Abstract
Aim: This study aimed to assess anxiety and depression among health sciences students at home quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic in selected provinces of Nepal.Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 409 health science students enrolled at graduate and post-graduate levels in selected universities and their affiliated colleges. Students from selected colleges were asked to fill out a survey, that was made available through email and social media outlets such as Facebook and Viber. The data were downloaded in Excel and imported to SPSS version 16 for analysis.Results : The prevalence of anxiety and depression was 15.7 and 10.7%, respectively. The study showed significant associations between (i) place of province and anxiety; (ii) sleep per day and depression; (iii) hours spent on the internet per day for education and depression; (iv) postponement of final exams and depression. There were no significant associations with the socio-demographic variables.Conclusion: Anxiety and depression in health science students showed correlation with the province, internet use for education, and postponement of exams. These correlations could be common among students in other fields as well. A large-scale study covering a wider geographical area and various fields of education is necessary to further evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on (health sciences) students. The integration of mental health programs both as an intervention and a curriculum level among students is critical to ensure the health of the students.
Highlights
COVID-19 is caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV [1]
Province and hours spent on the internet per day for Time spent in internet for educational purpose education were significantly associated with depression (p
This study reveals no association between engaging in exercise (p = 0.31, OR 0.7; 0.4–1.3) and anxiety, whereas the study done by Islam et al shows a significant association between exercise and anxiety (p = 0.009, OR = 1.72; 95%, CI = 1.15–2.59)
Summary
COVID-19 is caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV [1]. This virus is in the same family of viruses as SARS. COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in Wuhan China in late December 2019 and has since spread all over the world [2]. The WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, when the confirmed cases reached 118,319 with 4,922 deaths worldwide [4]. By May 18, 2020, there were 4,825,902 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 317,101 deaths worldwide. According to the WHO, the case fatality rate was estimated to be around 2%. A few reports suggested that the rate ranged from 0.3 to 0.6% [5]
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