Search

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on people’s lives, becoming a factor affecting the health and well-being of individuals. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the experiences and feelings accompanying medical students in Poland during the pandemic and the occurrence of anxiety, depression and excessive daytime sleepiness. Material and methods: For this purpose, a questionnaire was designed on the “LimeSurvey” portal. The questionnaire contained 4 parts: questions about personal experiences of the pandemic, Beck depression test, GAD-7 generalized anxiety questionnaire and ESS sleepiness scale. The results collected from I-VI year medical students from 20 medical universities in Poland were processed using the statistical program “Statistica.” 2339 correctly completed questionnaires were obtained. Results: It turned out that 22.6% of the respondents had experienced the death of a loved one during the pandemic, and among 29.9% of the students there were severe cases of the disease in the family. More than 49% of the respondents felt anxiety about the possibility of their loved ones contracting COVID. 19% of respondents had temporarily lost contact with loved ones. The responses significantly correlated with the severity of depression as measured by the Beck scale, increased anxiety on the GAD-7 test and increased sleepiness on the ESS scale. Conclusions: The results of the study indicate the negative impact of the pandemic on the mental health of medical students. For this reason, consideration should be given to providing easy access to specialized psychological help for the academic community [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]