Social Functioning and Mental Health Status during COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND- A descriptive type of cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the social functioning and mental health status of the COVID-19 pandemic with 117 samples. The aim of the study was to determine the social functioning and mental health status of the Bangladesh University of Health Sciences (BUHS) faculties and officers during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODOLOGY- A descriptive type of cross-sectional study was carried out with 117 University teachers and other officers who took part in the study over three months from June-2020 to August-2020. All participants who was fulfilled the inclusion criteria were invited in this study. Convenience sampling technique was used to recruit the study participants. AOQ form (Borderline Personality Disorder Mental Health assessment form) is used to measure the mental health outcomes of the respondents. The Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ), an eight-item self-report scale (score range 0-24), was developed from the Social Functioning Schedule (SFS). RESULTS- The socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents were considered as sex, occupation, type of family, history of chronic diseases, living area, and work from home. The study revealed that more than half 53.8% (n = 63) of the respondents were male. It was found that 69.2 % (n = 81) of them belonged to nuclear families; among them, 84.6% (n = 99) were living in urban areas and 54.7% (n = 64) worked from home. It shows a statistically significant (p = 0.001) association between sex and money problem. Male has more significant money problems than females. There was a significant association between social functioning and mental health scores (r = .391, p = .001). The results showed a partial correlation between social functioning score and mental health score after adjusting for age and sex. Here, r = .276 and p = .003. This means that social functioning and mental health scores are significantly correlated even after controlling for age and sex. There was a significant association between mental health and social function status (p = 0.01). CONCLUSION- This study found a significant association between mental health and social function status. This would be helpful for future mental health support for those individuals with prior vulnerable mental health status.