Mental health indicators in pharmaceutical sciences students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic changed the daily lives of university students and affected their mental health. The aim of this study was to assess the feelings and perceptions regarding the pandemic and teaching, and to identify the mental health symptoms perceived by pharmaceutical sciences students at a Brazilian public university.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with data triangulation (mixed-methods approach), conducted online with semiannual data collection from May 2020 to May 2021. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and 4 open-ended questions (concerns and perceptions about education and feelings during the pandemic) were used. To identify key indicators of mental health symptoms a network analysis was conducted. The qualitative data were analyzed by similarity and collective subject discourses methods.

Results: There were 682 responses to the study (phase 1: n = 153; phase 2: n = 254; phase 3: n = 275). Most of them were female (67.0-77.8 %) and reported symptoms of anxiety (89.5-93.3 %), distress (72.5-76.3 %), fear (58.8-71.6 %), and insomnia (66.5-72.4 %). The DASS-21 indicators: "I found myself getting agitated," "I felt downhearted and blue" and "I felt that life was meaningless" had greater strength for maintaining the network. Among self-reported symptoms, tachycardia was the network central node. The students raised topics about mental health, teaching, uncertainties, and health protocols and three concerns were health, college, and COVID-19.

Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of mental health symptoms among students. The disruption of the relationship system, instructional model, and future expectations may have influenced this prevalence.