Investigation of social, psychological and economic effects of pandemics: The case of Aksaray province COVID-19

Throughout life, human beings are confronted with new viruses whose sources cannot always be determined precisely and which cause many serious health problems. In the twenty-first century, the most important agenda and most urgent responsibility of the world has been to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The extent of the health, social, economic and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be examined. The study aim was to examine the social, psychological, and economic effects of pandemics in Aksaray province with the example of COVID-19 pandemic and determine the characteristics associated with it. The study was planned as a descriptive epidemiological study. Data was collected in December 2020. The questionnaire form prepared by the researcher and the COVID-19 phobia scale (C19P-S) were used in the study as data collection tools. SPSS 25.0 statistical package program was used for data entry and analysis. Statistical analysis results are presented with Chi-square test, corrected Pearson Chi-square test and descriptive statistics. 328 women and 314 men aged 18 to 84 years participated in the study. Participants' COVID-19 phobia (C19P-S) scores were classified as low, moderate, and high. Participant's level of experiencing COVID-19 phobia was examined with the COVID-19 phobia scale (C19P-S) in four categories as psychological, somatic, social and economic COVID-19 phobia. A significant relationship was found between the level of COVID-19 phobia (C19P-S) and the participants' gender, age, education level, marital status, number of children, chronic disease, occupational status and their self-reported economic status. The results of the research reveal the necessity of conducting studies on the causes of experiencing COVID-19 phobia.