Anxiety and depression among nursing students during the COVID-19 lockdown: A cross-sectional correlational study

To determine the prevalence and levels of anxiety and depression symptoms among nursing students during the coronavirus lockdown, and to examine factors associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression on this population.

Nursing students deal with diverse stressors during their university lives. Confinement measures during COVID-19 outbreak may have influenced students' mental health and well-being. Anxiety and depression are common among nursing students due to different factors. Evidence relating to anxiety and depression in nursing student population during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is limited.

A cross-sectional descriptive co-relational study during the lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak in Spain was conducted.

An online questionnaire was developed by using google forms. Sociodemographic characteristics form, and the Spanish version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used. Spanish nursing students across the country were enrolled. Data collection was performed between 4 April 2020 and 21 April 2020. A multivariate analysis was performed to determine the association between sociodemographic variables, COVID-19 and HADS scores.

1319 participants were enrolled. The sample was formed by 87.1% female students with a mean age of 22 years (SD ± 5.677). We found a mean score of 8.47 ± 4.104 on Scale HADS-Anxiety and 6.80 ± 2.988 on HADS-Depression. 31.6% students presented abnormal scores of anxiety symptoms, and only 11.4% participants revealed abnormal scores on HADS-Depression.

The reported prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms on nursing students during the COVID-19 lockdown is 56.4% and 38.2%, respectively. 43.6% of the sample scored normal anxiety levels, and 61.8% obtained normal depression levels. Higher anxiety and depression levels were statistically associated with being a first-year student, being a smoker, feeling fear, feeling stress and having any close family member infected.

These data should be valuable for detection and for further treatment decision of this disorders at the initial stage and could be important to prevent further damages to mental health and promote physical, psychological and well-being among this population.