About anxiety levels and anti‐anxiety drugs among quarantined undergraduate Jordanian students during COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to study the anxiety scores among undergraduate university students in Jordan during COVID-19 pandemic and to assess the relationship between quarantine and shifting to distance learning resulted from the governmental strict isolation measures and severity of anxiety among students. Methods: A cross-sectional design was conducted to meet the study objectives. A convenience sample of 736 undergraduate university students in Jordan was recruited, and anxiety was assessed using the Hamilton Anxiety Scale. Results:The results indicated that anxiety score was 22.76 and 40.6% of the participant experienced moderate to severe anxiety, whereas 23.5% experienced mild to moderate anxiety and 35.9% experienced mild anxiety. Factors like suffering from chronic illnesses, having chronic medications, grade point average, shifting to distance learning, quarantine during the pandemic, study duties, the newly developed evaluation methods and the experience of students towards the use of anti-anxiety drugs and herbs had significantly increased the anxiety scores. Conclusion:Our findings indicate that quarantine and shifting to distance learning during COVID-19 pandemic have negatively affected the anxiety scores of the university students which should be taken in consideration by the policymakers in Jordan in order to support this vulnerable group. What's known• Anxiety is an overlooked disorder among university students during quarantined COVID-19 pandemic.

The effect of fear of contagion/being contagious on depression, anxiety and stress levels of university students during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Factors such as increased caregiving responsibility during the pandemic period, worrying about the health of family and friends, and the feeling of loneliness due to social isolation may have affected female students more than male students (Debowska et al, 2020 ). However, contrary to our study, there are also studies that argue that there is no relationship between gender and psychological problems (Alqudah et al, 2021 ; Cao et al, 2020 ).…”

Mental Health Among Medical Students During COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Many studies had investigated the mental health problems of college students and explored the related influencing factors. They suggested that college students’ mental health was affected by academic education, psychological elasticity, stress level, and other factors ( Torres et al, 2017 ; Acharya et al, 2018 ; Alqudah et al, 2021 ; Alyoubi et al, 2021 ).…”

“…A cross-sectional study conducted in China shows that Chinese people’s anxiety, depression, and drinking levels are more significant than before, and their mental health status decreases during the outbreak of COVID-19 ( Ahmed et al, 2020 ). Some studies have shown that anxiety and depression are common mental health problems faced by college students during COVID-19, and they are at a high risk level ( Naser et al, 2020 ); similarly, research results show that college students are vulnerable to psychological problems during the pandemic of COVID-19 and isolation and distance learning has a significant impact on students’ anxiety levels ( Alqudah et al, 2021 ); In addition to COVID-19 patients and medical staff, college students are another group of people who are particularly prone to mental health disorders during the pandemic. Even if not during the outbreak of COVID-19, college students are experiencing considerable anxiety and depression due to academic pressure ( Deng et al, 2021 ).…”

Pandeminin Gölgesinde Tıp Öğrencisi Olmak: Tıp Öğrencilerinin COVİD-19 Pandemisine Karşı Psikolojik Tepkileri Ve Uzaktan Eğitimle İlgili Görüşleri

“…Studies show that university students are vulnerable to psychological problems in the pandemic, and online learning, quarantine, and restrictions have a significant impact on students' anxiety levels (10). In a study, it was suggested that the psychological consequences that develop due to the pandemic in students may be serious, and psychological interventions are necessary to reduce the stress that students feel and improve their sleep quality (11).…”