Prevalence of anxiety, depression, and psychoactive substances use among pharmacy students in Minas Gerais: Impacts of the pandemic and the university environment

Mental disorders affect the population widely, and university students are considered a risk group due to the challenges of academic life. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on this population, intensifying symptoms of anxiety and depression. On the other hand, there is a high consumption of psychoactive substances among academics, which initially aim to minimize internal tensions, but can, in a chronic manner, harm health. Given this, a quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was carried out on the presence of anxiety and depression, as well as the use of psychoactive substances among pharmacy students at a public university in the interior of Minas Gerais. Two questionnaires were used for data collection, one for demographic and psycho-emotional assessment and another specific for anxiety and depression, known as the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The study population consisted of 350 academics. Of these, 69.43% were female, with an average age of 21.72 years. The data indicate that 39.14% of the interviewees had “probable” anxiety and 25.14% “probable” depression, affecting first-year and last-year students more prominently. In addition, there was a higher prevalence of anxiety in males. Depression, on the other hand, affected women more. Regarding the social context, it is observed that both the university and the COVID-19 pandemic increased the prevalence of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, 64.86% of the participants used psychoactive substances, with alcohol and anxiolytics and/or antidepressants being the most used. Thus, the impact of the university and the pandemic on mental illnesses is clear. Furthermore, the high use of psychoactive substances is worrying, as it can generate secondary damage. Therefore, it is suggested that educational measures for preventing psychoactive substance use, as well as improvements in programs related to mental health.