Percepción de ansiedad, depresión y estrés a través del DASS-21 en jóvenes Universitarios de la División Ciencias de la salud USTA

Abstract

Introduction: Mental disorders affect thoughts, moods, and behaviors. Lack of timely diagnosis can lead to short- and/or long-term changes. In the academic field, students face situations such as exams, assignments, and personal problems, which makes them more vulnerable to these disorders. Objective: To evaluate the perception of mental health according to the DASS-21 scale in students from the Health Sciences Division of the Santo Tomás University in Bucaramanga. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional, analytical, observational study with 231 participants using randomized stratified sampling. Students from the first to tenth semester were included. The DASS-21 questionnaire was used to assess depression, anxiety, and stress, among other sociodemographic variables, health habits, academic, family, and social networks. Univariate statistical analysis was performed using frequencies with percentages such as median with interquartile range (IQR), bivariate analysis with Chi2, Fisher's exact test, and ANOVA. The study received favorable ethical approval from the institutional ethics committee. Results: A higher participation of women (67.10%), with a median age of 20 years (IQR 17-22), from the Faculty of Dentistry (65.92%) of 6th semester (16.59%) was found. In addition, 47.09% did not have depression, anxiety with a moderate level in 24.66% and 52.91% reported not presenting stress in the survey. Variables such as hours of sleep, study hours, cigarette consumption and use of the TikTok social network were identified as statistically associated with the presence of depression, anxiety and stress in students with p values ≤ 0.05. Conclusions: Students are vulnerable to mental health problems due to academic load, lack of free time and insufficient sleep. These conditions lead them to adopt harmful habits, although satisfactory in the short term.