Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of College Students in India: Cross-sectional Web-Based Study
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has created a mental health crisis among college students in India due to lockdown restrictions, overwhelming numbers of COVID-19 cases, financial difficulty, etc. This mental health crisis has led to high degrees of fear, anxiety, and depressi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2021-09-01
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| Series: | JMIRx Med |
| Online Access: | https://med.jmirx.org/2021/3/e28158 |
| _version_ | 1797327592989130752 |
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| author | Amar Prashad Chaudhary Narayan Sah Sonar Jamuna TR Moumita Banerjee Shailesh Yadav |
| author_facet | Amar Prashad Chaudhary Narayan Sah Sonar Jamuna TR Moumita Banerjee Shailesh Yadav |
| author_sort | Amar Prashad Chaudhary |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has created a mental health crisis among college students in India due to lockdown restrictions, overwhelming numbers of COVID-19 cases, financial difficulty, etc. This mental health crisis has led to high degrees of fear, anxiety, and depression among college students.
ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to investigate symptoms of fear, depression, and anxiety due to the COVID-19 pandemic among college students in India.
MethodsThis cross-sectional web-based study was conducted using a Google Forms questionnaire. The Google Form included a sociodemographic questionnaire and psychometric scales evaluating the psychological and behavioral impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed in the study.
ResultsA total of 324 college students participated in this study, of whom 180 (55.6%) were male and 144 (44.4%) were female. After assessment of the psychometric scales, it was found that of the 324 students, 223 (68.8%) had high fear of COVID-19, 93 (28.7%) had moderate to severe depression, and 167 (51.5%) had mild to severe anxiety. Among the identified risk factors, having a family member who was infected with COVID-19 was significantly associated with anxiety and depression, with P values of .02 and .001, respectively. In addition, the correlations of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were found to be 0.492 and 0.474, respectively.
ConclusionsThis research concludes that there is a very high fear of COVID-19 among students, along with anxiety and depression symptoms. This study also concludes that the Fear of COVID-19 Scale has a moderate positive correlation with the anxiety and depression scales, respectively. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T06:40:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e557328a94324a67b088c8fcb11535be |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2563-6316 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T06:40:44Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIRx Med |
| spelling | doaj.art-e557328a94324a67b088c8fcb11535be2024-02-03T09:05:16ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIRx Med2563-63162021-09-0123e2815810.2196/28158Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of College Students in India: Cross-sectional Web-Based StudyAmar Prashad Chaudharyhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7109-0312Narayan Sah Sonarhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3517-2537Jamuna TRhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3298-7834Moumita Banerjeehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2452-2976Shailesh Yadavhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1189-6722 BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has created a mental health crisis among college students in India due to lockdown restrictions, overwhelming numbers of COVID-19 cases, financial difficulty, etc. This mental health crisis has led to high degrees of fear, anxiety, and depression among college students. ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to investigate symptoms of fear, depression, and anxiety due to the COVID-19 pandemic among college students in India. MethodsThis cross-sectional web-based study was conducted using a Google Forms questionnaire. The Google Form included a sociodemographic questionnaire and psychometric scales evaluating the psychological and behavioral impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed in the study. ResultsA total of 324 college students participated in this study, of whom 180 (55.6%) were male and 144 (44.4%) were female. After assessment of the psychometric scales, it was found that of the 324 students, 223 (68.8%) had high fear of COVID-19, 93 (28.7%) had moderate to severe depression, and 167 (51.5%) had mild to severe anxiety. Among the identified risk factors, having a family member who was infected with COVID-19 was significantly associated with anxiety and depression, with P values of .02 and .001, respectively. In addition, the correlations of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were found to be 0.492 and 0.474, respectively. ConclusionsThis research concludes that there is a very high fear of COVID-19 among students, along with anxiety and depression symptoms. This study also concludes that the Fear of COVID-19 Scale has a moderate positive correlation with the anxiety and depression scales, respectively.https://med.jmirx.org/2021/3/e28158 |
| spellingShingle | Amar Prashad Chaudhary Narayan Sah Sonar Jamuna TR Moumita Banerjee Shailesh Yadav Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of College Students in India: Cross-sectional Web-Based Study JMIRx Med |
| title | Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of College Students in India: Cross-sectional Web-Based Study |
| title_full | Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of College Students in India: Cross-sectional Web-Based Study |
| title_fullStr | Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of College Students in India: Cross-sectional Web-Based Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of College Students in India: Cross-sectional Web-Based Study |
| title_short | Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of College Students in India: Cross-sectional Web-Based Study |
| title_sort | impact of the covid 19 pandemic on the mental health of college students in india cross sectional web based study |
| url | https://med.jmirx.org/2021/3/e28158 |
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