Prevalence of Mental Health Problems and Sleep Di
Prevalence of Mental Health Problems and Sleep Di
Review
Keywords: Aim: To identify the prevalence of mental health problems and sleep disturbances among nursing students during
Mental health problems the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sleep disturbances Background: As a future professional workforce, nursing students are expected to play a role in controlling the
Nursing students COVID-19 pandemic; however, physical and mental health problems may hinder their willingness to stay in the
Prevalence
nursing profession. Evidence of the prevalence of the health problems among nursing students related to COVID-
Meta-analysis
19 may allow educators to manage their students’ health problems and make them feel more positive about their
future careers.
Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. This study was prospectively registered with PROSPERO.
Data sources: Databases, including CINAHL, Embase, PubMed and Web of Science, were searched for all related
journal articles, from database inception to June 29, 2021, published between 2020 and 2021.
Methods: This review was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-
Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines using a PICOS search strategy. A DerSimonian–Laird random-effects model was
used to estimate the prevalence and potential heterogeneity among the selected studies using the Cochran Q
statistic and I-square test. Publication bias was assessed using the Egger intercept test.
Results: Seventeen studies were included in the meta-analysis, representing 13,247 nursing students. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of four health problems and sleep disturbances were identified. The health
problem with the highest prevalence in nursing students was depression (52%). Other COVID-19-related health
problems were fear (41%), anxiety (32%) and stress (30%) and sleep disturbances (27%).
Conclusions: The findings from this study showed that strategies are necessary to manage nursing students’
teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic or similar future situations. Our results suggest that
preparing modified distance learning might reduce the prevalence of health problems related to the educational
process. In addition, providing regular mental health assessments or online mental health services to students
may improve their mental health and increase their well-being. Nursing education policies regarding clinical
practice remain to be formulated to ensure the achievement of competencies to support future careers while
considering the mental readiness and safety of students.
* Correspondence to: College of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University. 100, Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung, 80708, Taiwan.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Mulyadi), [email protected] (S.I. Tonapa), [email protected] (S. Luneto), [email protected]
(W.-T. Lin), [email protected] (B.-O. Lee).
1
ORCID iD: 0000– 0003-0632–3452.
2
ORCID iD: 0000– 0002-9730–1939.
3
ORCID iD: 0000– 0003-1903–8378.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103228
Received 11 August 2021; Received in revised form 4 October 2021; Accepted 5 October 2021
Available online 7 October 2021
1471-5953/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction burdened them and prevented them from guiding students properly