Investigation of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress and their Determinants of University Students during an Early Stage of COVID19 Pandemic, Zanjan, Iran 2020

Abstract

Background: This study aims to determine the mental health status (depression, anxiety, and stress) and their determinants among Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (ZUMS) students during an early stage of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 409 ZUMS students from April 20 to May 30, 2020 by convenience sampling method. The Persian version of the DASS21 scale was used to assess the level of participants' mental health. Data were analyzed using SPSS-22 by student t-test and binary logistic regression. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean (SD) age of the participants was 22.35 (4.6) years and 66.3% of them were female. The findings indicated that 11.2%, 9 and 7.1 % of the participants had extremely severe levels of depression, anxiety, and stress respectively. Moreover, it was found that married students experienced less stress than single students (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The results showed that students' mental health should be considered during the COVID-19 outbreak since almost half of the students have experienced varying levels of stress, anxiety, and depression during COVID-19 pandemic of. It is suggested that the universities should plan to provide high-quality and timely psychological services in order to support the students.