Thus an Online survey was conducted by Prof. (Dr.) Bhavna
Mehta and her team of ten students of MSW and MHRM program and six members of
research staff of Faculty of Social Work, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of
Baroda to understand the Psycho-socio impact of Lockdown on Common people of
Vadodara city to identify their psycho-socio wellbeing in the times of lockdown
and how Social Workers can intervene to make the situation better.
Vadodara city is under lockdown which makes members of
various communities confined to the four walls of their home, with limited or
no access to the outside world except basic essentials. As human being such
confinement can have a long lasting impact on their psycho-social well being
and also significantly affect them economically.
In such scenario an online survey was conducted by MSU to
understand the affect of lockdown on people. Prof. (Dr.) Bhavna Mehta and her
team of ten students of MSW and MHRM program and six members of research staff
of Faculty of Social Work to understand the Psycho-socio impact of Lockdown on
Common people of Vadodara city, identify their psycho-socio wellbeing in the
times of lockdown and how Social Workers can intervene to make the situation
better.
This Online Study was conducted on a total of 1094
respondents living in the city of Vadodara and purposively did not include any
respondents having Carona affected family members.
After the study the team found the major findings:
1. The study included all twenty five wards of the city with
almost equal representation of respondents from each of the area.
2. 58 % of respondents were male while 42 % were female
respondents.
3. 78 % of respondents were Youth population. – between 18-35
years of age.
4. 40.1% respondents were employed in private firms while
28.9% were students who were largely studying in college and were not earning
members of the family.
5. 94.3% of respondents were of the opinion that the second
phase of lockdown was necessary in the city, state and the country to combat
COVID-19.
6. With regard to major emotions experienced due to lockdown,
27.2% of the respondents felt relaxed/stress free owing to the fact that they
don’t have to stress about the work much. 19.9% respondents experienced erratic
mood swings which fluctuated from being happy to frustrated to feeling low or
incompetent in one day itself.
18.9% respondents felt happy as they could spend time with
family and pursue their hobbies.
7. The most likable thing in this lockdown period for
majority (53%) of respondents was feeling of being safe at home. (51%) of
respondents also stated that they liked locked down because they get time to
spend with the family and 36% of respondents like it because they get now time
to spend for themselves.
8. (35%) of respondents stated that they were getting worried
listening to bad news while 30% responded said that they were getting bored at
home due to lockdown.
9. It was found that majority (54%) respondents are able to
work from home as part of their job/business either to a great extent or to
some extent.
10. The findings for utilization of time during this lockdown
period amongst the common people of Vadodara city revealed that, 36.5% of
respondents were learning new skills like Art & Craft, Singing,
calligraphy, knitting, Dancing, Painting, Drawing, Gardening, Exercise/Workout,
Yoga/Meditation, Music, Searching for job, Praying, Social Work)Self
Development.
– 30.3 % were Helping and doing Household Chores like Cooking
and Cleaning
– 23.8 percent were spending their time Watching TV, Movies,
Netflix, Amazon Prime, Web series, News, Serials etc
– 20 % were Reading books, novels, comics, newspapers and
Writing.
Other activities that respondents did included Spending time
with family (17.80%),
Work From Home (16.50%), Playing Indoor and Outdoor
games, Online games, With family/children (10.9), Online
courses/lectures/Seminars/Training/
Competition (9.40%), Relaxing/ Resting/ Sleeping/doing nothing/Eating/Thinking
(8.60%), engaged on Social Media (7.40%), Preparing for various
examinations (7.30%) and Completing assignments/ pending work/thesis/ synopsis
(2%).
11. 46% of the respondents said that they were feeling low
and depressed during lockdown period. (more than 25 percent of time.)
12. 82 % of the respondents had sufficient money and
resources to meet necessary daily needs of the family. Whereas 18 percent of
respondents had minimum required resources to meet necessary daily family needs.
13. The responses for major worries due to lockdown
highlighted the financial and health related worries of the respondents. 40.6%
of them were worried about the economic instability, loss of job, loss of
income and 39.2% were worried about protecting themselves and family from
COVID-19. 34.4% were worried about health of family and self and 32.9% said
that they were worried due to uncertain future.
Other worries of respondents included loss of income
(26%), work commitments (15%), education of children (10%), upcoming important
events (12.20%) like family functions, marriage of children and unavailability
of essential services (14.60%).
14. (92%) of respondents were not living in quarantined and
Corona affected area.
5% of respondents said that they felt neglected/ isolated/
discriminated and called names from friends, relatives, acquaintances due to
being from an quarantined/affected area.
15. With regard to major problems experienced by the people
in their day to day lives due to lockdown, it was found that
– 32% of the respondents felt they did not experience any
problems due to the lockdown.
– 21% of them felt that unavailability of essential
items/services proved to be a major problem in their lives at this moment.
– 12% respondents believed that restricted movement hampered
them from getting basic services and they had major worry regarding job/work
from home stressing them out even more and financial loss experienced due to
the lockdown.
– 7% experienced a change in their lifestyle in terms of
sleeping pattern and experiencing laziness.
– 5% experienced emotional disturbance and mental stress due
to the isolation while 4% were worried due to increased household chores.
16. Measures to Cope with stress in the times of COVID-19
outbreak included that
– 24.7% respondents spend time with their families or
play games with them.
– 16.1% listen to music,
– 13.5% call up friends/family members to tackle the boredom
and stress they feel, This shows that people have their own mechanisms to beat
the stress.
17. With regard to the people doing something new during the
lockdown, it was found that 26% respondents engaged into upgrading their skills
through enrolment into online courses, 18% engaged into cooking/baking
activities, 15% engaged into recreational activities like doing arts and
crafts, playing, watching tv/series etc.
13% of the respondents were engaged into physical and mental
fitness exercises, 6% were engaged into activities like gardening, learning a
new craft etc., 5% were engaged into household cleaning chores. 3% respondents
joined social media as a new thing that they learnt and interacted with their
friends and relatives online.
Only 2% of the respondents were engaged into social service
activities. 12% did nothing new during this period.
– People often look for support in these times of crises and
it was found that 34.5% of the respondents found POLICE to be of great support
and help to them
– 20.3% found solace in their neighbors saying that they were
the most supportive in terms of this crises.
– 11.2% found much required support from Government personnel
– whereas 21.4% said that no one was supportive to them in
terms of crises.
18. 9.9% respondents expressed that they had some
requirements and needed help from government or any voluntary organisation.
• Out of those 9.9% who had reported their needs, some of the
participants have received several essential help through different voluntary
organization or government bodies.
• Majority of the respondents (74.5%) were not involved in
any form of social work during lock down period. 25.5% were involved into
social work activities surrounding in their areas.
• With regard to help sought from Social Workers in time of
this crises, it was found that 34% of the respondents required that Social
Workers can best spread awareness regarding safety measures/prevention against
COVID-19 as that is their forte and help in mobilizing resources and essential
services for the needy during these times.
26% respondents expressed that Social Workers must provide
online/telephonic counseling services to the people experiencing mental health
issues due to the lockdown.
The overall survey revealed that the lockdown proved to be
stressful for many people as they are bound to the four walls of the household
and have lost physical touch with their families, friends and colleagues.
Though this lockdown was necessary, people experience mental stress due to the
isolation and confinement. While most of the respondents have their own ways of
coping with stress, many are not able to deal with it and have their own set of
worries.
In this case, Social Workers can work as frontline mental
health workers who can not only spread positive messages for awareness but also
undertake counseling for the caregivers and the people for whom dealing with
stress is difficult
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