MENTAL FATIGUE AMONG JAMAICAN: POST COVID-19

Authors

  • PAUL ANDREW BOURNE Department of Institutional Research, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.
  • JEANNINE ANDREWS Department of Nursing, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.
  • JIMONY BOWEN Department of Nursing, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.
  • PETA GAY FORBES Department of Nursing, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.
  • SHANTEL MCFARLANE Department of Nursing, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.
  • JAY ANNA ROACH Department of Nursing, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.
  • CAROLINE MCLEAN Department of Innovation and Simulation, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.
  • JAMES FALLAH Department of Dental Hygiene, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.

Keywords:

COVID-19, elderly, Jamaica, mental fatigue, post COVID-19, social gerontology

Abstract

Mental fatigue is a psychobiological state resulting from prolonged, demanding cognitive work that causes a subjective sense of exhaustion, diminished cognitive function, and altered brain activation. Mental fatigue can develop after a limited amount of cognitive exertion and increase the possibility of mistakes. The objective study is to determine if COVID-19 affects mental fatigue in the elderly, fifty-five years and older in Jamaica. Researchers used stratified multi-stage probability sampling to collect data from respondents across the 14 parishes in Jamaica. Researchers collected the data from Lars Rönnbäck and Birgitta Johansson’s Mental Fatigue Scale (MFS). The data collection occurred between October to November, 2022; from 1122 respondents. Researchers performed descriptive analyses on the collected data. Sixty per cent of the respondents (n=672) were classified as not experiencing mental fatigue at the time of this study (i.e., 3 in every 5 Jamaicans 55+ years old). However, 40% were classified as having different levels of mental fatigue (i.e., 2 in every 5 Jamaicans 55+ years old; 67.3% of those 85+ years old, 44.1% of those 75-84 years old, 38.4% of those 65-74 years old, and 34.4% of those 55-64 years old), with 10% having serious mental fatigue (i.e., 1 in every 10 Jamaicans 55+ years old). The findings revealed that more of the female-sampled respondents had a higher level of mental fatigue (43.9%, n=258) compared to the male (35.6%, n=188). Most elderly 55 years and older did not experience Mental Fatigue during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Jamaica.

References

Academic Support for Nursing Students (2022): Concept analysis: Causes and effects of compassion fatigue. – Business Bliss Official Portal 9p.

Alhola, P., Polo-Kantola, P. (2007): Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance. – Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 3(5): 553-567.

Bourne, P.A., Eldermire-Shearer, D. (2018): Population Ageing and the State of the Elderly, with Emphasis on Aged Jamaicans. – MOJ Gerontol Ger 3(1): 89-102.

Chachula, K.M. (2022): A comprehensive review of compassion fatigue in pre-licensure health students: antecedents, attributes, and consequences. – Current Psychology 41(9): 6275-6287.

Charan, J., Biswas, T. (2013): How to calculate sample size for different study designs in medical research? – Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine 35(2): 121-126.

Comfort, A. (2021): Gerontology and geriatrics. – Britannica Official Portal. Retrieved from:

https://www.britannica.com/science/gerontology

Dawson, C. (2019): Introduction to research methods. – Robinson 160p.

Dehghani, A., Masoumi, G. (2020): Could SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 be a biological weapon? – Iranian Journal of Public Health 49(Suppl 1): 143-144.

Dhakal, A., Bobrin, B.D. (2023): Cognitive deficits. – National Library of Medicine 9p.

Figley, C.R. (1995): Compassion fatigue: Toward a new understanding of the costs of caring. – Sidran Press 28p.

Glisky, E.L. (2007): Changes in cognitive function in human aging. – Brain Aging 20p.

Harvard Medical School (2022): How aging affects focus. – Harvard Health Publishing Official Portal. Retrieved from:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-aging-affects-focus

Hosseini-Nezhad, S., Safdar, S., Hosseini-Nezhad, P., Luu, L. A.N. (2022): Psychological Perspectives on COVID-19. – Socioeconomic Dynamics of the COVID-19 Crisis: Global, Regional, and Local Perspectives 31p.

Howieson, D.B. (2015): Cognitive skills and the aging brain: what to expect. – In Cerebrum: The Dana Forum on Brain Science, Dana Foundation 13p.

Johansson, B., Ronnback, L. (2014): Evaluation of the mental fatigue scale and its relation to cognitive and emotional functioning after traumatic brain injury or stroke. – International Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2(1): 7p.

Kelly, M.P. (2021): The relation between the social and the biological and COVID-19. – Public Health 196: 18-23.

Knight, D. (2021): COVID-19 pandemic origins: bioweapons and the history of laboratory leaks. – Southern Medical Journal 114(8): 465-467.

Koma, W., True, S., Fuglesten Biniek, J., Cubanski, J., Orgera, K., Garfield, R. (2020): One in four older adults report anxiety or depression amid the COVID-19 pandemic. – KFF-Medicare. Retrieved from:

https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/one-in-four-older-adults-report-anxiety-or-depression-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic/

Lebrasseur, A., Fortin-Bédard, N., Lettre, J., Raymond, E., Bussières, E.L., Lapierre, N., Faieta, J., Vincent, C., Duchesne, L., Ouellet, M.C., Gagnon, E. (2021): Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults: rapid review. – JMIR Aging 4(2): 18p.

Little, W. (2016): Aging and the elderly. – Introduction to Sociology-2nd Canadian Edition 417p.

Marra, M.A., Jones, S.J., Astell, C.R., Holt, R.A., Brooks-Wilson, A., Butterfield, Y.S., Khattra, J., Asano, J.K., Barber, S.A., Chan, S.Y., Cloutier, A. (2003): The genome sequence of the SARS-associated coronavirus. – Science 300(5624): 1399-1404.

Moreh, E., Jacobs, J.M., Stessman, J. (2010): Fatigue, function, and mortality in older adults. – Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biomedical Sciences and Medical Sciences 65(8): 887-895.

Morgul, E., Bener, A., Atak, M., Akyel, S., Aktaş, S., Bhugra, D., Ventriglio, A., Jordan, T.R. (2021): COVID-19 pandemic and psychological fatigue in Turkey. – International Journal of Social Psychiatry 67(2): 128-135.

Mosler, M. (2015): A note on the multiplying factors for various chi-square approximations. – Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 16: 396-398.

NYU Langone Health (2023): Diagnosing memory loss. – NYU Langone Health Official Portal. Retrieved from:

https://nyulangone.org/conditions/memory-loss/diagnosis

Pereira, L.J., Pereira, C.V., Murata, R.M., Pardi, V., Pereira-Dourado, S.M. (2020): Biological and social aspects of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) related to oral health. – Brazilian Oral Research 34: 11p.

Raza, S.H., Haq, W., Sajjad, M. (2020): COVID-19: a psychosocial perspective. – Frontiers in Psychology 11: 12p.

Sabharwal, S., Wilson, H., Reilly, P., Gupte, C.M. (2015): Heterogeneity of the definition of elderly age in current orthopaedic research. – Springerplus 4: 1-7.

Saladino, V., Algeri, D., Auriemma, V. (2020): The psychological and social impact of Covid-19: new perspectives of well-being. – Frontiers in Psychology 11: 6p.

Statistical Institute of Jamaica (2018): Population statistic. – Statistical Institute of Jamaica Official Portal. Retrieved from:

https://statinja.gov.jm/Demo_SocialStats/PopulationStats.aspx

Webb, L.M., Chen, C.Y. (2022): The COVID‐19 pandemic's impact on older adults' mental health: Contributing factors, coping strategies, and opportunities for improvement. – International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 37(1): 7p.

World Health Organization (WHO) (2022): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). – WHO Official Portal. Retrieved from:

https://covid19.who.int/region/euro/country/ch

Zhang, X.Y., Huang, H.J., Zhuang, D.L., Nasser, M.I., Yang, M.H., Zhu, P., Zhao, M.Y. (2020): Biological, clinical and epidemiological features of COVID-19, SARS and MERS and AutoDock simulation of ACE2. – Infectious Diseases of Poverty 9(04): 10-20.

Zou, S., Liu, Z.H., Yan, X., Wang, H., Li, Y., Xu, X., Du, X., Zhang, L., Zhang, Q., Jackson, T., Ungvari, G.S. (2020): Prevalence and correlates of fatigue and its association with quality of life among clinically stable older psychiatric patients during the COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-sectional study. – Globalization and Health 16: 7p.

Downloads

Published

2023-04-30

How to Cite

BOURNE, P. A., ANDREWS, J., BOWEN, J., FORBES, P. G., MCFARLANE, S., ROACH, J. A., MCLEAN, C., & FALLAH, J. (2023). MENTAL FATIGUE AMONG JAMAICAN: POST COVID-19. Quantum Journal of Medical and Health Sciences, 2(2), 1–12. Retrieved from https://qjmhs.com/index.php/qjmhs/article/view/42

Issue

Section

Articles