Mental health of college students of different specialties during the epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

【Objective】 To investigate the mental health status of college students of different specialties during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) so as to provide the basis for college students’ mental health assessment and psychological crisis intervention. 【Methods】 The survey conducted among students of a university in Xi’an was composed of common questionnaires like the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Depression Rating Scale (SDS), and the students’ understanding of COVID-19. The differences among students of different specialties were compared by ANOVA and LSD-test. 【Results】 A total of 456 students’ questionnaires were collected online, with an effective rate of 93.68%. During the outbreak of the epidemic, the depression score was 42.51±10.65 points while the overall anxiety score was 38.37±7.46 points, which was higher than the Chinese adult norm score. Students of clinical medicine had a higher level of concern over and stress response to COVID-19 than those of other specialties. The average SAS and SDS sores differed significantly between the three groups (P<0.001 for SAS, and P=0.004 for SDS). Anxiety score reached 36.28±7.25 for students of clinical medicine, 39.75±7.00 for students of specialties related to clinical medicine, and 39.35±7.89 for other non-clinical majored students. The SAS score of clinical students was significantly lower than that of students of specialties related to clinical medicine (P<0.001) and non-clinical majored students (P=0.001). The SDS scores were significantly higher for clinical medicine related students (P=0.001) and non-clinical majored students (P=0.027) than for clinical students. 【Conclusion】 College students had higher levels of anxiety and depression than the norm score of other adults in China during the epidemic of COVID-19. Compared with students of other specialties, those of clinical medicine were found to have a high level of concern about and stress response to the epidemic of COVID-19, but a lower level of anxiety and depression.