Assessment of Fear and Anxiety towards Covid 19 among Dental Students in Malaysian Private University

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pneumonia crisis of universal concern on January 30, 2020, because of the rapidly growing number of cases and evidence of human-to-human viral transmission. Dentists are more prone to get infected to covid 19 infection, in addition the sources of stress and anxiety for dentists during this crisis have been brought up, and they may be partially related to the elevated danger of exposure to COVID-19 while performing routine dental procedures. It would be helpful to assess the tension and anxiety that dental students experience when they return to their training in dental colleges in the COVID-19 period. Aim: To assess the level of fear and anxiety towards covid 19 among dental students in AIMST university. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among 348 dental students by simple random sampling technique to evaluate the fear and anxiety level. The response to each question was recorded in a YES or NO format, Comparison of mean fear score was done using t-test for 2 variables and ANOVA for 3 or more than 3 variables. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There was significant association between fear and gender towards Covid 19 among Dental Students terms of gender (P value <0.005). Furthermore, there was a significant association between anxiety and sociodemographic factors like gender and year of study towards Covid 19 among Dental Students terms of gender. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates cross-sectional data of fear and anxiety among dental students towards COVID-19. Our study findings showed that students were anxious and were afraid of covid 19. It can be said that it’s the right time to educate and instill knowledge on various infectious diseases and management strategies for the same.