Prevalence of Depression in College Students During Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The outbreak of Covid-19 has caused major amount of suffering around the globe. Along with the physical
symptoms in affected cases, it has severely spoilt the mental health of general public. College students too are
facing multiple challenges in the stir of this COVID-19 outbreak. The present research is an attempt to assess
the prevalence of depression among students residing in Nagpur region. A total 433 students responded to
the online 9-item questionnaire (PHQ 9) based survey. Our survey showed that 96% of college students were
affected with varied levels (minimal to severe) of depression resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. of
these, about 9% experienced severe depression, about 13% experienced moderately severe depression, about
21% experienced moderate depression, about 29% experienced mild depression and about 23% experienced
minimal depression. It is suggested that a timely concern should be given to students’ psychological health
as they are flagbearers of country’s success and future.