Prevalence and factors associated with mental illness symptoms among school students post lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates: A cross-sectional national study.

Autor: Ghader N; Mental Health Department, Emirates Health Services, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., AlMheiri N; Mental Health Department, Emirates Health Services, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., Fikri A; National Center for Health Research, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., AbdulRazzak H; Statistics and Research Center, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., Saleheen H; Abu Dhabi Public Health Center, Department of Health, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates., Saddik B; Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates., Aljawarneh Y; Faculty of Health Sciences, Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., Dalky H; Faculty of Health Sciences, Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., Al Banna A; Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center of Excellence, Al Jalila Children's Specialty Hospital, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., Al Memari S; Statistics and Research Center, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., Al Shehhi B; Statistics and Research Center, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., Al Mazrouei S; Statistics and Research Center, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai, United Arab Emirates., Al Hajeri O; Statistics and Research Center, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 Feb 01; Vol. 19 (2), pp. e0296479. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Feb 01 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296479
Abstrakt: Limited data exists on the mental health of children in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study aimed to fill this gap by examining the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among school students in post-lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 3,745 school students participated, responding to standardized tests (Mood and Feeling Questionnaire-Child Self-Report, Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders-Child Version, and Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale-8). Findings showed that the risk for PTSD was the most prevalent (40.6%), followed by symptoms of anxiety (23.3%), and depression (17.1%). For gender differences, symptoms of the three conditions (depression, anxiety, and PTSD) were higher in female students (9.2%) compared to male peers (7.7%) (p = 0.09). Moreover, symptoms of depression and anxiety were found to be higher among late adolescents (p<0.05). Further analysis revealed that having medical problems was a positive predictor for anxiety (OR = 2.0, p<0.01) and risk for PTSD (OR = 1.3, p = 0.002); similarly, witnessing the death of a close family member due to COVID-19 (OR for depression, anxiety, and PTSD = 1.7, p<0.01) were positive predictors associated with PTDS, depression, and anxiety. The study concluded that post COVID-19 lockdown, symptoms of anxiety, depression, and risk for PTSD were found to be prevalent among school students in the UAE. Researchers put forward recommendations on the initiation of a national school mental health screening program, the provision of follow-up services for vulnerable students, and the integration of a mental health support system in the disaster preparedness plans.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Ghader et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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