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COVID-19 Fear Impact on Israeli and Maltese Female “Help” Profession Students

Background: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the impact of COVID-19 fear on the well-being of Israeli and Maltese female “help” profession (e.g., social work and psychology) undergraduate students. This cross-national comparison includes factors of depression, anxiety, anger, lon...

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Autores principales: Yehudai, Mor, Clark, Marilyn, Azzopardi, Andrew, Romem Porat, Shai-li, Dagan, Adi, Reznik, Alexander, Isralowitz, Richard
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10001741/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36900978
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20053968
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author Yehudai, Mor
Clark, Marilyn
Azzopardi, Andrew
Romem Porat, Shai-li
Dagan, Adi
Reznik, Alexander
Isralowitz, Richard
author_facet Yehudai, Mor
Clark, Marilyn
Azzopardi, Andrew
Romem Porat, Shai-li
Dagan, Adi
Reznik, Alexander
Isralowitz, Richard
author_sort Yehudai, Mor
collection PubMed
description Background: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the impact of COVID-19 fear on the well-being of Israeli and Maltese female “help” profession (e.g., social work and psychology) undergraduate students. This cross-national comparison includes factors of depression, anxiety, anger, loneliness, nervousness, substance use, eating behavior, burnout, and resilience. The study hypothesis is that country status, even with different social–cultural characteristics including religiosity, is not a significant factor associated with COVID-19 fear impact on select behavioral characteristics of female university students. Methods: A total of 453 female “help” profession students completed an online survey from January to July 2021. Various statistical methods of analysis including regression were used for this study. Results: The mean COVID-19 fear scores were the same among Israeli and Maltese students. Resilience was found to be higher among Israeli females; burnout was found to be higher among those from Malta. Substance use (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, stimulants, or prescription drugs) in the last month was reported by 77.2% of the respondents. No significant differences were found for previous-month substance use based on country status. Regardless of country, respondents who reported more previous-month substance use had higher COVID-19 fear and burnout scores, as well as lower resilience. Due to COVID-19, most respondents (74.3%) reported deterioration of their psycho-emotional well-being in the last month; however, no significant differences were found based on country and religiosity statuses. Furthermore, no significant differences were found for eating behavior changes and weight increase based on country and religiosity statuses. Conclusion: Study findings showed the impact of COVID-19 fear on the well-being of Israeli and Maltese female “help” profession undergraduate students. This study examined only female students; however, additional research is needed to address male students and their experiences. Prevention and treatment intervention measures aimed to increase resilience and decrease burnout, including those that can be made available on campus, should be thought about by university administration personnel and student association leaders in consultation with mental health professionals.
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spelling pubmed-100017412023-03-11 COVID-19 Fear Impact on Israeli and Maltese Female “Help” Profession Students Yehudai, Mor Clark, Marilyn Azzopardi, Andrew Romem Porat, Shai-li Dagan, Adi Reznik, Alexander Isralowitz, Richard Int J Environ Res Public Health Brief Report Background: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the impact of COVID-19 fear on the well-being of Israeli and Maltese female “help” profession (e.g., social work and psychology) undergraduate students. This cross-national comparison includes factors of depression, anxiety, anger, loneliness, nervousness, substance use, eating behavior, burnout, and resilience. The study hypothesis is that country status, even with different social–cultural characteristics including religiosity, is not a significant factor associated with COVID-19 fear impact on select behavioral characteristics of female university students. Methods: A total of 453 female “help” profession students completed an online survey from January to July 2021. Various statistical methods of analysis including regression were used for this study. Results: The mean COVID-19 fear scores were the same among Israeli and Maltese students. Resilience was found to be higher among Israeli females; burnout was found to be higher among those from Malta. Substance use (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, stimulants, or prescription drugs) in the last month was reported by 77.2% of the respondents. No significant differences were found for previous-month substance use based on country status. Regardless of country, respondents who reported more previous-month substance use had higher COVID-19 fear and burnout scores, as well as lower resilience. Due to COVID-19, most respondents (74.3%) reported deterioration of their psycho-emotional well-being in the last month; however, no significant differences were found based on country and religiosity statuses. Furthermore, no significant differences were found for eating behavior changes and weight increase based on country and religiosity statuses. Conclusion: Study findings showed the impact of COVID-19 fear on the well-being of Israeli and Maltese female “help” profession undergraduate students. This study examined only female students; however, additional research is needed to address male students and their experiences. Prevention and treatment intervention measures aimed to increase resilience and decrease burnout, including those that can be made available on campus, should be thought about by university administration personnel and student association leaders in consultation with mental health professionals. MDPI 2023-02-23 /pmc/articles/PMC10001741/ /pubmed/36900978 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20053968 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Brief Report
Yehudai, Mor
Clark, Marilyn
Azzopardi, Andrew
Romem Porat, Shai-li
Dagan, Adi
Reznik, Alexander
Isralowitz, Richard
COVID-19 Fear Impact on Israeli and Maltese Female “Help” Profession Students
title COVID-19 Fear Impact on Israeli and Maltese Female “Help” Profession Students
title_full COVID-19 Fear Impact on Israeli and Maltese Female “Help” Profession Students
title_fullStr COVID-19 Fear Impact on Israeli and Maltese Female “Help” Profession Students
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 Fear Impact on Israeli and Maltese Female “Help” Profession Students
title_short COVID-19 Fear Impact on Israeli and Maltese Female “Help” Profession Students
title_sort covid-19 fear impact on israeli and maltese female “help” profession students
topic Brief Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10001741/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36900978
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20053968
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