COVID-19 and Psychological Complications Among University Students in Islamabad: A Cross-sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: Due to quarantine, mental health problems particularly depression and anxiety worsen in the general population. The psychological impact of COVID-19 on university students is more due to exaggerated stress levels and anxiety-related evidence as a result of transformed delivery and doubtfulness of university education, technological concerns of online courses of instruction, being far away from home, social separation and financial losses. Objective: To determine the post-COVID-19 psychological complications among university students in Islamabad. Methods: The study was carried out in various educational universities in Islamabad from March to August 2021. A questionnaire was distributed to obtain data about demographic characteristics and psychological complications during quarantine periods after the Covid-19 outbreak in Pakistan. The questionnaire used to collect data was DASS 21 questionnaire. The association between quarantine due to COVID-19 and students' psychological health was estimated through SPSS 23 analysis procedure with a p-value<0.001 Results: The study was completed by participation of 219 individuals, 54(24.7%) females and 165(75.3%) males. All students with age between 18-30 years who completed the questionnaire both physically and online. The results of the cross-sectional study showed that depression p-value=0.30, anxiety p=0.03 and stress p=0.01. Conclusion: The incidence of post-COVID-19 quarantine psychological complications was quite high among university students of Islamabad due to home-based and administrative quarantine during lockdown measures for conserving their physical and mental health and daily life activities. The current study concludes that stress, anxiety and depression were quite common in students of universities due to quarantine.