Mental health and coping strategies in graduate students in the COVID-19 pandemic

Scorsolini-Comin, Fabio; Patias, Naiana Dapieve; Cozzer, Alisson Junior; Flores, Pedro Augusto Warken; Hohendorff, Jean Von

doi:10.1590/1518-8345.5012.3491

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem

Español English

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

Original Article • Rev. Latino-Am. Enfermagem 29 • 2021 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.5012.3491 copy

Mental health and coping strategies in graduate students in the COVID-19 pandemic

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Objective:

to verify the relation of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms with coping strategies in graduate students in the context of the new coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

Method:

an electronic cross-sectional and correlational survey was conducted with 331 Brazilian graduate students, aged 20-64 years old, who answered an online form containing a sociodemographic data questionnaire, a coping strategies scale, and the DASS-21 scale. Descriptive analysis, Mann-Whitney U or Kruskal-Wallis tests, and Spearman’s correlation were performed.

Results:

the main results indicated that maintaining work and study routines, as well as a religious practice, is correlated with lower scores of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, as well as with coping strategies that can act as protective factors.

Conclusion:

the new coronavirus pandemic has strained public health and increased the need for studies aimed at understanding the impact of the event on the mental health of the population. It is suggested that employment and religiousness should be considered in interventions with graduate students.

Descriptors:
Psychological Adaptation; COVID-19; Depression; Anxiety; Psychological Stress; Student’s Health

Characteristics	n	%	Characteristics	n	%
State			Study situation
RS	121	37	Yes	209	63
SP	29	9	Partially	101	31
MG	26	8	No	21	6
SC	22	7	Institution
Others	133	270	Public	249	75
Gender			Private	71	22
Female	248	75	Community	11	3
Male	80	24	Skin color
Rather not say	3	1	White	242	73
Graduate studies			Brown	62	19
Master’s degree	193	58	Black	24	7
Doctorate degree	131	40	Asian	3	1
Did not answer	7	2	Works
Field of study			Yes	183	55
Humanities	160	48	No	133	40
Health Sciences	56	17	Temporarily suspended	15	5
Applied Social Science	38	12	Do you currently need to go out of your house to work?
Engineering	23	7	No	232	70
Others	54	16	Yes	62	19
Religious practice			Did not answer	37	11
Yes	167	51	Family income
No	164	49	Up to 2 minimum wages^* * Current minimum wage: R$ 1,045.00. Brazil, 2020	48	15
Religion			2 to 4 minimum wages^* * Current minimum wage: R$ 1,045.00. Brazil, 2020	73	22
Catholicism	83	25	4 to 6 minimum wages^* * Current minimum wage: R$ 1,045.00. Brazil, 2020	71	22
Spiritism	34	10	6 to 8 minimum wages^* * Current minimum wage: R$ 1,045.00. Brazil, 2020	56	17
Mission Protestantism	27	8	8 to 10 minimum wages^* * Current minimum wage: R$ 1,045.00. Brazil, 2020	30	9
Protestantism of Pentecostal origin	11	3	10 minimum wages^* * Current minimum wage: R$ 1,045.00. Brazil, 2020 or more	53	16

Characteristics	n	%	Characteristics	n	%
COVID-19 symptoms			Social distancing degree
Yes	11	3	Partial	277	84
No	320	97	Total	42	13
COVID-19 test performed			None	12	3
Yes	14	4	How many days do you go out of your house in a given week?
No	317	96	None	46	14
Test result			1	133	40
Negative	12	86	2	59	18
Positive	2	14	3	38	12
Extra residents			4	19	6
None, I live alone	22	7	5	18	5
1	54	16	6	13	4
2	108	33	7	5	1
3	68	21	At-risk group people
4	55	17	Yes	156	47
5	18	5	No	138	42
6	6	1	I live alone	37	11

	M^* * Mean;	SD^† † Standard Deviation;
Depression	7.64	6.21
Anxiety	5.93	5.66
Stress	10.37	5.88
CSI^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 1 - Confrontation	5.46	2.79
CSI^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 2 - Distancing	6.63	3.10
CSI^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 3 - Self-control	9.58	3.37
CSI^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 4 - Social Support	9.26	3.86
CSI^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 5 - Accepting Responsibility	4.27	2.64
CSI^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 6 - Escape-avoidance	9.18	4.79
CSI^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 7 - Problem Solving	8.97	3.87
CSI^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 8 - Positive Reappraisal	9.80	4.76

	Depression	Anxiety	Stress	CSI1^* * Coping Strategy Inventory 1: Confrontation;	CSI2^† † Coping Strategy Inventory 2: Distancing;	CSI3^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 3: Self-control;	CSI4^§ § Coping Strategy Inventory 4: Social Support;	CSI5^\|\| \|\| Coping Strategy Inventory 5: Accepting Responsibility;	CSI6^¶ ¶ Coping Strategy Inventory 6: Escape-avoidance;	CSI7^ Coping Strategy Inventory 7: Problem Solving;	CSI8^†† †† Coping Strategy Inventory 8: Positive Reappraisal;
Depression	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Anxiety	0.70^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Stress	0.76^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.79^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
CSI1^* * Coping Strategy Inventory 1: Confrontation;	0.18^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.27^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.36^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
CSI2^† † Coping Strategy Inventory 2: Distancing;	0.04	0.13^§§ §§ p≤0.05	0.06	0.20^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
CSI3^‡ ‡ Coping Strategy Inventory 3: Self-control;	0.25^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.32^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.32^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.40^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.37^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1	-	-	-	-	-
CSI4^§ § Coping Strategy Inventory 4: Social Support;	0.05	0.22^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.30^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.48^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.11^§§ §§ p≤0.05	0.27^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1	-	-	-	-
CSI5^\|\| \|\| Coping Strategy Inventory 5: Accepting Responsibility;	0.33^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.33^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.46^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.56^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.21^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.44^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.42^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1	-	-	-
CSI6^¶ ¶ Coping Strategy Inventory 6: Escape-avoidance;	0.60^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.53^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.64^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.40^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.12^§§ §§ p≤0.05	0.36^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.21^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.45^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1	-	-
CSI7^ Coping Strategy Inventory 7: Problem Solving;	-0.33^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	-0.08	-0.14^§§ §§ p≤0.05	0.34^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.34^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.27^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.37^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.18^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	-0.16^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1	-
CSI8^†† †† Coping Strategy Inventory 8: Positive Reappraisal;	-0.20^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.09	0.01	0.33^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.33^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.26^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.42^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	0.25^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	-0.02	0.61^‡‡ ‡‡ p≤0.01;	1

Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto / Universidade de São Paulo Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, 14040-902 Ribeirão Preto SP Brazil, Tel.: +55 (16) 3315-3451 / 3315-4407 - Ribeirão Preto - SP - Brazil
E-mail: rlae@eerp.usp.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Authors’ contribution:

Study concept and design: Fabio Scorsolini-Comin, Naiana Dapieve Patias, Alisson Junior Cozzer, Pedro Augusto Warken Flores, Jean Von Hohendorff. Obtaining data: Fabio Scorsolini-Comin, Naiana Dapieve Patias, Alisson Junior Cozzer, Pedro Augusto Warken Flores, Jean Von Hohendorff. Data analysis and interpretation: Fabio Scorsolini-Comin, Naiana Dapieve Patias, Alisson Junior Cozzer, Pedro Augusto Warken Flores, Jean Von Hohendorff. Statistical analysis: Naiana Dapieve Patias. Drafting the manuscript: Fabio Scorsolini-Comin, Naiana Dapieve Patias, Alisson Junior Cozzer, Pedro Augusto Warken Flores, Jean Von Hohendorff. Critical review of the manuscript as to its relevant intellectual content: Fabio Scorsolini-Comin, Naiana Dapieve Patias, Alisson Junior Cozzer, Pedro Augusto Warken Flores, Jean Von Hohendorff.