research was quantitative. Collected data were analyzed by using SPSS
26.0 for descriptive and Smart PLS 3.2.9 for further analysis. A total number of 462 responses were
received through an online survey as no other option was under consideration due to the pandemic. The
research findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between Covid-19 and stress, anxiety and
depression. The people of every age are in deep worries because of this pandemic. The increasing cases of
coronavirus have increased fear and stress, depression, and anxiety has increased among individuals.
Further, findings exposed that people of affected areas like Karachi, Sukkur, and Hyderabad are more
fearful than other areas of Sindh and the stress and anxiety among people in these areas are high.