Self-reported mental health symptoms, quality of life and coping strategies in French health sciences students during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic: an online survey

Leaune, Edouard; Vieux, Maxime; Marchal, Mathilde; Combes, Caroline; Crandall, Sonia; Haesebaert, Julie; Poulet, Emmanuel

Introduction: Health sciences students usually report high rates of mental health problems. The COVID-19 pandemic context may have serious psychological impacts in this at-risk population. We aimed to assess the self-reported mental health status, health-related quality of life and coping strategies of health sciences students during the early stage of the pandemic. Method: An online 128-item questionnaire sent to 17,673 health sciences students from the Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 in April 2020 assessed: a) sociodemographic characteristics, b) conditions of lockdown, c) depressive (Beck Depression Inventory- Short Form, BDI-SF), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-A, STAI-A) and traumatic symptoms (Impact of Event Scale -Revised, IES-R), d) health-related quality of life (SF12) and e) coping strategies (Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced, Brief COPE). Results: The participation rate was 9.9% (n= 1,765). A total of 19.5% of participants reported an IES-R>33, 11.6% depressive symptoms, 58.1% anxiety symptoms, and 4.4% suicidal ideation. Their mental health-related quality of life was significantly poorer than for physical health. Female gender, COVID-like symptoms, social isolation due to the lockdown, pandemic-related financial restraint and exams-related stress were significantly associated with poorer self-reported mental health conditions. Volunteering in the healthcare system was significantly associated with lower mental health scores. Coping strategies were mostly oriented toward avoidance and positive appraisal. Conclusion: French health sciences students exhibited high levels of self-reported mental health problems and a poor mental health-related quality of life during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specific risk factors related to the pandemic partly explain the observed prevalence.