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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on everyone’s daily lives with short-term or long-term consequences. Among the affected population, university students were studied by researchers specifically due to the total change to their educational way of learning and the courses they attended. The present study aimed to assess the psychological difficulties experienced by the university students of Greece during the first wave of the outbreak. Methods: 288 university nursing students completed an electronic questionnaire after consent. The sample included students from all years of study. The questionnaire included demographic data and questions about mental health status, resilience level, coping strategies, positive and negative emotions and an optimism assessment. Results: Depression (44.8%), anxiety (36.8%) and stress (40.3%) were experienced by the students. Females had significantly greater anxiety and stress signs compared to males (p < 0.001). The resilience score was significantly greater in males, as it was for the Positive Affect Score. Students in the fourth year of study used significantly more active/positive coping strategies than students in the first (p = 0.016) or second year of study (p = 0.005). Conclusion: Several students experienced serious mental disorders during the first period of the COVID-19 outbreak. Variables such as gender, year of study, age, positive and negative affect score, life orientation test score and coping strategies were identified as factors contributing to this situation. Special attention must be paid to female students as they mentioned negative emotions more frequently than males. Further research on the academic population could be beneficial to university administrators.

Details

Title
Anxiety, Stress and the Resilience of University Students during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Author
Dafogianni, Chrysoula 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Pappa, Despoina 1 ; Mangoulia, Polyxeni 2 ; Freideriki, Eleni Kourti 3 ; Koutelekos, Ioannis 1 ; Dousis, Evangelos 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Margari, Nikoletta 1 ; Ferentinou, Eftychia 1 ; Stavropoulou, Areti 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Gerogianni, Georgia 1 ; Fradelos, Evangelos 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Zartaloudi, Afroditi 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Nursing, University of West Attica, 12243 Athens, Greece 
 Department of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10679 Athens, Greece 
 School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10679 Athens, Greece 
 Faculty of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, 41500 Larissa, Greece 
First page
2573
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
22279032
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2756689309
Copyright
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.