BEYKENT 3RD INTERNATIONAL HEALTH SCIENCES RESEARCH DAYS CONGRESS, İstanbul, Türkiye, 22 - 25 Eylül 2021
THE EFFECT OF
COVID-19 FEAR ON SLEEP QUALITY IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
ABSTRACT
Introduction
and purpose: The new coronavirus (COVID-19) infection,
which started in the Wuhan region of China for the first time recently and then
started to be detected in many countries of the world and became a pandemic,
has affected all people in many ways such as biological, sociocultural and
psychological. Various fears and anxieties have started to occur in
individuals, affecting their daily life activities. University students at the
beginning of the productive age also have various concerns, and it is seen that
they have attempts to eliminate their concerns by following channels such as
social media, news sites, television programs, and asking questions to their
advisors/teachers. During the pandemic process, individuals stayed at home, and
during this time, they experienced changes in sleeping habits with sleeping and
waking up late. It is a known fact that emotional changes, fears and worries
affect sleep and its quality. In this study, it was aimed to determine the
effect of fear of COVID-19 on sleep quality in university students.
Method: This
research was designed as a descriptive study to determine the effect of
university students' fear of COVID-19 on sleep quality. The universe of the
study consisted of students studying in associate and undergraduate programs of
various private and public universities in Turkey. The sample of the study
consisted of a total of 450 students who met the sampling criteria of the
study, after explaining the purpose of the study, and who met the sampling
criteria of the study. As a data collection tool, the "Individual
Characteristics Diagnosis Form", "Corona Virus 19 Phobia (CP19) -S)
Scale” and “Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PUKI)” were used. Data were
analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows 22.0
program using frequency, independent groups t-test and one-way variance. The
significance value was accepted as p<0.05.
Results: Of
the students participating in the study, 76.4% were women and 88.2% were health
sciences students. 61.6% of the students stated that they slept 6-8 hours a day
during the pandemic and 35.3% did not feel rested when they woke up. A significant
relationship was found between the Corona Virus 19 Phobia (CP19-S) Scale and
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores of the participants. CP19-S scale
psychological sub-dimension with a sleep quality score of 26.6%, social
sub-dimension 29.7%, Covid fear scale somatic sub-neck with sleep disorder
35.8%, CP19-S scale economic sub-length with sleep disorder 27% There is a
positive and significant relationship at the level of 3. It was determined that
the mean score of the CP19-S scale and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Scale was
higher in women.
Conclusion
: It
was determined that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on the sleep
quality, latency, duration and sleep disturbance of university students. It is
recommended to develop coping mechanisms with the COVID-19 pandemic, and to
increase and expand individual and community psychosocial support programs.
Keywords:
Pandemic,
COVID-19, Sleep quality