The Impact of Covid-19 on Mental Health in Allied Health Undergraduate Students during Lockdown Phase: An Observational Study

Authors: Anju Verma MPT* and Moawd SA

Volume 5, Issue 3

Abstract

Background and aim: A sudden outbreak of a pandemic, named as Covid-19 due to corona virus that widely spreads and majorly affects those with the weak immunity and chronic disease. A lockdown period causes an abrupt shutting down of all universities all over the world, so the students were switched onto the online system for studying and exams that lead to more stress. This study proposed to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 lockdown on mental health in the undergraduate students of allied health sciences. Methods: One hundred seventy-five allied health sciences students, allocated into two groups: male student (MS) group(n=87) and female student (FS) group(n=88), a survey-based questionnaire study for the demographic characteristics, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire , and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 21) were used. Results: The overall results of DASS-21questionnaire revealed significant differences in depression (p= 0.002), anxiety(p=0.004), and stress (p=0.001) in both groups, but female students had more psychological distress as compared to the male students(p=0.000). Conclusion: The mental distress is notable during lockdown phase of Covid-19 in allied health students of both gender, although it is more significant in female. Highly vulnerable students need a specific intervention to reduce the future stress during catastrophe and panic situation.

Keywords: Covid-19; Mental health; DASS-21; Undergraduate students

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