Perceived Stress and Quality of Life Among Final-Year Pharmacy Students in the United Arab Emirates During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused huge disruptions worldwide affecting most people including university students. The impact of the pandemic lockdown on pharmacy students’ stress levels and quality of life (QoL) is not well studied. This study assessed the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on perceived stress levels and QoL among final-year undergraduate pharmacy students at Ajman University, United Arab Emirates (UAE). METHODS: A cross-sectional electronic survey was conducted among final-year Bachelor of Pharmacy students at Ajman University during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The perceived stress scale and World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF) were administered through Google Forms. The filled responses were exported to IBM SPSS statistics, Version 26, scored as per the standard scoring procedures, and analyzed to answer the study objectives. Since the data were not distributed normally (p=0.000, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test), non-parametric tests (Mann–Whitney test and Kruskal–Wallis test) were performed to compare the median (IQR) scores with demographic parameters at an alpha value of 0.05. RESULTS: Of the eligible 94 students, 81 (male=16, 19.8%, female = 65, 80.2%) responded. The perceived stress level due to COVID-19 among the participants of a score of 24 suggests that the students suffered a “moderate” level of stress with no statistical significance between genders regardless of the place of residence in the seven Emirates (p=0.371) of the UAE. During the previous month of conducting the survey, 40.7% (n=33) of the respondents “very often” felt nervous and 22% (n=18) “fairly often” felt nervous with a median (IQR) score 3 (2–4); 3 denotes ‘sometimes’. Of the respondents, 6.2% (n=14) “very often” and 21% (n=17) “fairly often” felt that things were going their own way. Regarding the QoL statements, a median (IQR) score of 3 (3–4) was obtained for the question on “How much do you enjoy life?”, and the median scores were “4 (very much)” for more than half of the statements overall denoting a better QoL. The study reported females to have more physical pain, which may prevent them from carrying out their daily activities, than males (p=0.001) reflecting a better QoL among males over females during the lockdown. It also reflects a higher need for medications among females compared to males (p=0.014). All participants showed negative feelings, which is more apparent among male participants (4, 3–4.5) when compared to female participants (3, 2–3) (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on perceived stress and self-reported QoL is minimum. Age, gender and other demographic factors had little or no effect on stress levels, but gender influenced “experience of physical pain” and “requirement for medications”, with more likelihood in females. Student friendly educational approaches and proper implementation of educational reforms can help minimizing student stress and improving QoL during vulnerable times like lockdowns.