Academic stress and mental health problems in nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an important impact on the training of nursing professionals, affecting the mental health of students due to the experiences they have faced. Objective: Assess the level of academic stress in nursing students and its relationship to anxiety, depression, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: Correlational study with 1009 nursing students who agreed to participate. A virtual survey was applied, collecting sociodemographic and COVID-19 Pandemic experiences data, in addition to questionnaires on anxiety, depression, insomnia, and post-traumatic and academic stress, with prior authorization from the research and ethics committee. Statistical analysis such as Square Chi, Spearman's Rho and logistic regression model were used. Results: 68.1 % presented anxiety, 64.3 % depression, 56.3 % insomnia and 85.7 % academic stress. Academic stress showed statistical association with sex, school period, diagnosis in a family member and contact with a person suspected or confirmed of having COVID-19. Presenting academic stress is 3.9 times higher with moderate anxiety, 10.6 times higher with moderate depression, 12.7 times higher with moderate clinical insomnia, 1.8 times higher with a family member diagnosed with the disease, and 2.6 times higher with contact of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. Conclusions: Mental health problems were related to academic stress levels in nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The nursing professional must design educational and training strategies to reduce the levels of these problems, applicable from educational training to the workplace.