Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and health-related quality of life among university students in Turkey

Abstract

The COVID-19 health crisis has reached pandemic scale spreading globally. The present study examines the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on psychological and physical health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among university students in Turkey. A cross-sectional survey design was used for data collection. From May 11th to May 15th 2020, the study utilized snowball sampling techniques to gather data through an online survey. The pandemic's psychological effects on participants were measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 and the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey assess related HRQOL were used to make mental health assessments. 1120 university students were contacted to complete the survey. Of these, a total of 1095 completed the survey, translating to a participation rate of 97.7%. Overall, 64.6%, 48.6% and 45.2%, and 34.5% of all participants self-reported symptomatic signs of depression, anxiety, stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), respectively. Female gender and poor family relationships were identified as risk factors for probably PTSD, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress as well. The mean scores of Physical Component Summary (PCS-12) and Mental Component Summary (MCS-12) were 66.99 ± 2.14 and 40.76 ± 2.31, respectively. Students suspected of a history with PTSD had considerably lower total scores for PCS-12 and MCS-12, when cross checked for similarity to those without such a history. The findings of this research suggest that evidence of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and stress is commonly apparent among university students during the period of the COVID-19 crisis. Prevention and intervention approaches to attenuate the psychosocial impact should be an integral component of crisis response during pandemic conditions.

Mental Health Disorders During COVID-19 Pandemic Among Southwest Ethiopia University Students: An Institutional-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…This study reveals that the prevalence of depression was consistent with a study done in Italy (27.8%) (Marelli et al, 2020), North Carolina, Taiwan (31.7%) (Fruehwirth et al, 2021), and the United States of America (31.2%) (Batra et al, 2021); but higher than the study done in Bench Sheko zone, Southwest, Ethiopia (21.1%) (Mekonen et al, 2020), and lower than the study done in Italy (72.93%), Turkey (64.6%) (Ayyildiz et al, 2021), Bangladesh (46.9%) (Hasan et al, 2020), Bangladeshi (72%) (Faisal et al, 2021), the United States of America (44%) (Son et al, 2020), Egypt (53.6%) (Ghazawy et al, 2020), Hong Kong (84.7%) (Lai et al, 2020), Gonder, Ethiopia (40.2%) (Ali & Muluneh, 2021) and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (51%) (Sahile et al, 2020). The mild levels of depression were 19.2%, which were similar to studies done in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (18.1%) (Sahile et al, 2020), and Turkey (16.0%) (Ayyildiz et al, 2021). The moderate and severe levels of depression were 10.6% and 0.3%, respectively, which was lower than the study done in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 20.9% moderate, 7.2% severe, and 4.6% extremely severe (Sahile et al, 2020) and Turkey, which revealed 26.8% moderate and 10.7% severe (Ayyildiz et al, 2021).…”

“…Mild level of anxiety (17.3%) was higher than a study done in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 11.1% (Sahile et al, 2020), Turkey11.1% (Ayyildiz et al, 2021), and Malaysia 20.4% (Sundarasen et al, 2020) and moderate (14.6%), severe (2.8%), and extremely severe (0.3%) level of anxiety was lower than the study done Ethiopia; 20.9% moderate, 6.5% severe, and 13.1% extremely severe (Sahile et al, 2020), Turkey; 20.3% moderate, 6.8% severe 10.4%, and extremely severe 10.4% (Ayyildiz et al, 2021), Malaysia; 6.6% severe, and 2.8% extremely severe (Sundarasen et al, 2020) and China, 21.3% mild anxiety (Cao et al, 2020).…”

Depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in Brazilian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Predictors and association with life satisfaction, psychological well-being and coping strategies

“…Regarding stress, the result of the surveyed students was higher than those of undergraduates from Bangladesh [ 28 ], Egypt [ 26 ], Ethiopia [ 24 , 30 ], Lebanon [ 25 ] and Turkey [ 29 ], whose percentages ranged from 12.7% to 47.8%. For anxiety, the percentage was lower than those in Egypt (53.6%) and higher than the others (27.7% to 48.6%).…”

“…A review study before the pandemic identified that female gender was among the sociodemographic characteristics most associated with psychological distress in undergraduates [ 12 ]. During the pandemic, this variable was associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in several studies in students [ 24 , 26 , 27 , 29 ] and in populations in Brazil [ 7 – 10 ] and other countries [ 5 , 67 , 68 ]. Such a condition points to the need for further studies aiming to identify possible common causes of female susceptibility to stress during a pandemic crisis, regardless of age and culture.…”

Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depressive Symptoms among Pakistani Population during the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Regression Analysis

“…Structured clinical interviews and functional neuroimaging are the gold standard for establishing a psychiatric diagnosis. 45 Despite these limitations, this study was able to report anxiety and depression among the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the previous psychological conditions of the study participants before the pandemic could not be assessed and cannot be reported.…”