A disastrous year that ends with corona outbreak: Effects on mental health of university students

Abstract

ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate depression, anxiety and stress in university students of a large university in Tehran. Iranians witnessed an extraordinary combination of natural and man-made disasters last year; the last of which was the outbreak of COVID-19. Participants: 234 students from Iran University of Medical Sciences. Methods: We designed an online survey to gather data related to General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-28, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS)-21, and demographic data. Results: The mean score of GHQ-28 was 34.4 (SD = 15.5, n = 195), and 73.8% (n = 144) of the sample had a score of higher than cut-point (23). According to DASS-21, varying degrees of depression, anxiety, and stress existed in 51%, 32%, and 56% of the students. Conclusions: Negative effects of stressful life events on mental health seems to be additive. More often than not, students need some kind of mental health care at the time of COVID-19 outbreak.

Keywords:

• Anxiety
• COVID-19
• depression
• medical
• psychological
• stress
• students

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of Iran and received approval from the Iran University of Medical Sciences.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.