Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to determine the level of mental health conditions
such as depression, anxiety and stress among Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology (KNUST) students, the differences between the
conditions with respect to gender, age, level of study and identify the correlation
between the conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study applied a
cross-sectional research design and quantitative approach on an accessible
population of 2,844 students at the College of Health Sciences, KNUST,
Kumasi aged between 18 years to 45 years. A purposive sampling technique
was employed with a sample size of 350 administered with the structured
DASS-21 data collection instrument online via emails and WhatsApp from
Google forms. Data processing and analysis included descriptive statistical
procedures with Office word, Excel and IBM’s SPSS. Correlations between the
conditions were determined by Pearsons’ correlation and Sperman’s rho. Reslts
indicated that 60% of the respondents had depression, 65% for anxiety and 37%
with stress. The male and female respondents represented 45.1% and 54.9%
respectively however, the difference between the mean mental health conditions
was not statistically significant at a confidence interval of 95%. A strong
correlation was observed between depression, anxiety and stress among the
students. The current study has identified students who have reported mental
health conditions requiring psychiatric, psychological and counselling
interventions. It is recommended that the university management should put in
place interventions to address the mental health challenges among the students
