Researchers in the WUN Global Research Group – SDGs in Asia are testing the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress in different populations.
This article originally appeared in Content Media Solutions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected the global economy, trade, and commerce deeply but has also taken a toll on the physical and mental health of people. The enforcement of lockdowns necessary to control disease spread during the pandemic has largely altered people’s lifestyles and social behaviours. This has been linked to psychosocial distress. Healthcare workers, who have been at the frontline throughout the pandemic, have been particularly affected.
However, the association between the pandemic and people’s mental health has not been fully explored. A lot of unanswered questions still linger, and the key to answering these questions lies in assessing the effect of the pandemic in varying populations that have been exposed to different severity of lockdown restrictions and disease spread. Now, a team of scientists led by Dr Chung-Ying Lin of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), has conducted such a study as part of a project contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia.
The team recently published their findings in Frontiers in Medicine. This large-scale, collaborative project outlined the psychosocial effect of the pandemic on populations in South Asia. Dr Chung-Ying said, “Hopefully, this information will be useful during future pandemics or other healthcare crises.”
Access the paper here.
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