Abstract
BackgroundCOVID-19 pandemic is expected to affect the mental health, especially among medical students. Data from the literature in Jordan are scarce, especially during the second wave of the pandemic. We aimed to assess medical students’ level of fear, prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms—represented in psychological distress (PD)—and sleep quality (SQ) amid the current pandemic of COVID-19. A total of 2104 students were included through convenient sampling from the six schools of Medicine in Jordan. Online-based questionnaire using Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) scale, Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S), and Sleep Quality Scale (SQS) was used to collect the data. Chi-square, t-tests, and ANOVA were used to establish the associations.Results88.4% and 47.4% of the students were found to have PD and poor or just fair sleep quality on SQS, respectively, with PD ranging from mild (18.6%) to severe (42.1%). Calculated FCV-19S score was 14.62 (SD=5.38), indicating high level of fear. Students with excellent SQ had significantly lower rates of depression, anxiety, and PD as compared to those with good, fair, and poor SQ (P < 0.001 for all).ConclusionJordanian medical students appear to be especially susceptible to COVID-19 pandemic impact on mental health and reported high rates of PD. While rates of COVID-19 fear are still considered high, they are remarkably lower than that reported in early studies. We strongly recommend providing resources and access to professional mental health care to students reporting poor SQ and/or symptoms of anxiety and depression.LimitationsUsing a cross-sectional design, online-based survey, convenient sampling, and scarcity of local literature are among the inevitable limitations caused by the pandemic that have prevented us from drawing cause-effect associations.
Highlights
COVID-19 pandemic is expected to affect the mental health, especially among medical students
Demographic characteristics A total of 2104 medical student (MS) from the six medical schools were included in our study: Al-Balqa Applied University (23.5%), the University of Jordan (22.6%), Mutah University (21.5%), the Hashemite University (14.1%), Yarmouk University (10.8%), and Jordan University for Science & Technology (7.5%)
We found that MSs who screened positive for Dep
Summary
COVID-19 pandemic is expected to affect the mental health, especially among medical students. Data from the literature in Jordan are scarce, especially during the second wave of the pandemic. The first wave reached the peak in mid-November 2020, at which the total number of confirmed cases reached 174,335 and the death toll reached 2116. The second wave reached the peak at the end of March 2021 with a total number of confirmed cases of 605,007 and a death toll exceeding 6700 (https://corona.moh.gov.jo/en). In both waves, all educational institutions including medical schools in Jordan were closed and all forms of face-to-face teaching and training were suspended and converted into online education [3]
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