Mental Health Status of Nepalese Students during Novel Coronavirus Disease (nCOVID-19) Pandemic

Background: Since the wave of COVID-19, human life has highly been affected due to government endorsement of containment measures to control the disease. Education system has been held back and students are one of those who are greatly affected. Thus, this study attempts to find out the mental health status of Nepalese students during novel coronavirus Disease (nCOVID-19) pandemic. Methodology: A web-based cross sectional descriptive study was conducted from 9 May to 29 May 2020 among 517 students of Nepal aged 18 years and above. A structured questionnaire was adopted from DASS-21. The responses on the online questionnaire had transferred into Microsoft Excel and the data analysis was conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows Version 21.0. Descriptive frequency, percent and mean were calculated, and chi-square test was performed for bivariate analysis. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 21.4±2.7 years. This study found that majority of the Nepalese students had normal status of depression (69.6%), anxiety (71.4%) and stress (71.4%). Perceived family relationship however, showed statistical significance in all three mental health parameters (p<0.001); depression, anxiety and stress. Depression was found to be comparatively more in females (p<0.05), and those who held Bachelor’s and above degrees have shown presence of anxiety (p<0.05) and stress (p<0.05) relatively than those holding below degrees. Conclusion: Majority of the Nepalese students had normal status of depression, anxiety and stress during the nationwide lockdown. Perceived family relationship however, showed statistical significance in all three mental health parameters. This is a wake-up call for education system to focus on socio-emotional skills – empathy and solidarity in easing this pandemic crisis confronted by young learners and their families.