Abstract
Simple SummaryThe Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak has presented severe public health risks throughout the world since 2019. Among various health impacts of the pandemic globally, it has led to unprecedented risks to the mental wellbeing of healthcare professionals and students. This study aimed to examine the impact of the pandemic and several demographic and social factors on dental students’ mental health in German universities nationwide from July 2020 to January 2021. The survey assembled data through an online platform on demographics, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) instrument from 211 participants and examined correlations between all variables and mental consequences of depression, anxiety, stress, intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal in the study population. Dental students showed an overall mild impact of the outbreak on the assessed psychological aspects. Female students and students having cardiovascular conditions or smoking habitually, as well as participants perceiving COVID-19 as a financial danger were significantly affected more by the disease than their counterparts. Highlighting these results can help to protect dental students’ mental health in German universities during the crisis and support the authorities to adjust the required actions to counteract detrimental effects of the outbreakMultiple investigations have reported high psychological distress among students since the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak started. This survey examined the associations between psychological features, and several demographic and social factors among dental students in German universities. Dental students registered in German universities nationwide were asked to join this survey via a self-directed online questionnaire, from July 2020 to January 2021. This study assembled data on demographic statistics, the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS-21), and the impact of events scale—revised (IES-R) instrument. The relationships between demographic-related variables and mental consequences of depression, anxiety, stress, intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal were inspected. Two hundred and eleven students contributed to the questionnaire and conveyed overall normal or mild outcomes of depression, anxiety, stress, intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal. In addition, female gender, cardiovascular diseases, smoking habits, and seeing the COVID-19 outbreak as a financial risk were stated as significant related factors (p < 0.05), with increased IES-R and DASS-21 scores. These results highlight the features that should be considered to better protect dental students’ mental health in German universities during the crisis.
Highlights
In December 2019, the city of Wuhan in China became the epicenter of a pneumonia epidemic of uncertain origin, later recognized as SARS-CoV-2 and named, by the World Health Organization, as the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
An overall number of 211 dental students contributed to the study, displaying a sample size that was sufficient for the required statistical power
Around one-third of the participants (32.7%) considered the COVID-19 outbreak to be a danger to their financial stability
Summary
In December 2019, the city of Wuhan in China became the epicenter of a pneumonia epidemic of uncertain origin, later recognized as SARS-CoV-2 and named, by the World Health Organization, as the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Because of its high virulence and mortality, this strain was declared a worldwide pandemic on March 11 2020. Research on the immediate mental outcomes of the current outbreak on the general population identified mild to extreme psychological consequences of the disease [1,2]. In addition to its psychological impact on the general population, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged and often surpassed the capacity of health professionals and facilities worldwide. Healthcare workers had to continue providing care for patients in spite of physical and mental exhaustion, high risk of infection, their fear to transmit the disease to their loved ones, and the loss of many patients. Similar to other medical branches, the COVID-19 outbreak hindered the efforts of dental healthcare professionals and students [4,5]. Multiple dental procedures have been suspended due to the increased risk of viral cross-infection during treatment, limiting dental visits only to emergency cases [6]
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