key: cord-1007923-2pzag3m2
authors: Qureshi, Waheed Ahmad; Saud, Muhammad; Mahmood, Qaisar Khalid
title: Dataset on the Fear, Preventive Behaviour and Anxiety Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
date: 2020-11-24
journal: Data Brief
DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2020.106579
sha: 989f7b6ea7f4870070a537338bda0cea0e8a96c2
doc_id: 1007923
cord_uid: 2pzag3m2

The outbreak of COVID-19 has raised numerous challenges to the present world. Due to the rapid spread of coronavirus, the high death toll, and enforcement of lock-down, people around the globe have faced fearful situations. Researches have also shown that a massive increase in psychological and mental health disorders is reported during the ongoing pandemic. The present cross-sectional data reflects the condition of the coronavirus fear, mental health, preventive behaviour, and anxiety disorder among the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. At the time of data collection, the condition of lockdown and mobility restrictions were imposed by the provincial government due to which manual/physical collection of data was not possible. An online survey was designed using Google form facility to gather data from the respondents. After getting confirmation from pilot testing, the survey link was distributed through various online platforms including social media. Besides utilizing personal contact points in the KPK, social applications like Facebook, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn were also used for the dissemination of the survey. A total number of 501 respondents have furnished their responses and the survey was completed in a short period of time and the data were analyzed using SPSS. This data may be of great interest to researchers, policymakers, research organizations, social and mental health practitioners who wish to explore other dimensions of fear and anxiety among the masses caused by an ongoing pandemic (COVID-19).

To collect data, an online questionnaire was developed by incorporating Fear of Corona Virus-19 Scale (FCV19S), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Scale and Positive Mental Health Scale (PMHS). The facility of Urdu language translation was also provided in the questionnaire for the convenience of the respondents. The questionnaire is available online and can be accessed through the following link:

https://forms.gle/s9NxJTbPCfeyajcM6

Data format:

Parameters for data collection:

Respondents from three categories of age (up to 25 years; 26 to 50 and 51 & above) participated in this survey research.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), previously known as the North-West

Frontier Province of Pakistan, is situated in the northwestern region of the country and shares an international border with a neighboring state of Afghanistan. It has a long history of tribal rivalries and conflicts which resulted in various social, psychological and security issues. Due to the war in Afghanistan, KPK also hosts one of the largest refugee populations in South

Asia. The occurrence of above said events and unrest in the region have apparently contributed towards an increase of fear, anxiety, and depression among its residents. In the first half of 2020, the presence of COVID-19 was detected in Pakistan and a rise in positive cases was observed. In order to control the spread of the pandemic, the government of Pakistan has decided to impose lockdown restrictions. The KPK was the province where not only the rapid rise in the cases was found but also a high death toll reported due to COVID-19. Keeping in view this fearful situation and considering the timings appropriate, it was decided to conduct a research study there.

Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the country, restricted measures were imposed by the KPK (provincial) government from 25 March 2020, and we have collected data using an online cross-sectional survey during the lock-down period (May 10-23, 2020). The respondents were contacted through various social media platforms -Whatsapp, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Through a cover letter, the survey objectives were properly communicated to the respondents and their informed consent was obtained electronically.

In order to ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of respondents'

information, the condition of contact sharing was eliminated from the survey. The survey link was also circulated through professional contacts in  Social as well as public/mental health researchers can be benefited because they explore how levels of COVID-19 fear vary among different socio-demographic groups and disadvantaged populations. These data can also be equally beneficial to the policymakers and governmental bodies for making better strategies during COVID-19 and for future pandemics.

 These data may be utilized to evaluate the role of the positive mental health to cope with the fear of COVID-19 among the people who practiced isolation and social/physical distancing.

Moreover, it can be used to assess the relationship between positive mental health and preventive behaviour of the respondents.

 As the data exhibits the attributes of positive and negative mental health and preventive behaviour of the people. The researchers and policymakers can get further insight to develop better knowledge and practices from this rapidly evolving situation.

The data exhibited in this article were gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. The purpose of this data collection was to examine the experiences, anxiety, and preventive behaviour of the people while the COVID-19 crisis was at its peak in Pakistan. The data were collected during May 2020 and respondents from the KPK province have 

Keeping in view the recommendations of the World Health Organization [2] , seven statements were developed to measure the preventive behaviour of the respondents towards the pandemic (COVID-19). The items included: "I regularly wash my hands for 20 seconds"; "I wear a mask when I go outside";) "I avoid shaking hands as a form of greeting"; "I maintain social/ physical distance while meeting others"; "I avoid people who have a cough or flu"; and "I do not touch my face, mouth, nose, or eyes without washing my hands" (Table 1) . When water is not available, I use sanitizer to clean my hands.

Mean score of respondents' preventive practices.

Positive Mental Health Scale (PMH-scale) was originally developed and validated by [3] . We have used the same scale, but its items were rated on a 5-points Likert scale ranging from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree'. The scale consists of nine-item e.g. item 3, 'All in all, I am satisfied with my life'; ' item 6, 'I am in good physical and emotional condition' and item 9, 'I am a calm, balanced human being' ( Table 2) . 

The respondents' attitudes were assessed towards the measures enforced by the provincial government to restrict the spread of COVID-19 infection and ensure public safety. The question related to satisfaction about academic activities was also asked from the respondents for which the mean value was calculated as 2.46. Again, the respondents responded to each item on a five-point scale that was labelled as 'very dissatisfied'; 'dis-satisfied'; 'neutral'; 'satisfied' and 'very satisfied' (Table 3) . Table 3 Peoples' satisfaction about measures taken by the provincial government 'to control the spread of pandemic', 'to ensure family's safety' and 'education'

Respondents' opinion on public health measures Mean score Generalized Anxiety Disorder:

Self-report based Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) scale was developed by [4] and the same is used by us to assess the anxiety disorder among the respondents. There are seven items in this scale that also described several interesting diagnostic features of general anxiety -"anxious or on edge, feeling nervous and worrying too much about various things". These items are rated on a four-point Likert scale with endpoints labelled 'not at all' to 'almost every day' (Table 4 ). pilot survey (n=27) was conducted and the results of pilot test showed that there were no further amendments needed. A coding frame was also developed to convert data into digitized form, later the converted data was exported to SPSS for statistical analysis.

All the procedures carried out in this study were in line with the concerned research committee. The respondents in this research was participated voluntary and their informed consent was obtained before online submission of the survey form.

This survey was conducted without any financial support. The authors would like to extend their thanks to all the respondents for their invaluable participation in this research activity. We would also like to thank the academic staff and students of KPK universities for their contribution and cooperation towards the completion of this survey.

The authors earnestly declare that they do not have any competing interests which could impact the research work produced in this article.

WAQ wrote the initial draft of the manuscript, MS reviewed it and drafted the results while QSM has collected the data from the field.

The Psychometric Validation of FCV19S in Urdu and Socio-Demographic Association with Fear in the People of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province in Pakistan

Infection prevention and control during health care when novel corona virus (nCoV) infection is suspected

Psychometric properties of the Positive Mental Health Scale (PMH-scale)

A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: The GAD-7