THE UNIVERSITY of Mindanao Institute of Popular Opinion conducted an online survey from March 10 to 19, 2021 targeting Davaoeños from the three districts of the City to know their psychosocial status one year after the pandemic broke out early last year. The psychosocial characteristics considered in the survey included their emotions (e.g., worries, troubles, depressive tendency) as well as their engagement in activities outside their homes.
Since the survey was done online as physical contact was not allowed during the time of conduct of the survey, IPO relied heavily on online survey of Facebook users who are residents of of Davao City, at least 18 years old, and are targeted for contact within the defined geographical radius. Of the 1,200 respondents who were contacted in random, the survey yielded 875 valid responses after certain quality checks were made on the respondents.
The survey revealed that 3 out of 10 Davaoeños know someone in their community who has been infected with COVID-19. When asked if they have experienced being swabbed, only 2 out of 10 Davaoeños responded in the affirmative. In addition, it was found out that 9 out of 10 Davaoeños practice handwashing with soap after being outside of their homes.
When asked about the frequency of going outside their homes, results revealed that 6 of 10 Davaoeños usually leave their homes to work, 7 of 10 go out to go to the market, grocery, or drugstore, 5 of 10 visit restaurants, cafés or malls, and 3 of 10 go out to spend time with friends or people who are not part of their households. In addition, 5 out of 10 respondents use public transport, and 3 out of 10 observed that the public transport carry 10 or more people at a time.
Findings also revealed that 4 out of 10 Davaoeños experience sadness about the present situation while 5 of 10 are worried that they or their immediate family members might catch the COVID-19 disease. Meanwhile, 3 of 10 expressed worry of not being able to have enough funds to support their households while 4 of 10 worry where to source out their food subsistence for the next week.
Analysis further revealed that knowing someone in the community who is or have been infected by COVID-19 is associated with their worry of the possibility being infected also. Moreover, their decision to come out to work and taking public transport with 10 or more co-passengers are associated with their worry of not being able to secure themselves financially in the next week.
