Depression and Anxiety among nursing students in the post COVID-19 pandemic in Inner Mongolia: An online cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 pandemic had considerable impacts on each aspect of worldwide, especially psychological disorders that would remain influenced in the post-pandemic era. Nursing students were also influenced by some special factors as facing unprecedented challenges. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychological status and explore the independent influencing factors of pandemic-related experiences, feelings, finance and protective behaviors among nursing students in Inner Mongolia Minzu University in post-COVID-19 era. Design: The online cross-sectional survey. Settings: Population-based study in China. Participants: Nursing undergraduate students (I-Ⅲyear). Methodology: It was conducted by WeChat platform from December 2021 to January 2022. The questionnaire included General demographic characteristics, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Cronbach's alpha, Bartlett's sphericity tests and KMO were tested the reliability and validity of scales. Descriptive analyses were completed by Mean and Standard Deviation. T-tests and ANOVA were conducted to test influencing factors. And general linear regression analyses were performed to identify the significant independent influencing factors of psychological disorders based on statistically significant results of univariate analysis. Results: 495 effective questionnaires were received. The prevalence of depression and anxiety disorders among participants was 14.7% and 9.1%, respectively. In our study, “parents with chronic illnesses”, “feeling very stressful due to the specialty of major”, “unstable family incomes” and “paying less attention to protective behaviors” had higher anxiety and depressive levels. Besides, “feeling fearful and unknown about the pandemic development” was significantly impacted on depression only. Conclusion: The findings obtained that depression was more prevalent among Chinese nursing students than anxiety in post-COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential to take appropriate measurements to alleviate psychological disorders by financial and family-related supports for medical-related students, in order to better respond to public health emergencies in further.