Evaluation of COVID-19-Related Anxiety and Mental Health Status during the Pandemic among Students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 2022

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 has not only damaged the individual's physical health, but also the community’s mental health. The current study is conducted to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on mental health and anxiety level of the university students.

Methods: In the current cross-sectional study, 216 students from Mashhad University of Medical Sciences were collected using simple random sampling during COVID-19 pandemic in 2022. To determine anxiety symptoms relevant to COVID-19, Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS) was used, and to assess the status of mental health, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used. Data were analyzed through SPSS software. Descriptive analysis statistics was performed using frequency percentages, and mean and standard deviation indexes. Furthermore, multiple linear regressions were calculated with psychological and physical symptoms of CDAS and mental health scores. The significance level of all statistical tests was 0.05.

Results: 84.3% (182 participants) of the participants had medium and high levels of psychological symptoms of Corona disease anxiety, and regarding physical symptoms, approximately more than half of the participants (55.6%, 120 participants) experienced medium and high levels of anxiety. Both the psychological and physical symptoms of the disease anxiety were associated significantly with mental health (ß standard = 0.14, p value = 0.004), and psychological symptom variable was the stronger predictor (ß standard = 0.53, p value = 0.0001).

Conclusion: The wide spread of anxiety during COVID-19 lockdown is a warning to health educators and policy makers that significant time, attempt, and funding of the services for mental health should be spent to control anxiety.