Influence of media engagement on the post traumatic stress disorder in context of the COVID-19 pandemic: An empirical reflection from India

ABSTRACT

The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 induced a variety of psychological disorders for the entire community in each country in one way or the other. PTSD is also an important psychological concern in the context of the COVID-19. As observed during previous epidemics, people are growing increasingly dependent on the media for the sake of information, while the media has exhibited a tendency to amplify the public risk in perception of the disease. Hence, the present study investigated that how the media use pattern of the people influenced on the PTSD syndrome in the backdrop of the sever outbreak of the Covid-19. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted during lockdown to collect data from the Indian adults (age≥ 18) on the media use pattern and the PTSD through snowball sampling. Out of the 672 respondent, only 658 samples were selected for the final analysis. Apart from the percentage analysis of demographic data, simple regression analysis model was used to measure the relationship between the media use and the PTSD. To predict the probable associations between socio-demographic characteristics with the PTSD score and pattern of the media use one-way ANOVA and the LSD post hoc was done as inferential statistics. The length of engagement with media of people in quarantine was quiet high and the higher exposure of the media has led to a higher posttraumatic stress among them. As demographic variables, young people, lower income group and the PG qualified respondents have shown higher PTSD than their counterpart.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• mental health
• PTSD
• media use pattern
• quarantine

Declaration of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts interests.

Data availability

The dataset collected and subsequently analyzed is not available at public domain but it is available from the corresponding author(s) on request.

Informed consent

Authors here are confirming that informed consent was obtained from all participant and they were assured not to disclose their personal information anywhere.

Additional information

Funding

The study was not financially supported by any organization or agency and the authors conducted this research by their own interest.