Stress, anxiety and depression in undergraduate dental students in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

• Autor(a) principal: Viana, Murilo Áquila de Oliveira
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Forte, Franklin Delano Soares, Cavalcanti, Sérgio D'Ávila Lins Bezerra, Massoni, Andreza Cristina de Lima Targino
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da ABENO (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revabeno.emnuvens.com.br/revabeno/article/view/1813
• topic: Pandemias; Transtornos Mentais; Estudantes de Odontologia; Pandemics; Mental Disorders; Students Dental; Pandemias; Transtornos Mentales; Estudiantes de Odontología

The aim of the present study was to determine the occurrence of stress, anxiety and depression in undergraduate dental students at public institutions in the state of Paraíba, Brazil, and associations with aspects related to the coronavirus pandemic (SARS-CoV-2). An observational cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 488 dental students. Data collection involved the use of two questionnaires. One was developed by the researchers to collect sociodemographic data and information on the pandemic and the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to identify the occurrence of depression, anxiety and stress. The significance level on the statistical tests was set at 5% (p < 0.05). The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was 60.0%, 59.8% and 60.9%, respectively. The multivariate analysis revealed that the variable “change in personal health status” remained associated with all three outcomes (anxiety, depression and stress) (p < 0.001). The variable “afraid to return to clinical examinations/procedures within the context of the pandemic” remained associated with anxiety (p = 0.031) and stress (p = 0.002) in the final model. The only variable that remained associated with depression was “self-perceived negative impact on the quality of interpersonal relationships due to the pandemic” (p = 0.004). The prevalence of the outcomes studied was high and the multivariate analysis revealed associations with important aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. Such associations underscore the need to discuss the effect of the pandemic on mental health and how dental students are affected by COVID-19.