Assessment of Mental Health Status among Medical Graduates during COVID-19 Lockdown Period: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented challenge to the health system and infrastructure. As health workers are at the frontline fighting the pandemic, medical students have been affected due to the lockdown and forced to attend their curriculum in online mode. This has brought some amount of distress to the medical students. Aim: To assess medical students mental health status during the COVID-19 lockdown period using Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 330 undergraduate medical students (MBBS) at ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Sanathnagar, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The data regarding mental health status (DASS-21) was collected using google forms from March to June 2020. Kolmogorov Smirnov test was used to test the normality of data. Demographic data were described using numbers and percentages for categorical variables. Mean difference among all batches was analysed by analysis of variance. Pearson correlation analysis was done for correlation between the variables. Results: A total of 330 medical college students with a mean age of 19.8±2.5 years and with male and female ratio of 1:1.5. Depression was seen in 138 members (41.9%), anxiety in 147 members (44.5%), and stress in 91 members (27.5%). The year of graduation had a significant positive correlation with severity of anxiety (r=0.160, p=0.004) and stress (r=0.141, p=0.010). Conclusion: Prolonged lockdown of COVID-19 has affected the mental health of medical students. Continuous monitoring with appropriate counseling and therapeutic support is necessary till the pandemic ends.

Keywords

• anxiety
• coronavrus disease 2019
• depression
• pandemic
• stress