Assessment of Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Iranian Medical Students during Outbreak COVID-19

Abstract

Aims With the announcement of the coronavirus pandemic by the World Health Organization, many people experienced many waves of panic. The disease was a major threat to individuals' physical and mental health because of the rapid spread and severe mortality. The continued development and changes in the educational process can affect student's mental health. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and stress in students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences during the coronavirus outbreak in 2020.Materials & Methods This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences. The sample size was 351 individuals selected by the convenience sampling method. Data were collected by DASS-21 and IES-R. Data were analyzed by SPSS18 using the chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests. Findings The majority of students had moderate anxiety (33.6%) and posttraumatic stress disorder (26.2%). Depression (38.5%) and stress (55.3%) were not common in most students. Analysis of logistic regression showed a significant correlation between anxiety, stress, depression, and Posttraumatic stress disorder (p<0.05). ConclusionThe results suggest mental health problems among medical students. Therefore, it is recommended to implement psychological counseling programs to reduce these cases.