Prevalence of fear of COVID-19, depression, and anxiety among undergraduate students during remote classes

Abstract

AbstractBackground:During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, undergraduate students were exposed to symptoms of psychological suffering during remote classes. Therefore, it is important to investigate the factors that may be generated and be related to such outcomes.Objective:To investigate the association between fear of COVID-19, depression, anxiety, and related factors in undergraduate students during remote classes.Methods:This cross-sectional study included 218 undergraduate students (60.6% women and 39.4% men). Students answered a self-administered online questionnaire designed to gather personal information, pandemic exposure, physical activity level, fear of COVID-19 using the ‘Fear of COVID-19 Scale’, symptoms of depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and anxiety using General Anxiety Disorder-7.Results:Undergraduate students had a high prevalence of depression and anxiety (83.0% and 76.1%, respectively) but a low prevalence of fear of COVID-19 (28.9%) during remote classes. Multivariate analysis revealed that women who reported health status as neither good nor bad and who had lost a family member from COVID-19 had the highest levels of fear. For depression and anxiety, the main related factors found were female gender, bad health status, insufficiently active, and complete adherence to the restriction measures.Conclusion:These findings may be used to develop actions to manage symptoms of anxiety and depression among students, with interventions through physical activity programmes to improve mental health.