Depression, Anxiety and Stress Levels among Students in a Ghanaian Public University During the Covid-19 Pandemic

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