Prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress and their risk and protective factors among secondary students in Rwanda during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic

TL;DR

This study found that over half of high school students in Rwanda experienced depression during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with significant anxiety and stress, and identified factors that increase or reduce these mental health issues.

Contribution

The study is among the first to investigate mental health in Rwandan high school students during the pandemic, identifying novel risk and protective factors specific to this population.

Findings

Over 50% of students showed clinically significant symptoms of depression.

Anxiety was the most prevalent mental health issue, affecting 67.3% of students.

Religious affiliation, such as being a Jehovah's Witness or Adventist, was linked to lower risks of depression and anxiety.

Abstract

Compelling evidence shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has detrimental effects on the mental health of university students. However, little is known about the psychological distress experienced by students from high schools during the pandemic. This study, therefore, sought to examine the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress and their associated factors among students from high schools in Rwanda.

A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted on 384 students randomly selected from high schools. Data were collected using standardized measures of mental disorders and their associated factors. Bivariate and multivariate analyses based on the odds ratio were used to indicate the associated factors of anxiety, depression, and stress.

The results indicated that slightly above half of the participants (51%, n = 195) had clinically significant symptoms of depression, 30.3% (n = 116) had stress and 67.3% (n = 259) had anxiety. Our analyses identified several key risk factors associated with increased odds of these mental disorders. These include exposure to domestic violence, COVID-19 symptoms like cough and myalgia, eating twice per day, having one of the three mental disorders, gender, with females showing higher susceptibility, and direct contact with the people who positively tested covid-19. Conversely, protective factors such as heightened awareness about Covid-19, positive mental health, social support, eating three times, belonging to the third Ubudehe category, and a high resilience emerged as significant elements mitigating the risks of these mental health challenges within our sample. Intriguingly, religious affiliation emerged as a notable factor, with students affiliated with the Witness of Jehovah and Adventist denominations exhibited lower risks for depression and anxiety.

Our findings highlighted a high prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among students from secondary schools. Interestingly, this study also revealed the associated risk and protective factors of depression, anxiety, and stress in Rwandan students in high schools. Therefore, mental health interventions targeting the impact of COVID-19 on students, as young people are needed.

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