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Mental Health among Higher Education Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey from Lithuania.

ABSTRACT: Mental health issues-anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and behavior-are prevalent among students of higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic further affected students' daily life through academic and socioeconomic disturbances. We set out to investigate students' mental health amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted a cross-sectional online survey at higher education institutions in Lithuania in 2021. The questionnaire consisted of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and the Sense of Coherence scale (SOC-3) questionnaires, evaluation of suicidal risk, experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and self-rated health status (SRHS). Among 1001 students who completed the survey, the prevalence of clinically relevant anxiety was high (46.6%) and contrasted with the lower prevalence of depression (11.1%). 37.5% of all students admitted that they had thought about suicide at least once during their lifetime and a similar number of students thought about suicide during the previous year. High levels of anxiety and depression were statistically significant predictors of suicidal ideation and planning during the past year in binary regression models. High SRHS (higher score refers to more positive health status) was the only significant independent variable associated with less frequent suicidal attempts in the past year (p < 0.01, OR = 0.29, 95% CI = 0.12 to 0.66). Our study highlights anxiety and suicidality to be burdensome mental health issues among higher education students in Lithuania during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUBMITTER: Zilinskas E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8657419 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Background The COVID-19 pandemic brought immense changes to medical school curriculums world-wide, such as the widespread adoption of virtual learning. We sought to better understand the impact on medical students’ mental health at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Parker, CO, United States. This study assessed the impact the pandemic had on anxiety and depression levels of medical students. It also assessed the impact of several domains on student mental health during the pandemic and how various sub-groups within the studied population were affected. Methods A cross-sectional survey was sent to students through an online anonymous google survey in May to June 2021, centered around the 7-item questionnaire used to screen for Generalized Anxiety Disorder GAD-7, 9-item questionnaire used to screen for depression PHQ-9, and self-designed questions to assess the personal impact of the pandemic. Data obtained were screened for error and analyzed with significance value of p < 0.05. Results A total of 152 responses were received (25.5% response rate). Of these, 64.1% identified as female, 75.8% were white, 50.3% were between ages 21–25, and 77.8% were first year medical students. During the pandemic, 79.6% of respondents felt more anxious and 65.1% felt more depressed. 67.8% of students reported feeling social isolation amidst the pandemic. Students living with friends were more likely to see a therapist for depression during the pandemic (p = 0.0169) and prescribed an antidepressant (p = 0.0394). Females and students in relationships were more likely to score higher on GAD-7 (p = 0.0194) and (p = 0.0244), respectively. Conclusion This study investigated the effect of the pandemic on medical students’ mental health and the need to address this issue. Results suggest that the pandemic had a negative impact on medical student’s mental health and that anxiety and depression levels worsened for pre-clinical medical students at Rocky Vista University. As such, it is imperative to incorporate additional resources to protect the well-being of medical students as they progress through their medical careers.

Project description:BackgroundIn Egypt, the shortage of mental health services, particularly for adolescents and young adults, is apparent. Electronic mental health (EMH) has been proposed as a solution to bridge the gap and better address the needs of young people. However, EMH is new to Egypt and its acceptability among target populations is crucial to its implementation and success.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to explore the interest of Egyptian youth in EMH, identify perceived barriers to EMH, and inform the design of EMH tools to best address the needs of youth.MethodsA web-based cross-sectional survey was distributed among medical students at Tanta University in Egypt. Chi-square and one-way analysis of variance tests were performed for inferential analyses using a significance level of .05.ResultsOf the 707 individuals who completed the survey (90.9% response rate), 60.5% (428) were female, 62% (438) lived in urban and suburban areas, and the mean age of the sample was 20.5 (SD 1.8) years. The vast majority of participants (522/707, 73.8%) had already used the internet to find information about mental health problems, but the information was unsatisfactory for about half of them (386/707, 54.6%). Almost all students reported that they would prefer web-based therapy if EMH were available through a trustworthy national web-based platform for youth mental health (601/707, 85%). Students believed that emotional difficulties, social support, and coping strategies were the main topics that EMH should help with. The most common perceived barriers for EMH use in Egypt were concerns about privacy (382/707, 54%) and a lack of technology literacy and unfamiliarity with EMH (352/707, 50%).ConclusionsEMH is a promising strategy for addressing gaps in the mental health care for young people. To construct and implement a digital system of care that addresses the unique needs and preferences of youth, adolescents and young adults should be involved in the co-development and design.

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Mental Health among Higher Education Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey from Lithuania.

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