Emotional Exhaustion and Mental Health in a Sample of Chilean Social Science Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Abstract Emotional exhaustion and mental health in university students are a public health problem given the harmful repercussions they have on their quality of life and the possible future consequences, even more so if in the academic period the students are affected by a pandemic like COVID -19. This research aimed to determine the presence and degree of emotional exhaustion and its possible repercussions on mental health in social science students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The design was descriptive and cross-sectional, and a questionnaire was used with sociodemographic variables, perception of the affectation of mental health, and the scale of emotional exhaustion (ECE). The results were that a high percentage of 90.2% reported a worsening of their mental health with the presentation of stress symptoms (64.1%), sensitivity (41%), anxiety/distress (39.7%), irritability (39.4%), and depressive symptoms (34.9%). The influencing factors were the pandemic (61.9%), confinement and social distancing (47.3%), economic problems (41.6%), and the news (23.8%). In addition, a high (65.7%); medium (29.2%) and low (5.1%) emotional exhaustion. We can conclude that social sciences students find themselves with high degrees of emotional exhaustion and a perception of a great deterioration in their mental health. These results should call our attention to continue studying the mental health consequences of COVID-19 to prevent possible mental pathologies in the future.