Cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral stress-related symptoms and coping strategies among university students during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic
BackgroundStress is manifested by different physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral stress-related symptoms, and everyone experiences it uniquely. The COVID-19 Pandemic has tremendously affected university students' lives. So, we conducted this study to determine the stress frequency, ca...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.933981/full |
| _version_ | 1811183564393283584 |
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| author | Merna Attia Fatma A. Ibrahim Mohamed Abd-Elfatah Elsady Mohamed Khaled Khorkhash Marwa Abdelazim Rizk Jaffer Shah Samar A. Amer Samar A. Amer Samar A. Amer |
| author_facet | Merna Attia Fatma A. Ibrahim Mohamed Abd-Elfatah Elsady Mohamed Khaled Khorkhash Marwa Abdelazim Rizk Jaffer Shah Samar A. Amer Samar A. Amer Samar A. Amer |
| author_sort | Merna Attia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundStress is manifested by different physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral stress-related symptoms, and everyone experiences it uniquely. The COVID-19 Pandemic has tremendously affected university students' lives. So, we conducted this study to determine the stress frequency, causes, determinants, and related symptoms involving physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral traits and coping strategies among university students in Egypt during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021.MethodsCross-sectional study targeted 1,467 randomly selected undergraduate university students, representing all colleges from 30 universities in Egypt, through a validated self-administrated questionnaire.ResultsThe total stress-related symptom score was statistically significant (p < 0.05), higher among females, married, living on campus, with a (B) GPA, and those who had both organic and psychological disorders. The top 10 prevalent physical symptoms were headaches, chronic fatigue, hair loss, low back pain, neck pain, shoulders and arm pain, ophthalmological symptoms, acne, shakiness of extremities, and palpitations, respectively. The most reported symptoms regarding the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects were anxiety and racing thoughts, moodiness and irritability, and excessive sleeping, respectively. Nine hundred and thirty-seven (63.9%) reported that the COVID-19 pandemic badly affected their lives, either directly or indirectly. The study showed that the prevalence of stress among university students is more than 97%. One thousand and five (68.5%) preferred isolation as a relieving technique.ConclusionStress and its related physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms are prevalent among university students. Most of the university students who were recruited reported that the COVID-19 pandemic badly affected their lives and used negative ways to deal with stress, like staying alone and sleeping too much. Positive ways to deal with stress, like seeing a therapist or meditating, were less common. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:48:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-985bcd6909ce423dbf8c0cb18b4162df |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:48:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-985bcd6909ce423dbf8c0cb18b4162df2022-12-22T04:30:53ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402022-09-011310.3389/fpsyt.2022.933981933981Cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral stress-related symptoms and coping strategies among university students during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemicMerna Attia0Fatma A. Ibrahim1Mohamed Abd-Elfatah Elsady2Mohamed Khaled Khorkhash3Marwa Abdelazim Rizk4Jaffer Shah5Samar A. Amer6Samar A. Amer7Samar A. Amer8Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, EgyptFaculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, EgyptFaculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, EgyptFaculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, EgyptFaculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, EgyptNew York State Department of Health, New York, NY, United StatesDepartment of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, EgyptMember at Royal Colleague of General Practitioners [INT], London, United KingdomDepartment of Mental Health Primary Care, Nova University, Lisbon, PortugalBackgroundStress is manifested by different physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral stress-related symptoms, and everyone experiences it uniquely. The COVID-19 Pandemic has tremendously affected university students' lives. So, we conducted this study to determine the stress frequency, causes, determinants, and related symptoms involving physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral traits and coping strategies among university students in Egypt during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021.MethodsCross-sectional study targeted 1,467 randomly selected undergraduate university students, representing all colleges from 30 universities in Egypt, through a validated self-administrated questionnaire.ResultsThe total stress-related symptom score was statistically significant (p < 0.05), higher among females, married, living on campus, with a (B) GPA, and those who had both organic and psychological disorders. The top 10 prevalent physical symptoms were headaches, chronic fatigue, hair loss, low back pain, neck pain, shoulders and arm pain, ophthalmological symptoms, acne, shakiness of extremities, and palpitations, respectively. The most reported symptoms regarding the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects were anxiety and racing thoughts, moodiness and irritability, and excessive sleeping, respectively. Nine hundred and thirty-seven (63.9%) reported that the COVID-19 pandemic badly affected their lives, either directly or indirectly. The study showed that the prevalence of stress among university students is more than 97%. One thousand and five (68.5%) preferred isolation as a relieving technique.ConclusionStress and its related physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms are prevalent among university students. Most of the university students who were recruited reported that the COVID-19 pandemic badly affected their lives and used negative ways to deal with stress, like staying alone and sleeping too much. Positive ways to deal with stress, like seeing a therapist or meditating, were less common.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.933981/fullstressstress-related symptomscoping strategiesuniversity studentsthe COVID-19 pandemicEgypt |
| spellingShingle | Merna Attia Fatma A. Ibrahim Mohamed Abd-Elfatah Elsady Mohamed Khaled Khorkhash Marwa Abdelazim Rizk Jaffer Shah Samar A. Amer Samar A. Amer Samar A. Amer Cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral stress-related symptoms and coping strategies among university students during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic Frontiers in Psychiatry stress stress-related symptoms coping strategies university students the COVID-19 pandemic Egypt |
| title | Cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral stress-related symptoms and coping strategies among university students during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | Cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral stress-related symptoms and coping strategies among university students during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral stress-related symptoms and coping strategies among university students during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral stress-related symptoms and coping strategies among university students during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | Cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral stress-related symptoms and coping strategies among university students during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | cognitive emotional physical and behavioral stress related symptoms and coping strategies among university students during the third wave of covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | stress stress-related symptoms coping strategies university students the COVID-19 pandemic Egypt |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.933981/full |
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