The psychological impact of social distancing related to the covid-19 pandemic on undergraduate and graduate students in Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Angélica Aparecida de
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Silva, Lea Assed Bezerra da, Nelson Filho, Paulo, Puccinelli, Carolina Maschietto, Silva, Clara Marina Pereira Cavalcanti, Segato, Raquel Assed Bezerra
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian journal of oral sciences (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/bjos/article/view/8666698
• topic: Coronavirus infections; COVID-19; Patient health questionnaire; Anxiety; Students, dental

Aim: To evaluate the psychological impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate and graduate students of the Dental School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo. Methods: Three questionnaires were used: sociodemographic, WHO Abbreviated Quality of Life Inventory, and General Anxiety Disorder-7. Data were analyzed using Graph Pad Prism 7a (α = 5%). Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn post-tests were used for statistical comparisons. The Spearman test was used as the correlation test. Results: 257 students responded to the online form that assessed their quality of life and anxiety level. On a scale from 1 to 100, with 100 being the best quality of life, the average obtained was 64.71 (± 13.36). In addition, 87.6% of the students rated their quality of life as good or very good. 74.7% reported good or very good health. The anxiety analysis resulted in an average of 10.04 (± 4.5), indicating moderate anxiety levels. There was an inversely proportional correlation between age and degree of anxiety (p = 0.008, r = -0.1628) and self-perceived learning and student commitment (r = 0.69). Conclusion: Despite the good quality of life and the students’ good self-perception of health, they showed a moderate degree of anxiety during the social distancing caused by COVID-19, also demonstrating a decrease in interest and commitment during distance education.