Association of perceived isolation and resilience with self-rated mental health among undergraduate medical students in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background:The COVID-19 pandemic has devastatingly affected the entire world and destroyed the equilibrium of every sphere of life. Like other groups of people, medical students of Nepal have been facing the conditions of lockdown and social isolation that have arisen because of the pandemic. Objective: We aimed to see the relationship of perceived isolation and resilience with self-rated mental health among undergraduate medical students in Nepal. Materials and methods:A web-based online survey was carried out in July 2020 using a semi-structured questionnaire in Google form. Data analysis was performed in SPSS vs 20. Ordered logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the effects of perceived isolation, resilience and background characteristics on self-rated mental health. Results: Out of 515 participants, 44.9% were male.31.4% reported having fair/poor mental health status and 21.9% reported feeling stressed often due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An increment of 1SD in perceived isolation is associated with about a 5% reduction in the odds of having better mental health (exp (−0.048) = 0.95; p=0.026). Similarly, an increment of 1SD in resilience is associated with about 13% lower odds of having better mental health (exp (−0.149) = 0.862 ; p<0.001). Conclusion:This study is an early step towards the assessment of perceived isolation and mental health among undergraduate medical students amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal. There is a need to conduct regular counselling sessions and strengthen the coping skills of medical students duringthe pandemic.

The Relationship between Mental Health and Loneliness in the Elderly during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Membership in organizations and groups was also found to increase mental health. Other findings of the present study indicated that a history of physical illness decreases mental health, which is consistent with other studies [19,22,30,31]. The reason for this finding is that at an old age, a person's ability to adhere to principles and maintain their health is considerably diminished following chronic illnesses and disabilities, thereby reducing one's mental health.…”

“…The results of this study showed that mental health differs at varying age levels; i.e., mental health degenerates with age, which is confirmed by other studies [20][21][22][23][24]. Given their disabilities and physical problems, as the elderly get older, they tend to gradually distance themselves from society and have less engagement in activities.…”

Protecting mental health of young adults in COVID-19 pandemic: Roles of different structural and functional social supports

“…In addition, when comparing rates of mental problems among people living in provinces with and without COVID-19 cases, we observed that rates of depression and anxiety were relatively higher among participants living in provinces with COVID-19 outbreaks than those not living in provinces with pandemic (depression: 35.2% vs. 27%; anxiety: 38.6% vs. 32.4%, respectively). This insignificant difference in data could be attributed to the fact that COVID-19 did not only affect people living in endemic areas but also influenced people living in non-endemic areas with feelings of uncertainty and fear of infections [7,10].…”

“…The score of each domain was computed by summing scores of items within each domain and then multiplying by 2, resulting in a total score from 0 to 42 in each domain. Each domain of DASS-21 was divided into five levels [27]: Depression: normal (0-9), mild (10)(11)(12)(13), moderate (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), severe (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27) and extremely severe (� 28), Anxiety: normal (0-7), mild (8)(9), moderate (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), severe (15)(16)(17)(18)(19), and extremely severe (� 20), and Stress: normal (0-14), mild (15)(16)(17)(18), moderate (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25), severe (26-33) and extremely severe (� 34)…”

“…Previous reviews have indicated significant increase in the prevalence of mental disorders such as depression (14.6% to 48.3%), anxiety disorders (6.3% to 50.9%), and stress (8.1% to 81.9%) in many countries [7,8]. Groups with the highest risk of mental disorders are people with chronic illnesses, people in quarantine zones, and COVID-19 patients [8][9][10].…”