Examining the psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: an international cross-sectional study protocol

Sandila Tanveer; Philip J Schluter; Richard J Porter; Joseph Boden; Ben Beaglehole; Ruqayya Sulaiman-Hill; Shaystah Dean; Romana Bell; Wafaa N Al-Hussainni; Maliheh Arshi; Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin; Mehmet Dinç; Mussarat Jabeen Khan; Mohammad Sabzi Khoshnami; Muthana A Majid Al-Masoodi; Amir Moghanibashi-Mansourieh; Sara Noruzi; Anggi Rahajeng; Shaista Shaikh; Nisa Tanveer; Feyza Topçu; Saadet Yapan; Irfan Yunianto; Lori A Zoellner; Caroline Bell

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067886

Examining the psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: an international cross-sectional study protocol

BMJ Open. 2023 Apr 12;13(4):e067886. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067886.

Authors

Sandila Tanveer¹, Philip J Schluter^{2

3}, Richard J Porter¹, Joseph Boden¹, Ben Beaglehole¹, Ruqayya Sulaiman-Hill¹, Shaystah Dean⁴, Romana Bell⁵, Wafaa N Al-Hussainni⁶, Maliheh Arshi⁷, Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin⁸, Mehmet Dinç⁹, Mussarat Jabeen Khan¹⁰, Mohammad Sabzi Khoshnami⁷, Muthana A Majid Al-Masoodi¹¹, Amir Moghanibashi-Mansourieh⁷, Sara Noruzi¹², Anggi Rahajeng¹³, Shaista Shaikh¹⁴, Nisa Tanveer¹⁵, Feyza Topçu⁹, Saadet Yapan⁹, Irfan Yunianto¹⁶, Lori A Zoellner¹⁷, Caroline Bell¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand.
² Faculty of Health, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
³ School of Clinical Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁴ Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand.
⁵ Department of Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
⁶ Basic Sciences Deptartment, Ibn Sina University of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Baghdad, Iraq.
⁷ Department of Social Work, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Science, Tehran, Iran.
⁸ Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
⁹ Department of Psychology, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep, Turkey.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
¹¹ Department of Scholarships and Cultural Relations, Mustansiryah University, Baghdad, Iraq.
¹² Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khoram-Abad, Iran.
¹³ Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, Islamabad Model College for Girls (PostGraduate), Islamabad, Pakistan.
¹⁵ Department of Peace and Conflict Sciences, National Defence University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
¹⁶ Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
¹⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Washington, DC, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand caroline.bell@otago.ac.nz.

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed people to significant and prolonged stress. The psychosocial impacts of the pandemic have been well recognised and reported in high-income countries (HICs) but it is important to understand the unique challenges posed by COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where limited international comparisons have been undertaken. This protocol was therefore devised to study the psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in seven LMICs using scales that had been designed for or translated for this purpose.

Methods and analysis: This cross-sectional study uses an online survey to administer a novel COVID Psychosocial Impacts Scale (CPIS) alongside established measures of psychological distress, post-traumatic stress, well-being and post-traumatic growth in the appropriate language. Participants will include adults aged 18 years and above, recruited from Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia and Turkey, with a pragmatic target sample size of 500 in each country.Data will be analysed descriptively on sociodemographic and study variables. In addition, CPIS will be analysed psychometrically (for reliability and validity) to assess the suitability of use in a given context. Finally, within-subjects and between-subjects analyses will be carried out using multi-level mixed-effect models to examine associations between key sociodemographic and study variables.

Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval was granted by the Human Ethics Committee, University of Otago, New Zealand (Ref. No. 21/102). In addition, international collaborators obtained local authorisation or ethical approval in their respective host universities before data collection commenced.Participants will give informed consent before taking part. Data will be collected and stored securely on the University of Otago, New Zealand Qualtrics platform using an auto-generated non-identifiable letter-number string. Data will be available on reasonable request. Findings will be disseminated by publications in scientific journals and/or conference presentations.

Trial registration number: NCT05052333.

Keywords: COVID-19; MENTAL HEALTH; PUBLIC HEALTH.

Publication types

Clinical Trial

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Pandemics
Reproducibility of Results
SARS-CoV-2
Surveys and Questionnaires

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT05052333