Abstract:

Positive Mental Health (PMH) can influence the academic performance of university students, which in turn affects the achievement of skills during their professional training. Monitoring mental health is relevant in various contexts. Health science students face complex problems, determined by individuals and environmental factors, where everyday life and the academic environment predispose to unfavorable reactions (Kelloway, 2015). Studies carried out before the COVID-19 pandemic report that PMH is associated with self-efficacy, empathy, resilience, and academic achievement (Anicama et al., 2012; Park et al., 2015). Other recent studies indicate that health science students face psycho-emotional problems such as anxiety, stress, and depression; as a result of the academic load, work activity, nature of the professional career, and extracurricular activities. However, there is a lack of information regarding the PMH in students who are receiving classes in the remote mode. Therefore, the objective of the study was to determine the PMH in nursing students from three universities in Peru and its associated characteristics.

A descriptive observational study was carried out in November 2020, using a Likert-type scale managed through Google Forms, where 388 nursing students from three universities in Peru (public and private) were surveyed (83.8% were women). The population was 692, the calculated sample size was 248, and intentional non-probabilistic sampling was implemented to guarantee similar proportions between universities and years of study. The reliability of the scale was determined by Cronbach's alpha (0.918). For the bivariate analysis, the T student test and ANOVA test were used, with a significance level of 0.05.

Among the possible associated factors were: sex, age, the natural region of living, occupation, marital status, type of university, whether or not they were diagnosed with COVID-19, and a death’s history of a relative from COVID-19. The PMH scale validated by Lunch (2000) was implemented, which assesses six factors: personal satisfaction, prosocial attitude, self-control, autonomy, problem solving and self-control, and interpersonal relationship skills. The study was validated and approved by the Ethics Committee of the María Auxiliadora University.

The results found showed that 57.2% were studying and working, 82.7% were single, 11.1% were diagnosed with COVID-19, and 21.1% reported the death of a family member from this disease. Regarding the level of PMH, 67.5% have a medium level, 32.2% have a high level. Among the dimensions, the highest percentage of high level is observed in the prosocial attitude dimension (58.5%). The characteristics associated with the PMH were: age (P < 0.001), marital status (P = 0.001), occupation (P = 0.002) and type of university (P < 0.001). The results suggest that PMH varies according to social demographic characteristics and those aspects that should be considered in the design of mental health programs aimed at university students.

Keywords:

Students, nursing, positive mental health, COVID-19, universities, mental health.