Psychological status of physically challenged sports persons during covid-19 at a selected Rehabilitation Center in Bangladesh

Abstract

Purpose: to identify the psychological status of physically challenged sportspersons and their coping strategies during COVID-19 in Bangladesh. Objective: To find out the sociodemographic information, understand the level if anxiety and depression among the participants of physically challenged sportspersons, identify the influencing factors on psychological impact of COVID-19 on disabled sportsperson, find out find out the coping strategies during COVID-19 pandemic situations. Methodology: It was a cross sectional study. Total 120 participants were attended willingly and conveniently for this study from sports and recreation unit of CRP. Data was collected with Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), General Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire, Brief Cope-28 questionnaire and Socio-demographic questions. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 25) was used for data analysis. Result: The purpose of the study is to identify the psychological status of physically challenged sportspersons and their coping strategies during COVID-19 in Bangladesh. In this study the prevalence of anxiety among physically challenged sportspersons was estimated at 62.5% (n=75) mild, 25.8% (n=31) moderate, 8.3% (n=10) moderately severe anxiety, 3.3% (n=4) showed severe level of anxiety and depression was estimated at 58.3 % (n=70) minimal depression, 27.5% (n=33) mild anxiety depression, 11.7% (n=14) moderately severe, 2.5% (n=3) faced moderately severe depression. They have showed a mixed coping strategy during the wave of COVID-19. Emotion focused coping strategy showed the highest mean where as Avoidant Focused coping had lower scores. There is a strong positive association between problem focused and emotion focused coping strategy (r = 0.792). Conclusion: Depression and anxiety were highly prevalent among people with disabilities during COVID-19. The outcomes of this research may guide the development of better care and support for physically challenged sportsperson. The findings should encourage our government to gather more information on mental health concerns experienced by people with physical disabilities and apply the necessary psychological treatment measures. Key word: GAD-7, PHQ-9, Brief Cope-28, Disability, PWD, sports, Anxiety, Depression Coping strategy. Word count: 11630