Impact of the coronavirus disease on the mental health and physical activity of pharmacy students at the University of Zambia: a cross-sectional study

  1. Steward Mudenda
  2. Moses Mukosha
  3. Chiluba Mwila
  4. Zikria Saleem
  5. Aubrey Chichoni Kalungia
  6. Derick Munkombwe
  7. Victor Daka
  8. Bwalya Angel Witika
  9. Martin Kampamba
  10. Christabel Nang’andu Hikaambo
  11. Mohammad Jaffar Sadiq
  12. Misheck Chileshe
  13. Maisa Kasanga
  14. Webrod Mufwambi
  15. Ruth Lindizyani Mfune
  16. Scott Kaba Matafwali
  17. Paul Odlon Masebe
  18. Lungwani Tyson Muungo
  19. Angela Gono Bwalya
  20. Ronald Mutati Kampamba
  21. Ellah Zingani
  22. David Chimbizgani Banda
  23. Edgar John Sintema
  24. Akash Gupta
  25. Noor Mohammed Abdulrahman
  26. Jimmy Mapenzi Hangoma
  27. Maureen Nkandu Phiri
  28. Dainess Hang’andu
  29. Frank Mudenda
  30. Frank Mudenda
  31. Michelo Banda
  32. Eustarckio Kazonga

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Abstract

Background: The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a serious global health problem that has negatively impacted the mental health of students.Methods: We conducted an online descriptive cross-sectional study among 273 undergraduate pharmacy students at the University of Zambia from August to September 2020. A partial proportional odds regression model was used to determine the predictors of anxiety. All statistical tests were set at 95% confidence level (p<0.05).Results: A response rate of 70% was obtained with the majority of the students being female 51.6%. Of the 273 respondents, 23.8% did not experience anxiety, 34.4% experienced mild anxiety, 24.9% experienced moderate anxiety while 16.9% experienced severe anxiety about COVID-19. It was also found that 61.2% of students reported that their attention to mental health increased during the COVID-19 pandemic whereas 44.3% reported an increased resting time with a significant reduction in relaxation 51.3% and physical activity 45.4% time. Factors that affected mental health included; reduced family care (OR: 2.27; 95% CI: 1.09-4.74), not changing attention to mental health (OR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.18-0.62), being in the final year of study (OR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.13-0.84), reduced time of resting (OR: 2.10; 95% CI: 1.26-3.50) and feeling helpless (OR: 0.42; 95% CI:0.23-0.75).Conclusions: COVID-19 negatively impacted the mental health and physical activity of pharmacy students at the University of Zambia. This can have negative health and academic outcomes for students going forward. Higher learning institutions and key stakeholders should implement measures to aid students to recover from the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health and physical activity.

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  1. Version published to 10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20211010
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.11.21249547: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementConsent: The study included all the enrolled cohorts of undergraduate pharmacy students at UNZA, School of Health Sciences, that provided consent to take part in the study during the academic year 2019 to 2020.
    IRB: Ethical Considerations: This study was approved by the University of Zambia Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (UNZAHSREC).
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Strengths and limitations of the Study: This is the first study to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and physical activity among Zambian students and it has highlighted the need to pay attention to the mental health of students not only during COVID-19 pandemic but even beyond. Further, the study did not only indicate the prevalence of anxiety among pharmacy students due to COVID-19, but it also explored the factors that independently predict the anxiety levels among these students. Since we conducted the study among pharmacy students, the results cannot be generalised to other students doing different programmes. The online nature of the study meant that certain students had no access to the questionnaire and were, therefore, not part of the study. The study findings may not represent the future academic outcomes of undergraduate pharmacy students.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.01.11.21249547 on medRxiv