Campus closures and students’ mental health in Lebanon and Sharjah: A comparative cross-sectional study

Since October 2019, Lebanon has been immersed in political paralysis and economic crisis. Rising inflation and financial distress have added to the stressors on university students. Sharjah is a wealthy and politically stable state in the United Arab Emirates. Investigators have researched the impact of COVID-19 on university students but have yet to compare campus closure effects on students in crisis-torn and high-income countries. Accordingly, the study aimed to compare students’ perceptions of online learning, prevalence rates for anxiety, depression, and burnout, and life satisfaction, resilience, and engagement scores following campus closures in Lebanon and Sharjah. The electronic anonymous survey was conducted from November 2021 to July 2022. The 370 participants were 232 undergraduates, 37 nursing students in Lebanon, and 101 nursing students in Sharjah. The students in Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, the Mann-Whitney U, and Hotelling T-tests were used. Parametric test results were interpreted for non-equal sample sizes. All the non-nursing students in Lebanon and 87.1 % of the nursing students in Sharjah screened positive for anxiety. Students in Sharjah had a higher prevalence of depression than undergraduates and nursing students in Lebanon (92.7 % versus 90.5 % and 87.4 %). Undergraduates had a higher prevalence of high burnout than nursing students in Lebanon and Sharjah (83.2 % versus 54.1 % and 53.5 %). The effect sizes for differences between students’ mean scores in Lebanon and Sharjah were life satisfaction η2 = 0.13, anxiety = η2 = 0.09, and high burnout 2 = 0.06. There were no statistically significant location effects for depression, engagement, or resilience. Students in Lebanon were more concerned about online learning than students in Sharjah (p = 0<.001). Final-year students in Lebanon were more concerned about their post-graduation prospects than others (p < 0.05). The prevalence rates for anxiety, depression, and high burnout in Lebanon and Sharjah indicate the need for whole-of-institution strategies to build healthy campus cultures. Students who screen positive for anxiety, depression, or high burnout require professional mental health assessment and access to evidence-based interventions. Online resources are available to supplement institutional resources, promote best practices, and encourage continuous innovation.