Mental Health Status of Nepalese Students during Novel Coronavirus Disease (nCOVID-19) Pandemic

  • Isha Karmacharya CiST College https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2840-4181
  • Shital Shrestha Public Health Department, CiST College, New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, 44602, Nepal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3415-1814
  • Sachina Paudel Public Health Officer, Urban Health Promotion Centre, Bharatpur Metropolitan City, Government of Nepal Author’s Affiliation
  • Laxmi Adhikari Public Health Department, CiST College, New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, 44602, Nepal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2265-5724
  • Kshitiz Bhujel Annapurna Neurological Institute & Allied Sciences, Kathmandu, 44602, Nepal
  • Karuna Laxmi Shakya Public Health Department, CiST College, New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, 44602, Nepal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46405/ejms.v2i2.172
Keywords: Anxiety, Depression, DAS-21, Mental Health, Stress, Students, Youth

Abstract

Background: Since the wave of COVID-19, human life has highly been affected due to government endorsement of containment measures to control the disease. Education system has been held back and students are one of those who are greatly affected. Thus, this study attempts to find out the mental health status of Nepalese students during novel coronavirus Disease (nCOVID-19) pandemic.

Methodology: A web-based cross sectional descriptive study was conducted from 9 May to 29 May 2020 among students of Nepal aged 18 years and above. A structured questionnaire was adopted from DASS-21. The obtained data were entered in Epidata v.3.1. and were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive frequency, percent and mean were calculated, and chi-square test was performed for bivariate analysis.

Results: The mean age of the study participants was 21.4±2.7 years. This study found optimal mental health status among Nepalese students. Perceived family relationship however, showed statistical significance in all three mental health parameters (p<0.001); depression, anxiety and stress. Depression was found to be comparatively more in females (p<0.05), and those who held Bachelor’s and above degrees have shown presence of anxiety (p<0.05) and stress (p<0.05) relatively than those holding below degrees.

Conclusion: Optimal mental health status among Nepalese students was found during the nationwide lockdown. Perceived family relationship however, showed statistical significance in all three mental health parameters. This is a wake-up call for education system to focus on socio-emotional skills – empathy and solidarity in easing this pandemic crisis confronted by young learners and their families.

Author Biography

Karuna Laxmi Shakya, Public Health Department, CiST College, New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, 44602, Nepal

 

References

Mahase E. China coronavirus: WHO declares international emergency as death toll exceeds 200. BMJ. 2020; 368: m408. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m408.

Ghebreyesus TA. WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19-11 March. World Health Organization. 2020; https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/whodirector-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-oncovid-19—-11-march-2020

Ho CS, Chee CY and Ho RC. Mental health strategies to combat the psychological impact of COVID-19 beyond paranoia and panic. Ann Acad Med Singapore. 2020; 49(1): 1-3. http://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1211.

Lee J. Mental health effects of school closures during COVID-19. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. 2020; 4(6): 421. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30109-7.

US Embassy Nepal. COVID-19 information. 2020; https://np.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

Kessler RC and Üstün TB. The World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research. 2004; 13(2): 93-121. http://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.168.

Pedrelli P, Nyer M, Yeung A, et al. College Students: Mental Health Problems and Treatment Considerations. Acad Psychiatry. 2015; 39(5): 503-511. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-014-0205-9.

Network TL. What Students Are Saying About Living Through a Pandemic. 2020; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/learning/what-students-are-saying-about-living-through-a-pandemic.html

UNESCO. Global Monitoring of School Closures caused by COVID-19. 2020; https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse

Suryadevara V, Adusumalli C, Adusumilli PK, et al. Mental Health Status among the South Indian Pharmacy Students during Covid-19 Pandemic Quarantine Period: A Cross-Sectional Study. medRxiv. 2020: 2020.2005.2008.20093708. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.08.20093708.

Gruttadaro D and Crudo D. College Students Speak: A Survey on Mental Health. National Alliance on Mental Health. 2012.

Emmanuel L. Prevalence and Correlates of Depression, Anxiety and Academic Stress among Science Students in Oduduwa University, Ile- Ife, Nigeria. Texila International Journal of Public Health 2016; 4: 1-11. http://doi.org/10.21522/TIJPH.2013.04.03.Art001.

Cao W, Fang Z, Hou G, et al. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry Research. 2020; 287: 112934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112934.

Zhai Y and Du X. Addressing collegiate mental health amid COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatry Research. 2020; 288: 113003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113003.

Lee RM, Fielding N and Blank G. The Internet as a Research Medium: An Editorial Introduction to the Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods. The Sage handbook of online research methods. 2008: 3-20. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9780857020055.n1.

Lovibond SH, Lovibond PF and Psychology Foundation of A. Manual for the depression anxiety stress scales. 1995. http://bit.ly/DASS_inst.

Eysenbach G. Improving the Quality of Web Surveys: The Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). J Med Internet Res. 2004; 6(3): e34. http://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6.3.e34.

Ghimire B. Secondary Education Examination not to be held this year. The Kathmandu Post, June 10 2020; [Link]

Neupane P. Violence against women: Along with COVID-19 ,another crisis is taking place in Nepal. Online khabar. 2020; https://english.onlinekhabar.com/violence-against-women-along-with-covid-19-another-crisis-is-taking-place-in-nepal.html

Board NE. NEB Releases Assessment Procedure for SEE 2077. Nepalisansar, June 10 2020;

Peter G and Sapkota JR. COVID-19: Nepal in Crisis. THE DIPLOMAT. 2020; https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/covid-19-nepal-in-crisis/

Wang C, Pan R, Wan X, et al. A longitudinal study on the mental health of general population during the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Brain Behav Immun. 2020; 87: 40-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.028.

Agency AaN. India: Unable to access online classes, Dalit girl kills herself. Aljazeera, 2020;

Zivin K, Eisenberg D, Gollust SE, et al. Persistence of mental health problems and need in a college student population. Journal of affective disorders. 2009; 117(3): 180-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2009.01.001.

Pedrelli P, Nyer M, Yeung A, et al. College Students: Mental Health Problems and Treatment Considerations. Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry. 2015; 39(5): 503-511. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-014-0205-9.

Cao W, Fang Z, Hou G, et al. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry research. 2020; 287: 112934. 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112934.

Restifo K and Bögels S. Family processes in the development of youth depression: translating the evidence to treatment. Clinical psychology review. 2009; 29(4): 294-316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.02.005.

Sander JB and McCarty CA. Youth depression in the family context: familial risk factors and models of treatment. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2005; 8(3): 203-219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-005-6666-3.

NTA Kathmandu N. Nepal Telecommunications Authority MIS Report. 2019; https://nta.gov.np/en/mis-reports/

Singh DR, Sunuwar DR, Karki K, et al. Knowledge and Perception Towards Universal Safety Precautions During Early Phase of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Nepal. Journal of Community Health. 2020: 1-7. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-020-00839-3.

EJMS COVID-17
Published
2020-10-28
How to Cite
1.
Karmacharya I, Shrestha S, Paudel S, Adhikari L, Bhujel K, Shakya KL. Mental Health Status of Nepalese Students during Novel Coronavirus Disease (nCOVID-19) Pandemic. Europasian J Med Sci. [Internet]. 2020Oct.28 [cited 2024Apr.26];20:13-1. Available from: https://www.europasianjournals.org/ejms/index.php/ejms/article/view/172
Issue
Vol 2 (2020): EJMS COVID-19 Special Issue 3
Section
Original Articles

Copyright (c) 2020 Author(s)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

All articles published in EJMS are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). The author(s) as the copyright holder will retain the ownership of the copyrights without any restrictions for their content under the CC-BY 4.0 license, and allow others to copy, use, print, share, modify, and distribute the content of the article even in commercial purpose as long as the original authors and the journal are properly cited. No permission is required from the author/s or the publishers. Appropriate attribution can be provided by simply citing the original article.

On behalf of all the authors, the corresponding author is responsible for completing and returning the agreement form to the editorial office. More information about the terms and conditions, privacy policies, and copyrights can be found on the webpage of the Creative Commons license privacy policy. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/