Psychological Distress among Bangladeshi Dental Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Farah Sabrina, Mohammad Tawfique Hossain Chowdhury, Sujan Kanti Nath, Ashik Abdullah Imon, S. M. Abdul Quader, Md. Shahed Jahan, Ashek Elahi Noor, Clopa Pina Podder, Unisha Gainju, Rina Niroula and Muhammad Aziz Rahman
Additional contact information
Farah Sabrina: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Update Dental College, Dhaka 1711, Bangladesh
Mohammad Tawfique Hossain Chowdhury: Department of Dental Public Health, Sapporo Dental College, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh
Sujan Kanti Nath: Department of Dental Public Health, Sapporo Dental College, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh
Ashik Abdullah Imon: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Update Dental College, Dhaka 1711, Bangladesh
S. M. Abdul Quader: Department of Conservative Dentistry & Endodontics, Update Dental College, Dhaka 1711, Bangladesh
Md. Shahed Jahan: Department of Dental Public Health, Update Dental College, Dhaka 1711, Bangladesh
Ashek Elahi Noor: Department of Dental Public Health, Sapporo Dental College, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh
Clopa Pina Podder: Department of Dental Public Health, Sapporo Dental College, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh
Unisha Gainju: Update Dental College, Dhaka 1711, Bangladesh
Rina Niroula: Update Dental College, Dhaka 1711, Bangladesh
Muhammad Aziz Rahman: School of Health, Federation University Australia, Berwick 3806, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-24

Abstract: Background: Psychological sufferings are observed among dental students during their academic years, which had been intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: This study assessed the levels and identified factors associated with psychological distress, fear and coping experienced by dental undergraduate students in Bangladesh. Methods: A cross sectional online survey was conducted during October-November, 2021. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10), Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS) were used in order to assess psychological distress, fear and coping strategies, respectively. Results: A total of 327 students participated; the majority (72%) were 19–23 years old and females (75%). One in five participants were infected with COVID-19 and 15% reported contact with COVID-19 cases. Negative financial impact (AOR 3.72, 95% CIs 1.28–10.8), recent or past COVID-19 infection, and contact with COVID-19 cases were associated with higher levels of psychological distress; but being a third year student (0.14, 0.04–0.55) and being satisfied about current social life (0.11, 0.03–0.33) were associated with lower levels of psychological distress. Being a third year (0.17, 0.08–0.39) and a fourth year student (0.29, 0.12–0.71) were associated with lower levels of fear. Health care service use and feeling positive about life were associated with medium to high resilience coping. Conclusions: This study identified dental students in Bangladesh who were at higher risk of psychological distress, fear and coping during the ongoing pandemic. Development of a mental health support system within dental institutions should be considered in addition to the academic and clinical teaching.

Keywords: psychological distress; fear; coping; COVID-19; Bangladesh; dental; mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/176/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/176/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:176-:d:710468

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().