Mental Health in Health Students during Coronavirus Disease-19: Systematic Review

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to examine the description of mental health characteristics of health students who conducted studies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Methods: The design of this study is to use a systematic review approach by collecting several articles from a database that has been selected consisting of Springer. , ScienceDirect and ProQuest with articles published in 2020. Search for articles was carried out by entering the keyword "mental health AND student AND COVID-19". The search for this article was limited to inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria in this study were health students who were still conducting studies during the COVID-19 pandemic and a cross-sectional study design, while the exclusion criteria were non-health students, only abstracts and books, and letters to the editor.
 Results: After a search on the selected database, the results are 677 Springer articles, 554 direct articles, and 1348 ProQuest articles. 11 were removed for duplicates, 444 full texts were reviewed and 6 articles matched inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results of the 6 articles that were reviewed showed that the majority of health students reported mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, stress, and another emotional status. Where moderate and severe levels of anxiety were experienced by some Health students who carried out education during the Covid-19 pandemic.
 Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on psychological conditions, especially on health students who are carrying out their education. Students report poor mental health conditions while carrying out home education by learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Hong Kong Nursing Students’ Mental Health and Quality of Life

“…A meta-analysis reviewed 27 studies assessing the psychological effects of COVID-19 among 90,879 college students in 15 countries, and found that 39.4%, 31.2%, 26.0%, 29.8%, and 50.5% of students had anxiety, depression, stress, post-traumatic stress, and impaired sleep quality, respectively [ 18 ]. The study reported the adverse psychological effects on university or college students, and highlighted the necessity of establishing appropriate health interventions or strategies to meet their emotional and psychosocial needs [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Nehir and Gungor Tavsanli (2021) found a significant relationship between the fear of COVID-19 and students’ emotional states.…”

Prevalence and correlates of depression and anxiety among Chinese international students in US colleges during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

“…A study from 2009 to 2015 showed that, except for bipolar disorder, bulimia, and schizophrenia, a significantly elevated prevalence of mental disorders was observed in college students [ 14 ]. A multitude of studies has also reported alarming results of an even increased rate of mental disorders among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 15 – 17 ]. An interview survey study found that the COVID-19 outbreak increased anxiety among college students due to health-related concerns, difficulties in concentrating, sleep disruptions, decreased social interactions, and concerns over academic performance [ 18 ].…”

Effects of Online Health Promotion Program to Improve the Health and Wellbeing of Healthcare Students: A Feasibility Study

“…The students’ mean scores of all four QOL domains (physical, psychological, social, and environmental) significantly lowered compared to WHO reference data [ 25 ] and local frontline nurses [ 26 ]. These studies highlighted the significance of early managing students’ health problems and establishing health promotion programs to improve their physical, psychosocial, and mental health and wellbeing [ 13 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 23 ]. Besides, Worsley and her team (2022) analyzed 27 various interventional review research studies conducted over the past two decades to support college and university students’ mental health and wellbeing [ 27 ].…”

“…However, students in healthcare programs have been more predisposed to mental health problems due to heavy academic study workloads and stressful clinical practicum [12][13][14]. The hectic clinical training in hospitals initiated additional undesirable psychological and physiological influences on their wellbeing due to the pandemic [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Mulyadi et al's (2021) systematic review and meta-analysis found a high prevalence of health problems among 13,247 nursing students in 17 studies, including sleep disturbances (27%), stress (30%), anxiety (32%), fear (41%), and depression (52%) [19].…”