AUTHOR=Gao Feng , Jiao Shu-xin , Bi Ya-qiong , Huang Zi-yi , Wang Pei , Zhang Bo-yan , Fang Jing , Han Rui-lan , Fan Lei , Wang Min-jie , Lv Xiao-li , Li Jun , Hu Yu-xia , Zhang Meng-di , Qiao Qing , Zhao Xue , Li Dan , Xiao Zhi-bin , Chang Fu-hou , Bai Tu-ya
TITLE=The Impact of the SARS-COV-2 Pandemic on the Mental Health and Employment Decisions of Medical Students in North China
JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry
VOLUME=12
YEAR=2021
URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.641138
DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.641138
ISSN=1664-0640
ABSTRACT=Background: The outbreak of severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) has led to long periods of social isolation for individuals across the world. Although medical students generally have a high prevalence of mental health problems, they have received less attention than other groups concerning the impact of SARS-COV-2. Therefore, the present study investigated the mental health status, risk factors, and protective factors for mental health problems in medical students in North China during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic.
Methods: A WeChat-based survey, which included the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 and measures of social demographics, was performed twice. Risk and protective factors were identified by binary logistic regression analysis.
Results: A total of 702 effective questionnaires were collected in two separate surveys. In total, 24.55% of medical students were suffering anxiety to different degrees of severity, 13.18% were suffering depression in the first survey, and 3.71% wanted to give up working in primary medical care during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic in the second survey. In contrast, during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, a risk factor for anxiety and depression was gender which is male, while being knowledgeable about the SARS-COV-2 pandemic and having a lower academic burden were both protective factors.
Conclusions: Measures are required to prevent increases in mental health problems in medical students. Our findings suggest that increasing knowledge about the SARS-COV-2 pandemic and reducing academic burden in medical students is extremely important during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic.