Anxiety, Stress and the Resilience of University Students during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on everyone’s daily lives with short-term or long-term consequences. Among the affected population, university students were studied by researchers specifically due to the total change to their educational way of learning and the courses they attended. The present study aimed to assess the psychological difficulties experienced by the university students of Greece during the first wave of the outbreak. Methods: 288 university nursing students completed an electronic questionnaire after consent. The sample included students from all years of study. The questionnaire included demographic data and questions about mental health status, resilience level, coping strategies, positive and negative emotions and an optimism assessment. Results: Depression (44.8%), anxiety (36.8%) and stress (40.3%) were experienced by the students. Females had significantly greater anxiety and stress signs compared to males (p < 0.001). The resilience score was significantly greater in males, as it was for the Positive Affect Score. Students in the fourth year of study used significantly more active/positive coping strategies than students in the first (p = 0.016) or second year of study (p = 0.005). Conclusion: Several students experienced serious mental disorders during the first period of the COVID-19 outbreak. Variables such as gender, year of study, age, positive and negative affect score, life orientation test score and coping strategies were identified as factors contributing to this situation. Special attention must be paid to female students as they mentioned negative emotions more frequently than males. Further research on the academic population could be beneficial to university administrators.

Exploring the Stress and Resilience Levels of Dental and Nursing Students in Response to Academic Responsibilities

“…3%, for dentistry: 26.3% and for nursing 13.5%) and depression (for the total sample: 18%, for dentistry: 20% and for nursing 15.9%). These rates are higher than in other studies in Greek nursing students during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic [4]and frontline nurses in referral hospitals for Covid-19 [47]. Itʹs also noteworthy to observe that working nurses experience anxiety, while nursing students experience depression at a higher rate.…”

“…Moderate to high degrees of resilience were found in the Labrague (2021) [72] study, which lessened the detrimental effects of COVID-associated stress on psychological well-being and life satisfaction. In a similar vein, Dafogianni et al (2022) [4] found that stress, anxiety, and depression were significantly negatively connected with resilience, life orientation, and active/positive coping, and positively correlated with negative affect score. In our study, stress and anxiety were associated with lower resilience levels.…”

“…Female undergraduate students showed higher scores of stress and anxiety compared to male undergraduate students. According to Dafogianni et al (2022) [4], female students experienced noticeably higher levels of stress and anxiety than males. Patsali et al (2020) [61] suggested that female students were at double risk of developing depression in comparison to males.…”

“…It is a normal response to danger, but if the feeling is particularly persistent, it could be considered a disorder (Dean, 2016). Affecting approximately 1 in 9 people, anxiety disorder is one of the most common mental illnesses and appears to be a significant problem for many dental and nursing students worldwide [3,4]. Resilience on the other hand was specified by Bonanno in 2004 [5].…”

“…As for Nursing students, a study by Dafogianni et al (2022) during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic showed that depression was present in 44.8% of students, anxiety in 36.8%, and stress in 40.3%. Additionally, females develop more anxiety and stress than males, while male studentsʹ mental resilience appears to be higher than that of females [4]. Students in their final year, to a greater extent, develop coping strategies compared to first-year students.…”