Assessment of the quality of life and mental health of healthcare students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Freitas, Pedro Henrique Batista de; Meireles, Adriana Lúcia; Abreu, Mery Natali Silva; Barbosa, Bruna Carolina Rafael; Paula, Waléria de; Cardoso, Clareci Silva

doi:10.1590/0034-7167-2023-0068

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Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Rev. Bras. Enferm. 76 (Suppl 1) • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2023-0068 copy

Assessment of the quality of life and mental health of healthcare students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Evaluación de la calidad de vida y la salud mental de estudiantes de salud durante la pandemia de COVID-19

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Objective:

to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) and the presence of symptoms related to depression, anxiety, and stress among students in the healthcare field, in comparison to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods:

A comparative cross-sectional research was conducted at a Brazilian public university. QOL was assessed using the WHOQOL-bref scale, while symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress were evaluated using the DASS-21 scale. Descriptive and inferential analyses were employed to compare the two time periods.

Results:

A total of 355 students participated in this study. During the pandemic, there were significant increases in severe depression symptoms (15.1% versus 24.8%), moderate anxiety (18.3% versus 29.4%), and moderate stress (40.9% versus 53.8%) observed among the participants. Additionally, a significant reduction in QOL was noted, particularly in the domain of social relationships (65.2 versus 59.6, p-value 0.029).

Conclusion:

The study highlights a deterioration in both the quality of life and the mental health of healthcare students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Descriptors:
COVID-19; Quality of Life; Depression; Anxiety; Students

Variable	Before the pandemic n = 93 (%)	During the pandemic n = 262 (%)	p value
Courses
Pharmacy	32.3	35.5	0.161^II
Nutrition	21.5	30.5
Medicine	29.0	22.5
Physical Education	17.2	11.5
Marital status
Single	95.7	92.4	0.009^I
Married	2.2	7.6
Other¹1 Chawla B, Chawla S, Singh H, Jain R, Arora I. Is coronavirus lockdown taking a toll on mental health of medical students? a study using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. J Family Med Prim Care. 2020;9(10):5261-6. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_715_20 https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_715_...	2.2	0.0
Biological sex
Female	66.7	77.9	0.045^II
Male	33.3	22.1	0.045^II
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual	82.8	81.3	0.243^II
Homosexual	9.7	6.1
Other²2 Lopes AR, Nihei OK. Depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in Brazilian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: predictors and association with life satisfaction, psychological well-being and coping strategies. PLoS One. 2021;16(10):e0258493. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258493 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.025...	7.5	12.6
Paid work
No	85.0	85.9	0.962^II
Yes	15.1	14.1	0.962^II
Housing
Alone	8.6	11.5	0.085^II
Parents/Relatives	25.8	36.3
Other³3 Ghassab-Abdollahi N, Shakouri SK, Aghdam AT, Farshbaf-Khalili A, Abdolalipour S, Farshbaf-Khalili A. Association of quality of life with physical activity, depression, and demographic characteristics and its predictors among medical students. J Educ Health Promot. 2020;9:147. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_91_20 https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_91_20...	65.6	52.3
Religion
Catholic	48.4	49.6	0.976^II
Evangelical	11.8	11.8
Other⁴4 Freitas PHB, Meireles AL, Barroso SM, Bandeira MB, Abreu MNS, David GL, et al. The profile of quality of life and mental health of university students in the healthcare field. Res Soc Dev. 2022;11(1):1-18. https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i1.25095 https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i1.25095...	39.8	38.6
Alcohol consumption
No	31.2	33.6	0.768^II
Yes	68.8	66.4	0.768^II
Excessive alcohol consumption
No	38.2	48.6	0.168^II
Yes⁵5 Halperin SJ, Henderson MN, Prenner S, Grauer JN. Prevalence of anxiety and depression among medical students during the Covid-19 Pandemic: a cross-sectional study. J Med Educ Curric Dev. 2021;8:1-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/2382120521991150 https://doi.org/10.1177/2382120521991150...	61.8	51.5	0.168^II
Cigarette/tobacco product use
No	86.0	93.1	0.061^II
Yes	14.0	6.9	0.061^II
Illicit drug use
No	55.9	92.0	0.000^II
Yes	44.1	8.0	0.000^II
Drug use initiated after university
No	75.3	57.1	0.161^II
Yes	24.7	42.9	0.161^II
Intensification of drug use after university
No	83.3	42.9	0.000^II
Yes	16.7	57.1	0.000^II
Physical exercise practice⁶6 Mulyadi M, Tonapa SI, Luneto S, Lin W-T, Lee B-O. Prevalence of mental health problems and sleep disturbances in nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nurse Educ Pract. 2021;57:103228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103228 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2021.1032...
No	43.0	24.1	0.001^II
Yes	57.0	76.0	0.001^II
Self-rated health
Very Good	17.2	17.2	0.751^I
Good	47.3	52.7
Average	32.3	26.7
Poor	3.2	3.4
Chronic illnesses
No	89.3	66.4	0.000^II
Yes	10.8	33.6	0.000^II
Family history of depression
No	53.8	81.7	0.000^II
Yes	46.2	18.3	0.000^II
Family history of anxiety
No	52.7	54.2	0.897^II
Yes	47.3	45.8	0.897^II
Age
Mean (SD)	23.8 (3.5)	24.1 (4.8)	0.821^III
BMI (Body Mass Index)⁷7 Ramos TH, Pedrolo E, Santana LL, Ziesemer NBS, Haeffner R, Carvalho T P. O impacto da pandemia do novo coronavírus na qualidade de vida de estudantes de enfermagem. RECOM. 2020;10:1-10. http://doi.org/10.19175/recom.v10i0.4042 http://doi.org/10.19175/recom.v10i0.4042...
Mean (SD)	22.5 (3.7)	23.3 (3.8)	0.059^III

Variable	Before the pandemic n= 93 (%)	During the pandemic n=262 (%)	p value¹1 Chawla B, Chawla S, Singh H, Jain R, Arora I. Is coronavirus lockdown taking a toll on mental health of medical students? a study using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. J Family Med Prim Care. 2020;9(10):5261-6. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_715_20 https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_715_...
Depression
Normal	49.5	36.6	0.052
Mild/Moderate	35.5	38.6
Severe/Very Severe	15.1	24.8
Anxiety
Normal	52.7	50.8	0.054
Mild/Moderate	18.3	29.4
Severe/Very Severe	29.0	19.9
Stress
Normal	38.7	25.6	0.041
Mild/Moderate	40.9	53.8
Severe/Very Severe	20.4	20.6

Quality of Life Domains	n	Mean	Standard Deviation	p value¹1 Chawla B, Chawla S, Singh H, Jain R, Arora I. Is coronavirus lockdown taking a toll on mental health of medical students? a study using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. J Family Med Prim Care. 2020;9(10):5261-6. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_715_20 https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_715_...
Physical
Before the pandemic	93	65.8	15.7	0.642
During the pandemic	262	65.1	16.2	0.642
Psychological
Before the pandemic	93	60.9	17.8	0.141
During the pandemic	262	57.8	19.2	0.141
Social Relationships
Before the pandemic	93	65.2	18.6	0.029
During the pandemic	262	59.6	19.8	0.029
Environment
Before the pandemic	93	63.9	14.9	0.270
During the pandemic	262	65.7	16.8	0.270

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[1] Corresponding author: Pedro Henrique Batista de Freitas E-mail: pedrohbf@yahoo.com.br