Psychological and Livelihood Impacts of COVID-19 on Bangladeshi Lower Income People

Abstract

The objective of this research is to understand the psychological and livelihood-related impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on Bangladeshi lower income group people who depend on daily earnings for their living. Following the convenience sampling method, 576 respondents were interviewed for quantitative data and 30 in-depth interviews for qualitative information in several districts of Bangladesh. To 94.1% respondents, livelihood has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak with an overall score of 3.20 ± 0.77 on a 4-point Likert-type scale. In comparison to unemployed respondents, daily workers have been hardly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak (odds ratio [OR] = 7.957; <i>P</i> < .01), and so they are going outside more frequently in search of jobs (OR = 9.984, <i>P</i> < .01). Due to fear of COVID-19 infection and lack of livelihood means, respondents (76.6%) have been stressed out (overall score 3.19 ± 0.81 on a 4-point Likert-type scale), and those working in industries (OR = 5.818, <i>P</i> < .01), farmers (OR = 3.029, <i>P</i> < .05), and day laborers (OR = 2.651, <i>P</i> < .05) have been highly stressed.