Abstract
As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, medical universities were closed in Romania, between March 2020 and July 2020. The educational process was transferred to an on-line environment, in person contact becoming nonexistent outside the group of people from one’s household. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the mental health status in medical undergraduates in Romania during lockdown. A questionnaire was used in April 2020 to collect information regarding the life of students during social isolations and to assess the mental health of students using a self reported 1-7 scale on 21 relevant endpoints. After data quality control, the remaining 1978 data entries were analysed in SPSS 20. We identified multiple factors that may contribute to the mental health of undergraduate students, such as: partner status and offline contact, personality traits, social media and streaming platforms usage. There were differences regarding the mental health status indicated by endpoints between: genders, living environment, owning a pet, etc. This study describes how mental health, a neglected subject in the Romanian public health arena, is influenced by various factors during lockdowns. Further research should be conducted and appropriate measures should be taken to prevent the degradation of mental health in medical students under pandemic circumstances.
Highlights
As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, medical universities were closed in Romania, between March 2020 and July 2020
People who have reported spending their lockdown with family reported a lower level of Sedentarism (p=0.005, Mean Difference (MD)=0.37), a higher level of Anger (p=0.01, MD 0.30) and a tendency towards higher Depression scores (p=0.03, MD=0.29)
One interesting finding is that SoLocked undergraduates reported no significant difference in Depression, Interactions and Loneliness when compared to their Single counterparts, but reported higher Frustration and Anger scores.This leads us to believe that the real determinant of perceived social isolation is not the existence of an intimate relationship, but much rather the possibility of frequent offline contact with one’s significant other
Summary
As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, medical universities were closed in Romania, between March 2020 and July 2020. The study aimed to assess the medical students’ response to social isolation, to identify behaviors that had a positive effect on the mental health of the undergraduates and to provide recommendations should a situation that requires lockdown emerge again.
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