AUTHOR=Abdulrahman Mahmoud Mahmoud 

TITLE=Prevalence of depression among Science students during the COVID-19 pandemic period in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1286283

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1286283

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>The present study aimed to examine the prevalence of depression among science students during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A survey-based study was conducted on 521 science students at Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), during the course of the semester.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Showed that the Most students were female (62.19%). Sadness symptoms were observed among 59.69% of the students. We found a 77.74% overall prevalence of depression among students. Most individuals reported moderate BDI (25.34%), but extremely severe BDI was also reported in 7.29% of individuals. The BDI scores were highly significantly correlated with gender, education, and field of specialty (&lt; 0.001) based on different statistical tests. BDI scores were significantly associated with number of the demographic and academic variables (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05).</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>The study found significant symptoms of depression among students who displayed characteristics of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, students should undergo psychological counseling during difficult pandemic periods to prevent depression and mental stress.</p></sec>