Health Behaviors of Albanian Students at the University of Medicine during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected humanity in all life areas, particularly stress levels and mental health issues. Objectives: The present research aimed to explore the knowledge, stress level, social distancing, and mental health of the students at the University of Medicine in Albania during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted an anonymous online-based validated survey. We used the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS10) and the perception of COVID-19’s impact (PCI) on well-being. The study’s inclusion criteria included having access to the Internet and being a student at the University of Medicine in Tirana, Albania. We used the statistical package SPSS 26.0 in this study. To analyze numeric variables, we used descriptive statistics and the chi-square test to analyze cross-tabulations of the survey response data for categorical variables. Results: Out of 521 students participating in our study (median age = 20 (1.3) years), 484 (92.9%) were female, and 37 (7.1%) were male; 62.4% had an adequate understanding of the transmission ways of COVID-19 (P = 0.0002); 16.8% of the students reported that social distancing had a significant impact on their psychological status, while 6.33% reported a moderate impact, with a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.0001). Concerning the students’ approach to trusted sources of information during the COVID-19 pandemic, 85.4% reported that they trusted information from friends, 11.1% from the World Health Organization (WHO), and 2.1% from the government (P = 0.0001). We observed a positive correlation according to Pearson chi-square and the likelihood ratio tests between treatment for health problems and health risks of the COVID-19 pandemic (P = 0.0041); 4.4% of students have reported being treated for mental health issues during the COVID-19-related quarantine period (P = 0.0002). Conclusions: Future lockdown strategies should consider the detrimental effects on student mental health. Based on the findings of our study, the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant distress among students. Universities should also adopt a creative and supportive approach to encourage and tackle students’ mental health problems during a pandemic.