Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Family Life of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Students.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll in people's life all over the world. Not only it effected the physical aspect of normal life, it also affected the day to day life in every country. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in family life of undergraduate and postgraduate medical students. This observational research was carried out on undergraduate and postgraduate students at Mymensingh Medical College in Bangladesh, and it is of a cross-sectional descriptive research design. This study enrolled 218 undergraduate and 94 postgraduate students of Mymensingh Medical College. A self-administered semi-structured questionnaire survey was conducted to gather the views of participants on the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic had negatively impacted student's family life. The study found that a total of 173(79.3%) undergraduate and 73(77.7%) postgraduate students reported that bondage among family member was strengthened; 101(46.3%) undergraduate and 42(44.7%) postgraduate students reported their monthly family income had decreased remarkably; 156(71.6%) undergraduate and 55(58.5%) postgraduate students reported their household expenditure had increased; 145(66.5%) undergraduate and 55(58.5%) postgraduate students believed that the overall emotional wellbeing of their families had deteriorated during the pandemic; 166(76.2%) undergraduate and 73(77.6%) postgraduate students reported that stress among their family members had increased; 174(79.8%) undergraduates and 75(79.8%) postgraduates reported that uncertainties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic developed a sense of anxiety among their family members.This study found that conflict among family members had increased during COVID-19 pandemic. Among undergraduate students 131(60.1%) agreed and among postgraduate students 44(46.8%) agreed to this; 127(58.2%) undergraduate and 54(57.4%) postgraduate students responded the same that they became more concerned about the health of their family members.