Mental health and lifestyles of students during the war

Abstract

Annotation. The article examines the peculiarities of the mental health, well-being and lifestyle of students of various specialties during wartime, with an emphasis on medical students. The study aims to assess the characteristics of behavioral factors, the educational process and students' mental health in the dynamics during the war. In April-June 2022 and 2023, an online survey of students of 12 universities of Ukraine (n=415, female gender 57.4%, average age 17.9±0.03 years) was conducted. QRAPH, RCADS-25, and CATS questionnaires were used. The article presents the results of variance analysis, analyzed conjugation tables, conducted correlation analysis using the STATISTICA 8.0 program. Odds ratio (OR) and confidence interval (CI) were calculated using MedCalc. In 2023, 30.8±2.7% of students had signs of anxiety, 33.9±2.8% had signs of depression, and 42.2±2.9% had signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The largest proportion of persons with anxiety and depression was among medical students (52.8±5.9%). A trend towards a decrease in anxiety and depressive symptoms among students of all majors compared to the previous year was revealed. Additionally, there was a significant decrease in the proportion of students with clinical signs of PTSD by 10.8% (χ2=6.4; p<0.05). In 2023, there was also a decrease in the duration of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sleep and an increase in light physical activity and sedentary behavior. It was found that 60 min/day of MVPA reduced the chances of developing depressive symptoms by 2.7 times (p<0.001). For anxiety disorders, this probability was 1.8 times (p<0.01). The obtained results indicate the importance of maintaining mental health and an active lifestyle among students, especially during wartime. In order to preserve the health and working capacity of students, it is necessary to carry out constant monitoring of both behavioral factors and indicators of mental health with the development and implementation of hypodynamia preventive measures.