Changes in dietary patterns among Bangladeshi adult population during the COVID-19 pandemic: A web-based cross-sectional study

(1) Objective: The objective was to analyze the development of psychiatric pathologies/burnout syndrome and their possible risk factors in teachers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. (2) Methods: A qualitative systematic review was carried out, according to the PRISMA protocol, in the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases using a combination of the following descriptors [MeSH]: “mental health”, “mental disorders’’, “covid-19” and “school teachers’’. Articles selected were written in English, Portuguese and Spanish, published between November 2019 and December 2022. (3) Results: The most common psychiatric pathologies were generalized anxiety disorders and depression. Burnout syndrome was also quite prevalent. Of the 776 articles identified, 42 were selected after applying the eligibility criteria. Although there is variability among the analyzed studies, the risk factors most correlated with increased morbidity in teachers were: (i) being female; (ii) age below the fifth decade of life; (iii) pre-existence of chronic or psychiatric illnesses before the pandemic; (iv) difficulty in adapting to the distance education model; (v) family/work conflicts; (vi) negative symptoms caused by the pandemic. (4) Conclusions: Therefore, the COVID-19 impact on mental health appears to be more common in female teachers in their fifth decade of life and with pre-existing psychiatric comorbidities. However, prospective studies are needed to better map this situation.

/pdf/the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-the-mental-health-of-ql09egxt.pdf

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Teachers and Its Possible Risk Factors: A Systematic Review

Background Due to unemployment, the prolonged lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic caused panic and deepened poverty, especially among lower-class and marginal people. The related financial crises led to harmful practices such as the early marriage of adolescent girls, which deteriorated these girl’s mental state. Aims This study attempted to assess the prevalence of mental health problems among early married girls and determine the associated predictors of the growing mental health burden. Methods This cross-sectional survey was conducted during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Dumuria Upazila in the Khulna district of Bangladesh. Data were collected purposively from 304 girls who were married off during the COVID-19 pandemic, this was carried out between 22 July and 31 August 2022 by administering a semi-structured interview schedule, with mental health measured by the depression, anxiety, and stress scale 21 (DASS 21). The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 25), and multiple linear regression was executed in order to predict mental health problems among early married girls. Results The findings show that the overall prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among early married girls during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh was 60.9% (95% CI: 0.554–0.663), 74.7% (95% CI: 0.698–0.796), and 23.7% (95% CI: 0.189–0.285). The prevalence was relatively higher among girls from the Sanatan (Hindu) religion and younger girls than among Muslim and older girls, respectively. The multiple linear regressions indicate that age, age at marriage, duration of the marriage, spousal occupation, intimate partner violence (IPV), and subjective happiness were the critical predictors of mental health problems among early married girls. Conclusion Early marriage, along with various adverse outcomes, i.e., IPV, maladjustment, and poor subjective happiness, has resulted in heightened mental health problems for young girls. Policymakers should implement coercive measures to prevent early marriage, especially during social, economic, political, and health crises; in addition, more research is recommended in order to explore the mechanisms that make early married girls psychologically vulnerable and thus formulate protective and preventive programs for addressing such vulnerabilities.

/pdf/mental-health-status-of-early-married-girls-during-the-covid-2hkqsyzu.pdf

Mental health status of early married girls during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study in the southwestern region of Bangladesh

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the implementation of online learning at Islamic universities faced numerous challenges and required opportunities for improvement. Based on the perspectives of students at universities that combine synchronous and asynchronous models, this study aims to analyze the challenges and prospects for improving management of online learning using Google Classroom and Zoom. This study is a qualitative case study of the course of Islamic Education Learning in Schools for sixth semester students in the Islamic Education study program. In July 2021, the researcher conducted interviews with 53 men and women. This study discovered that students face online learning challenges such as being unmotivated, undisciplined, losing concentration, feeling burdened, difficult to understand, noninteractive, disturbed by domestic work, unmanageable time, unmanageable team, and a lack of internet signal. This study, on the other hand, discovered opportunities for improving online learning implementation, such as increasing personal motivation, developing self-discipline, ice breaking and quizzes, simple tasks, note-taking and listening, learning media variation, effective communication with parents, time management, small group instruction, and lecture recordings. The findings of this study will be useful in improving the implementation of online-based learning at universities during the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure the quality of the teaching and learning process.TRANSLATE with x EnglishArabicHebrewPolishBulgarianHindiPortugueseCatalanHmong DawRomanianChinese SimplifiedHungarianRussianChinese TraditionalIndonesianSlovakCzechItalianSlovenianDanishJapaneseSpanishDutchKlingonSwedishEnglishKoreanThaiEstonianLatvianTurkishFinnishLithuanianUkrainianFrenchMalayUrduGermanMalteseVietnameseGreekNorwegianWelshHaitian CreolePersian //  TRANSLATE with COPY THE URL BELOW Back EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster PortalBack//

/pdf/management-of-online-learning-in-islamic-higher-education-1wtlxnt6.pdf

Management of Online Learning in Islamic Higher Education: Challenges and Prospects

Background: Infection with COVID-19 and its control entailing steroids and immunomodulatory medications disrupted normal immune function. The ensuing immunological disorder led to the rise of another infection—Black Fungus (Mucormycosis). However, the spread of Black Fungus can be minimized through proper knowledge, informed attitude, and conscious preventive practice. This study aimed to assess students’ knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding Black Fungus amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among Bangladeshi students from June to July 2021. Using Google Forms, an e-questionnaire was developed for this web-based survey, and the participants were selected through a snowball sampling approach. Results: Out of the 2009 participants, more than half were female (53.5%), and the majority were at an age between 18 and 25 years (31.5%) and had received higher secondary (HSC) schooling (77.8%), while around 61% resided in urban areas. Findings revealed that most of the students (63.8%) spent around 2 h on electronic and social media to become informed about COVID-19 and Black Fungus. Approximately 33% of the students showed low KAP scores (32.9%), whereas around 26% had high KAP scores. Our results show a significant association between KAP and sex, schooling, living status, residence, and media exposure. Conclusion: The knowledge of Black Fungus considerably varies among Bangladeshi students considering the place of residence, age, sex, living arrangement, and media exposure. Policymakers should emphasize awareness among people focusing on the results of this study to increase deterrent attitudes and protective practices to minimize the risks of being infected.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9146/pdf?version=1658972768

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices concerning Black Fungus during COVID-19 Pandemic among Students of Bangladesh: An Online-Based Cross-Sectional Survey

Background Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government of Bangladesh implemented strict non-therapeutic measures, i.e., “social distancing,” “lockdown,” “work from home,” in the first quarter of 2020. Like other professionals, teachers at schools, colleges and universities were confined within households. However, the introduction of online education imposed an additional burden on teachers along with growing household responsibilities, thus, affecting their psychological state. Aims This study was aimed to explore the prevalence of mental health problems among teachers in Bangladesh and to identify the associated risk factors. Methods This web-based cross-sectional study was conducted during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Data were collected from 381 teachers working at schools, colleges, and universities between 01 August and 29 August 2021 by administering a self-reported e-questionnaire using Google Form, where the mental health of teachers was assessed by depression, anxiety, and stress scale. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 26) and STATA Version 16, and multiple linear regression was executed to predict mental health problems among teachers. Results The findings indicate that the overall prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among teachers was 35.4%, 43.7%, and 6.6%, respectively. The prevalence was higher among male and older teachers than among their female and younger colleagues. The findings further showed that place of residence, institution, self-reported health, usage of social and electronic media, and fear of COVID-19 significantly influenced the mental health status of teachers. Conclusion It is strongly recommended that the government and policymakers provide proper mental health services to teachers in order to reduce mental health problems and thus sustain the quality of education during and after the pandemic.

Mental Health Status of Teachers During the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Web-Based Study in Bangladesh

The health care seeking behavior is a growing concern which in realizing the characteristics of health as well as level of health care knowledge of the adolescent girls in Bangladesh. The study aimed to explore the health care seeking behavior of the adolescent girls who were belonged to the age group of 13 to 19 in three villages under Batiaghata Upazilla of Khulna district. Following survey research design a self-administered questionnaire (SAQ) was used to collect data from 157 respondents by using simple random sampling. Findings reveal that majority of the respondent (66.9 percent) were Islam believers and accomplished secondary level (60.5 percent) of education. Moreover, maximum respondents were practicing allopath (66 percent), treatment received from pharmacy (42 percent). More than 50 percent (50.3%) maintained menstruation management by using sanitary napkin as well as taking primary knowledge from school (10.8 percent). However, household income was significantly associated with place of treatment (p<.024).  In addition, education of mother was positively associated with level of health care knowledge (p<.004). Furthermore, household income is strongly correlated with cost of treatment of the respondent (r =.577, p = .000). Even year of schooling of the respondent is related with level of health care knowledge (r = .185, p = .035). Finally, it can be concluded that there is a necessity for taking proper initiatives by GOs and NGOs to improve the health care seeking behavior of adolescent girls in rural areas of Bangladesh.

Health care seeking behavior of adolescent girls in rural areas of khulna district

/pdf/challenges-of-women-in-post-disaster-health-management-a-3nde99of.pdf

Challenges of Women in Post-Disaster Health Management: A Study in Khulna District

In Bangladesh, the scenario of sexual harassment is a great problem in the academic sector as well as the prevalence is equally the same. Female students are the prominent victims of sexual harassment incidents in the educational environment. The main objectives of the study were to evaluate the nature of sexual harassment in academia as well as the impacts on female students and the consequences of the problem. The study was conducted in a qualitative research method and collected primary data with the help of a checklist of the undergraduate students of the Social Science School of Khulna University. Eight respondents and two key informants were selected purposively for the study that fulfilled the criteria of the unit of analysis. The findings of the study disclosed that females are frequent victims of gender-based sexual harassment in the academic sector. Female students constantly face verbal and non-verbal sexual harassment as well as the majority of the respondents don’t disclose or report the incidents to the authority because they cannot rely on perpetrators who will not get proper punishment for their crimes. For this, the victims suffer from various impacts on their mental and physical well-being. As a result, female students replace their career focus, skipping their educational journey and constantly feeling insecure. This research also revealed that society and culture greatly impact sexual harassment occurrences by men. The overall study found the negative impacts of sexual harassment, its consequences along with possible solutions.

Prevalence of Sexual Harassment among Female Students of Khulna University

Rishi is an untouchable community in society victims of various socio-economic disparities as well as inequalities. This study aimed at identifying the socio-economic conditions of the Rishi community in Khulna City, Bangladesh. The purpose of the study is to observe how to maintain their social life along with economic activities. Following the survey and case study (Mixed method) research design, a sample of 150 people was selected clustery from ‘Rishipalli’ (Ward No 24) as well as data were collected by administering a semi-structured questionnaire. Findings reveal that the majority of the respondent (98%) are Sanatan believers and accomplished primary level (32%) of education. Moreover, the maximum of respondents is cobbler (70%) as well as evolved dual income (44%). Furthermore, the higher percentage (43%) belong to monthly food expenditures ranging between BDT 3001 to BDT 5000, and the majority (56%) of the households have to bear medical costs of BDT 100 to BDT 500 per month during illness, 36 percent of the households seeking treatment from MBBS doctor. It is, therefore, strongly recommended that policymakers should develop effective measures to improve the conditions of Rishi people, emphasizing building awareness of their socio-economic issues.

/pdf/socio-economic-conditions-of-rishi-community-in-khulna-city-h6h1hff0.pdf

Rina Aktar

Papers

Mental Health Status of Teachers During the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Web-Based Study in Bangladesh

Health care seeking behavior of adolescent girls in rural areas of khulna district

Challenges of Women in Post-Disaster Health Management: A Study in Khulna District

Prevalence of Sexual Harassment among Female Students of Khulna University

Socio-economic conditions of Rishi community in Khulna City Corporation (KCC)