The psychological impact of COVID-19 on the college students in Nepal

This article focuses on the psychological impact of COVID-19 and its effect among the Nepali college students. As we know, the pandemic started in China with a few pneumonia-like cases and has spread all over the world since December 2019.The outbreak has not only caused suffering and fatality but also increased psychological stress and panic among people. This study used convenience sampling and web-based quantitative questionnaire that included the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and other basic information to identify the psychological impact of the pandemic. The General Anxiety Disorder Scale results indicated that two-third of the college students who responded to the survey had some level of anxiety, ranging from mild to moderate and severe. Associated gender of the respondents had some relation to the anxiety during this pandemic. The correlation analysis results indicated that certain worries related to financial impact of COVID were positively associated with anxiety symptoms (P<0.05). In contrast to this, support from family, friends and society was negatively correlated with the level of anxiety (P<0.001). It shows that social support provides necessary help to college students in dealing with stressors and anxiousness that comes with uncertain situations. Original Article PII: S2322477027-10 Rec. 28 July, 2020 Acc. 29 August, 2020 Pub. 25 September, 2020