Knowledge and Anxiety among Bank Clerks during the COVID-19 Pandemic Before and After Educational Intervention via Mobile Health Technology
Abstract
Objective: Bank clerks were among the high risk groups in experiencing physiologic and psychological symptoms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. This present study aims to investigate the changes in the knowledge and anxiety of bank clerks during the COVID-19 pandemic, before and after the educational intervention via mobile health technology in the south of Fars province, Iran in 2020.
Material and Methods: This present study is a quasi-experimental work with a pretest-posttest design. The participants were recruited according to the lists provided by the bank authorities, and then assigned, through non-random sampling, into a control group from three banks (45 subjects) and 48 subjects from three other banks into intervention group. The intervention group received education via mobile phones, and the control group received the routine information broadcasted by social media. Data were collected using a demographics questionnaire, a researcher-made COVID-19 knowledge questionnaire, and Spielberger’s Anxiety Inventory at baseline (before) and follow-up (two weeks after intervention). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics in Statistical Package for the Social Science version 23.
Results: There were no drop-outs of participants during the study phase. The results showed that the mean knowledge score of the participants were improved in the both control and intervention groups, significantly (p-value<0.001), and there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the knowledge scores in pretest and posttest (p-value<0.001 and p-value=0.001, respectively). The results of the t-test also showed that the mean scores of state and trait anxiety levels were increased in the control group (p-value<0.001 and p-value=0.932, respectively), while decreased significantly in the intervention group (p-value<0.001). However, there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the state and trait anxiety levels in pretest and posttest (p-value<0.001).
Conclusion: The results show that e-education via mobile phones can help to increase the knowledge, and decrease the anxiety of bank clerks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, it is suggested that this method of education be employed to raise the COVID-19 awareness of the employees in other organizations. Indeed, limitations; such as, low sample size and long-term outcomes should be considered in future studies.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, Li X, Yang B, Song J, et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. New Eng J Med 2020;382:727-33.
Habibzadeh P, Stoneman EK. The novel coronavirus: a bird’s eye view. Int J Occup Environ Med 2020;11:65.
Mannocci A, Marchini L, Scognamiglio A, Sinopoli A, De Sio S, Sernia S, et al. Are bank employees stressed? Job perception and positivity in the banking sector: an Italian observational study. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2018;15:707.
Moorthi S, Muraledharan K, Radhika P, Remsy R. Prevalence of stress and anxiety among the bank employees in india during lockdown due to covid 19. Int J Res Anal Rev 2020;7:719-30.
Rahman MM, Uddin MB, Chowdhury MS, Rahaman MS. Psychological status of private commercial bank employees in Bangladesh during COVID-19. J Bus Stategy Finance Manag 2021;3:66-73.
Yasmin S, Alam MK, Ali FB, Banik R, Salma N. Psychological impact of COVID-19 among people from the banking sector in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study. Int J Mental Health Addic 2021. doi: 10.1007/s11469-020-00456-0.
Maurya A, Meshram V, Mungle K, Nade V, Nanotkar P. To assess awareness and stress level regarding COVID-19 pandemic among banker. J Pharm Res Int 2021;33:593-9.
Yunita PI, Saputra IGNWH. Millennial generation in accepting mutations: Impact on work stress and employee performance. Int J Soc Sci Human 2019;3:102-14.
Saleem F, Malik MI, Qureshi SS. Work stress hampering employee performance during COVID-19: is safety culture needed?. Front Psychol 2021;12:e655839.
Giorgi G, Lecca LI, Alessio F, Finstad GL, Bondanini G, Lulli LG, et al. COVID-19-related mental health effects in the workplace: a narrative review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020;17:7857.
Kumar P, Kumar N, Aggarwal P, Yeap JA. Working in lockdown: the relationship between COVID-19 induced work stressors job performance, distress, and life satisfaction. Current Psychol 2021:1-16.
Lin Y, Hu Z, Alias H, Wong LP. Knowledge, attitudes, impact, and anxiety regarding COVID-19 infection among the public in China. Front Public Health 2020;8:236.
Santhi M, Reddy PN. Occupational stress of bank employees: a study of Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh. MANTHAN: J Commerce Manag 2020;7:15-30.
Alanezi F, Aljahdali A, Alyousef S, Alrashed H, Alshaikh W, Mushcab H, et al. Implications of public understanding of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia for fostering effective communication through awareness framework. Frontiers Public Health 2020;8.
Saravanan C, Mahmoud I, Elshami W, Taha MH. Knowledge, anxiety, fear, and psychological distress about COVID-19 among university students in the United Arab Emirates. Frontiers Psychia 2020;11:e582189.
Rajkumar RP. COVID-19 and mental health: a review of the existing literature. Asian J Psychia 2020;52:102066.
Alrubaiee GG, Al-Qalah TAH, Al-Aawar MSA. Knowledge, attitudes, anxiety, and preventive behaviours towards COVID-19 among health care providers in Yemen: an online crosssectional survey. BMC Public Health 2020;20:1-11.
Dubey N, Podder P, Pandey D. Knowledge of COVID-19 and its influence on mindfulness, cognitive emotion regulation and psychological flexibility in the Indian community. Front Psychol 2020;11:3031.
Singh AK, Agrawal B, Sharma A, Sharma P. COVID-19: Assessment of knowledge and awareness in Indian society. J Public Affairs 2020;20:e2354.
Tripathi R, Alqahtani SS, Albarraq AA, Meraya AM, Tripathi P, Banji D, et al. Awareness and preparedness of COVID-19 outbreak among healthcare workers and other residents of South-West Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional survey. Frontiers Public Health 2020;8:482.
Kaim A, Jaffe E, Siman-Tov M, Khairish E, Adini B. Impact of a brief educational intervention on knowledge, perceived knowledge, perceived safety, and resilience of the public during COVID-19 crisis. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020;17:5971.
Vo V, Auroy L, Sarradon-Eck A. Patients’ perceptions of mHealth Apps: meta-ethnographic review of qualitative studies. JMIR mHealth uHealth 2019;7:e13817.
Lobo DA. Investigating the effects of an ACT-based mobile application on stress, anxiety, and burnout in the workplace. Hamilton: The University of Waikato; 2018.
Khasawneh AI, Humeidan AA, Alsulaiman JW, Bloukh S, Ramadan M, Al-Shatanawi TN, et al. Medical students and COVID-19: knowledge, attitudes, and precautionary measures. A descriptive study from Jordan. Front Public Health 2020;8:253.
Zandifar A, Badrfam R. Iranian mental health during the COVID-19 epidemic. Asian J Psychia 2020;51:101990.
Maarefvand M, Hosseinzadeh S, Farmani O, Safarabadi Farahani A, Khubchandani J. Coronavirus outbreak and stress in Iranians. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020;17:4441.
Briz-Ponce L, Juanes-M ndez JA, Garc a-Pe alvo FJ, Pereira A. Effects of mobile learning in medical education: a counterfactual evaluation. J Med Systems 2016;40:136.
Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D. Research methods & reporting. British Med J 2010;340:698-702.
Shah M, Kadam S, Kadam S, Karambelkar A, Karani M, Kataria H. Effect of recreational activities versus aerobic exercises on stress, anxiety, sleep, quality of life and neck range of motion in bank employees post covid-19 lockdown: a comparative study. Indian J Appl Res 2021;11:65-9.
Verelst F, Willem L, Beutels P. Behavioural change models for infectious disease transmission: a systematic review (2010–2015). J Royal Soc Inter 2016;13:20160820.
Drouin M, McDaniel BT, Pater J, Toscos T. How Parents and Their Children Used Social Media and Technology at the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Associations with Anxiety. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. 2020.
Ozamiz-Etxebarria N, Dosil-Santamaria M, Picaza- Gorrochategui M, Idoiaga-Mondragon N. Niveles de estr s, ansiedad y depresi n en la primera fase del brote del COVID-19 en una muestra recogida en el norte de Espa a (Stress, anxiety, and depression levels in the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in a population sample in the northern Spain). Cadernos de Sa de P blica 2020;36:e00054020.
Van der Vegt I, Kleinberg B. Women worry about family, men about the economy: gender differences in emotional responses to COVID-19. Soc Info 2020;12467:397-409.
Lai J, Ma S, Wang Y, Cai Z, Hu J, Wei N, et al. Factors associated with mental health outcomes among health care workers exposed to coronavirus disease 2019. JAMA Netw Open 2020;3:e203976.
Barzilay R, Moore TM, Greenberg DM, DiDomenico GE, Brown LA, White LK, et al. Resilience, COVID-19-related stress, anxiety and depression during the pandemic in a large population enriched for healthcare providers. Transl Psychia 2020;10:1-8.
Aus n B, Gonz lez-Sanguino C, Castellanos M , Mu oz M. Gender-related differences in the psychological impact of confinement as a consequence of COVID-19 in Spain. J Gender Studies 2020;30:29-38.
Rodr guez-Rey R, Garrido-Hernansaiz H, Collado S. Psychological impact of COVID-19 in Spain: early data report. Psychol Trauma: Theory Res Pract Policy 2020;12:550.
Mechael P, Nemser B, Cosmaciuc R, Cole-Lewis H, Ohemeng- Dapaah S, Dusabe S, et al. Capitalizing on the characteristics of mHealth to evaluate its impact. J Health Commun 2012; 17(Suppl1):62-6.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.