Study of Knowledge, Attitude, Anxiety, and Perception of Mental Health Needs Among Nursing Students in Indonesia During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: College students are a vulnerable population who are more likely to experience anxiety and depressive symptoms during pandemic COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, anxiety, and perceptions of mental health needs among nursing students in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: The study used a cross-sectional design, and the population was nursing students in Indonesia in various levels of education and age ≥ 18 years old. The sampling technique used purposive sampling with a total of 619 respondents. An online survey was conducted using questionnaire. The data analysis used descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis test.Results: The results showed that only a few respondents had an adequate level of knowledge regarding the signs and symptoms (0.2%) and transmission of COVID-19 (13.6%). However, students had moderate knowledge about protecting against COVID-19 (60.3%). As many as 22.8% of students had a positive attitude toward COVID-19 and 94% of respondents did not experience anxiety. The majority of students had a perception that COVID-19 has an impact on their lives. The results also showed that there were significant differences in several demographic variables (gender, education, place of residence, institution) with the knowledge, attitudes, anxiety, and perceptions of students.Conclusion: The level of knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions among nursing students regarding COVID-19 were less or negative tendencies. At the same time, the nursing students did not experience clinically significant fear and anxiety. This requires government support in providing policies to educational institutions for improving students' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of COVID-19.

Trust in Health Care Providers, Anxiety, Knowledge, Adherence to Guidelines, and Mental Healthcare Needs Regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The study found that the more in-depth and inclusive the level of knowledge about negative and physical mental consequences (Huang & Zhao, 2020; Roy, Tripathy, Kumar, & Sharma, 2020), the more importance will be given to mental health needs during the pandemic. Furthermore, other study argue that knowledge, anxiety, and perceptions of mental health needs are reliant on easy or difficult internet entry and may be different (Mundakir et al, 2020).…”

“…Another study that investigated participants' knowledge about Covid-19 found that the information on the increase in the number of recovered individuals was significantly associated with a low anxiety score (Wang et al, 2020). Furthermore, other study argue that knowledge, attitudes, anxiety, and perceptions of mental health needs among the subjects with easy and difficult internet access may be different (Mundakir et al, 2020).…”

Anxiety among Pregnant Women in Rural-Urban Area Indonesia during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Semarang, Indonesia

“…This can be due to the variability of COVID-19 signs and symptoms. Based on the Indonesian Ministry of Health, COVID-19 symptom includes fever, fatigue, dry cough, soreness, nasal congestion, flu, headache, diarrhea, loss of smell, inflammation, conjunctivitis, and skin rash [46]. Misperceptions related to the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 make pregnant women feel excessively alert, so they tend to feel anxious.…”