Online ISSN: 2515-8260

DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY AMONG STUDENTS COMMUNITY DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN IN TAMIL NADU - A WEB BASED DESCRIPTIVE CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

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K.Saravanan1 , S.Hariharan2 , R. Karthikeyan3 , B.Krishna Prasanth4 , Supraja Nagarathinam5

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an appreciable impact on public mental health. Hence continuous monitoring of the population’s mental health especially during a pandemic demands immediate attention. The COVID-19 pandemic contributing to a rise in depression and anxiety among college students, with more than one third of them experiencing detrimental mental health challenges. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic among medical college students. Methods: This study was conducted among 500 medical college students, after getting approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee. Pre-structured questionnaire-based DASS21 scale was used for this study through Google form after obtaining written consent from the students. Using Google Form, a structured e-questionnaire was created and the link was shared via email. All the data were analysed using SPSS ver24. Results are given in frequency and percentage Results: In our study, we found that prevalence of depression and anxiety, among college students was 16%, and 18%, respectively. Conclusion: In our study, we found that anxiety, depression, and stress were present among medical students. In COVID-19 phase, students were not attending medical colleges and all the teaching process was online. Even at home, medical students were suffering from anxiety, depression, and stress. Early evaluation and intervention should be prioritized to reduce these morbidities among the medical students.

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