A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG STUDENTS PURSUING PROFESSIONAL COURSES POST COVID.

Abstract

Introduction – Covid -19 emergence has led to an array of mental health issues along with the actual disease course of SARSCov virus. Whereas the whole society has been affected by it, young college going students which is the majority of the population in India might cause another type of social threat to the overall country's progress and well-being. Aim - To estimate prevalence of psychological distress in medical, engineering and Nursing students post-COVID. Material & Methods - Apparently healthy young adults irrespective of their genders, aged between 18-24 years of age were included in the study.1st year students of MBBS, Engineering and nursing were included after taking informed consent. Institutional Ethical committee has approved the study. A self-reporting questionnaire General Health Questionnaire 12 was used to collect data. This Questionnaire has 12 questions, which were scored using Likert's scale. Statistics - The results were tabulated using Microsoft Excel and statistical analysis was done using SPSS 22.0 software. Mean, standard deviation, Odds Ratio and Logistic Regression was used for to analyse the results. Taking professional course perusal into account the psychological distress was found to be highly signicant. Results - More females (53.7%) were found to be in psychological distress than Male students (52 %). But the gender wise distribution of distress was found to be non-signicant. The nursing students (83.3%) were found to have highest level of psychological distress followed by Engineering (50.3%). MBBS students were found to have lowest distress. Taking the place of residence into account, more day-scholars (56%) were found to be under distress. Logistic regression found professional course wise distribution to be more signicant. Conclusion - After the second phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large group of student population was found to be suffering from psychological distress. Nursing students were found to have highest psychological distress followed by engineering students. Based on these ndings, we consider that mental health strategies should address the acceptance of the current situation of the pandemic in the population, such as counselling and spreading the correct treatment and information regarding the pandemic. Strategies could also include providing psychoeducation, in addition to coping techniques and helplines for emotional management.