Psychological Reactions to Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Lockdown among Egyptian University Students

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID-19) is triggering negative mental health conditions for university students resulting from lockdown. This study explored the depressive and the anxious reaction to the lockdown caused by COVID-19 among Egyptian university students. Furthermore, the study examined the differences among students in gender, academic level, marital status, living condition, and the source of information used to acquire knowledge about COVID-19. An online survey was developed and employed to assess the depressive and the anxious reaction to lockdown on April 14th, 2020, 19 days after the beginning of applying the confinement and the overnight nationwide curfew by the Egyptian government. The survey was fulfilled by 305 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the British University in Egypt (BUE). The results showed significant differences between students in gender, academic levels, and living conditions in their depressive and anxious reactions towards the lockdown. Furthermore, the higher prevalence of using social media sites to acquire information about COVID-19 was observed in highly depressive students. In the high anxious students' group, the results indicated that there were no significant differences between all sources of information. the current results may be used to improve psychological intervention programs such as online counseling to help students cope with any disruptive event that may affect their wellbeing.

Keywords

• coronavirus
• covid-19
• anxiety
• depression
• mental health