Student population mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected the physical but also the mental health and well-being, causing many mental problems in the population around the world. This paper is trying to offer answers to questions about the impact of the pandemic on the level of stress, anxiety, depression and life satisfaction of the student population. The survey was conducted as a cross-sectional study. The studied population comprised students of the Faculty of Mechanical and Civil Engineering in Kraljevo and the Kraljevo Medical College. The standardised depression, anxiety and stress self-assessment scale - DASS-21 was used as the survey instrument. The largest number of students felt the fear of one of their relatives getting infected (80.2%), that is of endangering their family (77.6%). Approximately one in three students felt the fear of death (34.4%), the fear of getting infected (29.7%) and of ending up in hospital (36.5%). One in six respondents felt vulnerable during the state of emergency (16.3%), and one in ten felt very vulnerable (9.8%). 14.6% of them stated that the epidemic had affected their student responsibilities a lot, and 22.3% of students expressed the negative impact of isolation on them. The results of our study indicate a high percentage of reported symptoms of stress (44.2%), anxiety (47.1%) and depression (34.9%) among the student population. Pandemic conditions have led to considerable changes in the daily life of all people, while the impact of the pandemic and the consequences that are yet to emerge still cannot be fully understood. That is why it is of utmost importance to take care of the mental health of those who are in a sensitive period of life.