Mental Health and Its Association with Changes in Quality of Life Due to Covid-19 Pandemic among Undergraduate Students in Islamabad

Abstract

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease caused by Coronavirus. It has spread in 216 countries including Pakistan. It has been noted in the past that disease outbreaks have significant effects on mental health of the population. With previous evidence of anxiety and depression among student populations, we aimed to investigate frequency of Mental Health and its association with changes in Quality of Life due To Covid-19 Pandemic among undergraduate students in Islamabad

Methods: An Analytical Cross-Sectional study was conducted on 227 undergraduate students from Air University, Islamabad, selected via simple random sampling, running from June 2020 through December 2020.

A modified online questionnaire comprised of socio-demographic questions along with pre-validated questionnaires including GAD-7, PHQ-9 and the MHLSS, in English, was self-administered by participants of the study. Data was analyzed by using the SPSS, version 23.0.

Results: The study included a total of 227 students, including 54.2% females; majority were medical students (57.3%) and 43.6% belonged to Islamabad. Overall, 33.92% participants experienced mild anxiety and depression. Analysis showed that medical students had a greater positive change in lifestyle (66.2%). Positive lifestyle changes led to less degree of anxiety and depression whereas negative and no change led to greater degree of anxiety and depression (p-value <0.05).

Conclusions: The Covid-19 Pandemic was associated with a mild to moderate anxiety and depression among undergraduate students in Islamabad. Also, confirmed that the pandemic affected quality of life and mental health of undergraduate university students.