Volume 25, Issue 116, October 2021

Covid-19 and its impact on education, social life, and mental health among medical students in Saudi Arabia

Mokhtar Mahfouz Shatla^1,2♦, Nouf Thamer Alotaibi³, Sarah Ahmed Munshi³, Esraa Emad Yaseen³, Elham Mohammadsaddiq Qanadeely³, Wafa Abdulaziz Alshaddadi³, Mohamed Ahmed Garout², Imad Ali Aljahdali²

¹Department of Family Medicine, College of medicine, Menoufia University, ShebinAlkom, Egypt
²Department of Community Medicine and Pilgrims Health Care, College of Medicine, Umm Alqura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
³Students, College of Medicine, Umm Alqura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Family Medicine, College of medicine, Menoufia University, ShebinAlkom, Egypt / Department of Community Medicine and Pilgrims Health Care, College of Medicine, Umm Alqura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: As COVID-19 pandemic reached Saudi Arabia, emergency disaster protocols were implemented to control the spread of the virus, which resulted in limitations on all public movements, including the closure of educational institutes. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on education, social life, and mental health among medical students during COVID-19 restrictions. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a sample size of 1253 medical students from various universities in different regions in Saudi Arabia was conducted. Survey data were obtained from social media platforms using web-based self-administered questionnaires. Results: This study revealed large acceptance of online classes (64.1% of students), however, students reported less opportunities to both collaborate with colleagues, and ask questions during online classes. Improved student's education skills including time management, self-monitoring for academic progress, access and using different types of information sources, and multitasking was demonstrated. Regarding effect of COVID-19 on students’ social and habitual life, 52.9% reported satisfaction with utilization of their time, however, 52% stated socially not well connected, 36.3% never engage in physical activity, 42.4% reported increased body weight, and only 25% were able to sleep as usual. Social media platforms were at the fore front in using to overcome loneliness feeling and communicate with others. Conclusions: Positive impact of COVID-19 on education was demonstrated in terms of the large acceptance of online classes and improvement of education skills. However, negative impact on social life was established including poor social communication, disturbed sleep habits and poor engagement in physical activity.

Keywords: COVID-19, education, impact, mental health, social life

Medical Science, 2021, 25(116), 2708-2717

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