Physical Activity and Psychological Wellbeing Among Healthcare Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Shahinaz N Sembawa; Abdulrahman S Jabr; Asrab A Banjar; Haneen S Alkuhayli; Modhi S Alotibi; Reem B AlHawsawi; Yara A Nasif; Arwa U AlSaggaf

doi:10.7759/cureus.55577

Physical Activity and Psychological Wellbeing Among Healthcare Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cureus. 2024 Mar 5;16(3):e55577. doi: 10.7759/cureus.55577. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Authors

Shahinaz N Sembawa¹, Abdulrahman S Jabr², Asrab A Banjar³, Haneen S Alkuhayli², Modhi S Alotibi⁴, Reem B AlHawsawi⁵, Yara A Nasif², Arwa U AlSaggaf⁶

Affiliations

¹ Division of Dental Public Health, Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Dental Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAU.
² College of Public Health and Health Informatics, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAU.
³ College of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAU.
⁴ Oncology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, SAU.
⁵ College of Nursing, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAU.
⁶ Division of Prosthodontics, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Diagnostic Science, College of Dental Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAU.

Abstract

Introduction: Regular physical activity (PA) contributes to physical and mental wellbeing. Due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related lockdowns in 2020, regular PA had been adjusted. Furthermore, students became accustomed to studying at home. Students in the healthcare field, in particular, have a better understanding of the link between PA and mental health. This study aimed to assess the association between psychological wellbeing and PA among healthcare students at one public university in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. Healthcare students at one public university in Saudi Arabia were invited to participate in an online survey, consisting of three sections. The first section contained questions about demographic data. The second section was the International Physical Activity-Short Form (IPAQ-SF), which is composed of seven questions designed to assess the level of PA. The third part is The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), which is a self-reported questionnaire comprising 20 questions that assessed depressive symptoms on a four-point scale. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal Wallis test were used to analyze the collected data using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 28.0 (Released 2021; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States).

Results: The total responses received were 197 (response rate=60%). The majority of students in this sample were performing inadequate PA and reported depressive symptoms. No association was found between the amount of PA practiced and psychological wellbeing. There was a significant difference between specialties in relation to PA.

Conclusion: The majority of students in this sample were performing inadequate PA and reported depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 lockdown. The importance of PA should be promoted among healthcare students.

Keywords: covid-19; health-related students; healthcare; physical activity; psychological wellbeing.