Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and health-related quality of life among university students in Turkey

Abstract

The COVID-19 health crisis has reached pandemic scale spreading globally. The present study examines the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on psychological and physical health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among university students in Turkey. A cross-sectional survey design was used for data collection. From May 11th to May 15th 2020, the study utilized snowball sampling techniques to gather data through an online survey. The pandemic’s psychological effects on participants were measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 and the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey assess related HRQOL were used to make mental health assessments. 1120 university students were contacted to complete the survey. Of these, a total of 1095 completed the survey, translating to a participation rate of 97.7%. Overall, 64.6%, 48.6% and 45.2%, and 34.5% of all participants self-reported symptomatic signs of depression, anxiety, stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), respectively. Female gender and poor family relationships were identified as risk factors for probably PTSD, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress as well. The mean scores of Physical Component Summary (PCS-12) and Mental Component Summary (MCS-12) were 66.99 ± 2.14 and 40.76 ± 2.31, respectively. Students suspected of a history with PTSD had considerably lower total scores for PCS-12 and MCS-12, when cross checked for similarity to those without such a history. The findings of this research suggest that evidence of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and stress is commonly apparent among university students during the period of the COVID-19 crisis. Prevention and intervention approaches to attenuate the psychosocial impact should be an integral component of crisis response during pandemic conditions.