Knowledge, Awareness and Anxiety towards Coronavirus Pandemic among Indian Parents: A Web-Based Survey

Introduction: Nation-wide lockdown imposed to curtail the COVID-19 infection spread is possibly, a source of anxiety among general public. Effectiveness of these measures depends upon people's knowledge and awareness. Aim: To determine knowledge, awareness and anxiety towards coronavirus pandemic among Indian parents of children aged less than eighteen years, and behavioural changes in the children. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted from 4th May to 16th May 2020. Online questionnaire consisted of demographic details, items on knowledge and awareness, Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD 7) score, parental reporting of behaviour changes in children. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. The p-value less than 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Of the 121 individuals accessing the survey, 85 (54 males; mean age 38.1 +/- 5.9 years) and 31 females; mean age 37.9 +/- 7.4 years consented to participate. The mean age of their children was 7.5 +/- 4.7 years. The major source of information was internet (84.7%). Mild anxiety was observed in a significant proportion of the participants 76.5% while severe anxiety in 8.2%. Around 41.2% parents noticed behavioural changes in their children; with addiction to mobile and video games (61.2%) being the most common change. Among the various coping methods, finding preventive ways to getting infected was opted by the majority (83.5%). The mean GAD 7 score was 7.4 +/- 4.0. Statistically significant difference in the GAD was observed among parents differing in the gender {F(2, 82)=3.275, p-value 0.043} and their opinion on behavioural changes observed in their children {F(2, 82)=4.697, p-value 0.012}. Conclusion: High level of increased awareness among general public towards the current pandemic and the ways to tackle the situation calmly is crucial in preventing both the short-and long-term mental health complications anxiety among Indian parent's influences child's mental health.