Perceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

Muaed Alomar, Subish Palaian, Sawsan Shanableh Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab EmiratesCorrespondence: Subish PalaianDepartment of Clinical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University, Ajman, Unite...

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Autores principales:	Alomar M, Palaian S, Shanableh S
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Dove Medical Press 2021
Materias:	covid-19 stress level pharmacy students quality of life Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Medicine (General) R5-920
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/aef38b26cd2340b98b1b11524916f413
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:aef38b26cd2340b98b1b11524916f413
record_format	dspace
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	covid-19 stress level pharmacy students quality of life Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Medicine (General) R5-920
spellingShingle	covid-19 stress level pharmacy students quality of life Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Medicine (General) R5-920 Alomar M Palaian S Shanableh S Perceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown
description	Muaed Alomar, Subish Palaian, Sawsan Shanableh Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab EmiratesCorrespondence: Subish PalaianDepartment of Clinical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab EmiratesTel +971 55 1322957Email subishpalaian@gmail.comBackground: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused huge disruptions worldwide affecting most people including university students. The impact of the pandemic lockdown on pharmacy students’ stress levels and quality of life (QoL) is not well studied. This study assessed the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on perceived stress levels and QoL among final-year undergraduate pharmacy students at Ajman University, United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods: A cross-sectional electronic survey was conducted among final-year Bachelor of Pharmacy students at Ajman University during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The perceived stress scale and World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF) were administered through Google Forms. The filled responses were exported to IBM SPSS statistics, Version 26, scored as per the standard scoring procedures, and analyzed to answer the study objectives. Since the data were not distributed normally (p=0.000, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test), non-parametric tests (Mann–Whitney test and Kruskal–Wallis test) were performed to compare the median (IQR) scores with demographic parameters at an alpha value of 0.05.Results: Of the eligible 94 students, 81 (male=16, 19.8%, female = 65, 80.2%) responded. The perceived stress level due to COVID-19 among the participants of a score of 24 suggests that the students suffered a “moderate” level of stress with no statistical significance between genders regardless of the place of residence in the seven Emirates (p=0.371) of the UAE. During the previous month of conducting the survey, 40.7% (n=33) of the respondents “very often” felt nervous and 22% (n=18) “fairly often” felt nervous with a median (IQR) score 3 (2– 4); 3 denotes ‘sometimes’. Of the respondents, 6.2% (n=14) “very often” and 21% (n=17) “fairly often” felt that things were going their own way. Regarding the QoL statements, a median (IQR) score of 3 (3– 4) was obtained for the question on “How much do you enjoy life?”, and the median scores were “ 4 (very much)” for more than half of the statements overall denoting a better QoL. The study reported females to have more physical pain, which may prevent them from carrying out their daily activities, than males (p=0.001) reflecting a better QoL among males over females during the lockdown. It also reflects a higher need for medications among females compared to males (p=0.014). All participants showed negative feelings, which is more apparent among male participants (4, 3– 4.5) when compared to female participants (3, 2– 3) (P = 0.001).Conclusion: The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on perceived stress and self-reported QoL is minimum. Age, gender and other demographic factors had little or no effect on stress levels, but gender influenced “experience of physical pain” and “requirement for medications”, with more likelihood in females. Student friendly educational approaches and proper implementation of educational reforms can help minimizing student stress and improving QoL during vulnerable times like lockdowns.Keywords: COVID-19, stress level, pharmacy, students, quality of life
format	article
author	Alomar M Palaian S Shanableh S
author_facet	Alomar M Palaian S Shanableh S
author_sort	Alomar M
title	Perceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown
title_short	Perceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown
title_full	Perceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown
title_fullStr	Perceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown
title_full_unstemmed	Perceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown
title_sort	perceived stress and quality of life among final-year pharmacy students in the united arab emirates during covid-19 pandemic lockdown
publisher	Dove Medical Press
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/aef38b26cd2340b98b1b11524916f413
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:aef38b26cd2340b98b1b11524916f4132021-11-23T18:43:01ZPerceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown1179-7258https://doaj.org/article/aef38b26cd2340b98b1b11524916f4132021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.dovepress.com/perceived-stress-and-quality-of-life-among-final-year-pharmacy-student-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AMEPhttps://doaj.org/toc/1179-7258Muaed Alomar, Subish Palaian, Sawsan Shanableh Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab EmiratesCorrespondence: Subish PalaianDepartment of Clinical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab EmiratesTel +971 55 1322957Email subishpalaian@gmail.comBackground: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused huge disruptions worldwide affecting most people including university students. The impact of the pandemic lockdown on pharmacy students’ stress levels and quality of life (QoL) is not well studied. This study assessed the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on perceived stress levels and QoL among final-year undergraduate pharmacy students at Ajman University, United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods: A cross-sectional electronic survey was conducted among final-year Bachelor of Pharmacy students at Ajman University during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The perceived stress scale and World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF) were administered through Google Forms. The filled responses were exported to IBM SPSS statistics, Version 26, scored as per the standard scoring procedures, and analyzed to answer the study objectives. Since the data were not distributed normally (p=0.000, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test), non-parametric tests (Mann–Whitney test and Kruskal–Wallis test) were performed to compare the median (IQR) scores with demographic parameters at an alpha value of 0.05.Results: Of the eligible 94 students, 81 (male=16, 19.8%, female = 65, 80.2%) responded. The perceived stress level due to COVID-19 among the participants of a score of 24 suggests that the students suffered a “moderate” level of stress with no statistical significance between genders regardless of the place of residence in the seven Emirates (p=0.371) of the UAE. During the previous month of conducting the survey, 40.7% (n=33) of the respondents “very often” felt nervous and 22% (n=18) “fairly often” felt nervous with a median (IQR) score 3 (2– 4); 3 denotes ‘sometimes’. Of the respondents, 6.2% (n=14) “very often” and 21% (n=17) “fairly often” felt that things were going their own way. Regarding the QoL statements, a median (IQR) score of 3 (3– 4) was obtained for the question on “How much do you enjoy life?”, and the median scores were “ 4 (very much)” for more than half of the statements overall denoting a better QoL. The study reported females to have more physical pain, which may prevent them from carrying out their daily activities, than males (p=0.001) reflecting a better QoL among males over females during the lockdown. It also reflects a higher need for medications among females compared to males (p=0.014). All participants showed negative feelings, which is more apparent among male participants (4, 3– 4.5) when compared to female participants (3, 2– 3) (P = 0.001).Conclusion: The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on perceived stress and self-reported QoL is minimum. Age, gender and other demographic factors had little or no effect on stress levels, but gender influenced “experience of physical pain” and “requirement for medications”, with more likelihood in females. Student friendly educational approaches and proper implementation of educational reforms can help minimizing student stress and improving QoL during vulnerable times like lockdowns.Keywords: COVID-19, stress level, pharmacy, students, quality of lifeAlomar MPalaian SShanableh SDove Medical Pressarticlecovid-19stress levelpharmacystudentsquality of lifeSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691Medicine (General)R5-920ENAdvances in Medical Education and Practice, Vol Volume 12, Pp 1361-1369 (2021)

Perceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

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