FEAR OF COVID-19 AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG STUDENTS IN CAN THO UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting the world seriously and along with the fear of COVID-19, psychological reactions are also becoming more common. In particular, medical students are susceptible to sleep-related problems due to pressure in studying as well as accessing the hospital environment. Objectives: Evaluate the fear of COVID-19 and associated factors among students in Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study from October 10 to October 17, 2021 among 816 from third-year to sixth-year medical students in Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy through an online survey via Microsoft form using a structural questionnaire. Results: The average age is 22.58 ± 1.39; in which, male accounts for 43.6% and female 56.4%. There is 47.7% of students participating in the fight against COVID-19 in localities. Regarding accommodation, the majority of students stayed in hostels alone with the rate of 55.4%. There are 2.9% third-year students, 35% fourth-year students, 5.4% five-year students, and 56.6% sixth-year students. The COVID-19 pandemic fear score is quite high (19.07±5.3). The overall average score of the full scale is 2.72±0.75 indicating that students have an average fear of COVID-19. Expressions in the emotional response group is higher in comparison with physiological COVID19 fear response. Female students have higher levels of fear of COVID-19 than male. The difference is statistically significant in mean of FCV-19S by school year, student’s place of residence and participation in COVID-19 pandemic (p<0.05). FCV-19S is positively correlated with students’ sleep quality score with r = 0.08, p = 0.017 (Pearson). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the psychophysiology, especially the quality of students’ sleep. There are many factors related to COVID-19 fear such as gender, school year, place of residence and student participation in COVID-19.