DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN THE UNIVERSITY SETTING BEFORE AND DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Depression is considered the leading cause of disability and premature death worldwide. In this regard, this study aims to assess the prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms among students and staff of a federal public university before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is an observational, cross-sectional study with data collected through a self-administered questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory self-report instrument, with data collected in 2020. The McNemar test was used to compare prevalence before and during the pandemic. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to identify factors associated with depressive symptoms. A significance level of 5% was adopted for the comparisons. A total of 519 participants were included, of whom 68.2% were women. The participants present a median age of 22 years. The prevalence of depressive symptoms increased during the pandemic period (45.9%), compared to the period before the pandemic (37.4%) (p<0.05). The factors associated with the presence of depressive symptoms during the pandemic period were female gender and smoking, while engaging in physical activity, having satisfactory sleep, and being older were associated with the absence of depressive symptoms. It is concluded that there is a high prevalence of depressive symptoms in the university setting, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. In this regard, the implementation of health promotion and prevention measures is necessary to improve the quality of life of the university community, especially considering the mental health consequences caused and/or worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.