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

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.

Factors Associated with the Health-Related Quality of Life of Malaysian Young Adults Post-Pandemic

“…We found the PsyH domain to score the lowest among all the HRQOL dimensions ( Table 2 ), which was supported by a past review that found college students have poorer QOL in terms of mental health [ 8 ]. Several local and international studies have reported university students’ lowest mental health domain scores during the pandemic and immediately post-pandemic, regardless of the QOL tool used [ 13 , 18 , 34 , 35 ]. The low scores observed in the psychological QOL domain among university students could be attributed to stressors and disruptions to students’ lives due to the restricted lifestyle during the pandemic.…”