Prevalence and Associated Factors of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in University Students in Paraguay during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Autores: Aveiro-Róbalo, Telmo Raul, Garlisi-Torales, Luciana Daniela, Chumán-Sánchez, Marisella, Pereira-Victorio, César J., Huaman-Garcia, Mariana, Failoc-Rojas, Virgilio E., Valladares-Garrido, Mario J.
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2022
• Institución: Universidad Privada Norbert Wiener
• Repositorio: UWIENER-Institucional
• Lenguaje: inglés
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.uwiener.edu.pe:20.500.13053/7772
• Enlace del recurso: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13053/7772; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912930
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: depression; anxiety; stress; COVID-19; Paraguay; http://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#5.03.00

We aimed to determine the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress in university students in Paraguay during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 293 students from four universities in Paraguay in 2021. The DASS-21 mental health scale was used to measure the outcomes (depression, anxiety, and stress) and evaluate their association with socio-educational variables. A total of 77.1% of the participants were women and 136 (46.4%) were between 21 and 25 years old. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress was 74.7%, 87.4%, and 57%, respectively. We found that being a woman and studying at a public university was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Receiving COVID-19 training increases the prevalence of mental health problems. In conclusion, high levels of anxiety, depression, and stress were found in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being a woman, studying at a public university, and receiving training on COVID-19 were factors associated with a higher prevalence of presenting all the mental health problems evaluated. Furthermore, students aged 31 and over had a higher prevalence of depression and stress.