Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Students amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Philippines

Abstract

Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Students amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Philippines Joel Rey U. Acob1 , Hidayat Arifin2* , Yulis Setiya Dewi3 1 College of Nursing, Visayas State University, Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines 2 Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia 3 Department of Advancedl Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia OPEN ACCESS Jurnal Keperawatan Padjadjaran (JKP) Volume 9(2), 102-109 © The Author(s) 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.24198/jkp. v9i2.1673 Article Info Received : June 26, 2021 Revised : July 1, 2021 Accepted : July 12, 2021 Published : August 31, 2021 Corresponding author Hidayat Arifin, M.Kep. Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia, Postal address: 45363, phone: 62 8113184433, e-mail: hidayat.arifin@unpad.ac.id Citation Acob, J. R. U., Arifin, H., & Dewi, Y. S. (2021). Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Students amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Philippines. Jurnal Keperawatan Padjadjaran, 9(2), 102–109. https://doi.org/10.24198/jkp. v9i2.1673 Website http://jkp.fkep.unpad.ac.id/index. php/jkp This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. E-ISSN: 2442-7276 P-ISSN: 2338-5324 Abstract Background: COVID-19 considered as a global health crisis poses mental health problems among individual and specifics to students. Purpose: This study aimed to determine the depression, anxiety, and stress levels among students amidst COVID-19 pandemic in Philippines. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in Region 8, Eastern Visayas Philippines. A total of 311 tertiary respondents randomly selected both private and government owned higher education institutions. The data compilation was done using online questionnaires through Google Forms with validated version of the Stress, Anxiety and Depression Scales 21 (DASS21) is used to calculate students’ level of stress, anxiety and, depression with their socio-demographic features Results: We revealed that depression, anxiety and stress are instituted in 18.6 %, 35.1 % and 2.85% of students, respectively, amidst the COVID – 19 pandemics. The symptoms of disorders were moderate to extremely severe in 6.1%, 23.5%, and 0.6% of the study sample, respectively. Age, gender, marital status and family history of illness are significantly different with age group 20 and below, females, singles, and families with no history of illness displaying high level of anxiety. Results also established an association between anxiety and family’s monthly income and history of illness. The higher the monthly income and no presence of illness of families, the more anxious the person. Conclusion: Finally, the variables used, explained only 1.5% depression, 3.4% anxiety and 1.4% stress in this time of COVID-19 outbreak. It is therefore recommended to essentially develop community-based mental health program for preventive purposes.