Evaluation of Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors and Stress Levels of Dentistry Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Covid-19, which threatens human health worldwide, affects people not only emotionally, but also by exposing them to necessary changes in their social behaviors and lifestyles. Psychological health and daily life habits have been transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Closure of universities, suspension of clinical training, and transition to online education are likely to affect students negatively. This paper focuses on the stress levels and daily lifestyle changes of students because of the pandemic. A total of 601 participants of dentistry faculty, including 402 preclinical (PC) and 199 intorn (INT) students, filled an online survey questionnaire including sociodemographic data form, “Health-promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II)” form, and “Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10)” form. IBM SPSS version 25.0. program was used for statistical analyses. HPLP-II and PSS-10 mean scores of PC and INT students were found as moderate. It was determined that variables as gender, educational grade, financial status, living with a relative who is at risk of contracting COVID-19 or having a relative who has the disease caused difference in HPLP-II and PSS-10 total mean score and the average score in the majority of subscales. The current study's findings reveal that COVID-19 pandemic has devastating effects on students' stress levels and lifestyle routines. It is vital to provide services to individuals in order to sustain healthy lifestyle behaviors in order to protect communal health.