Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences https://www.pimr.org.in/instructions.php Perspectives in Medical Research 2348-229X 2348-1447 09 10.47799/pimr.1102.09 Original Article Impact of sudden change to online teaching during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of medical students using the DASS-21 scale Hafsa Jabeen 1 Anjum Vaseem vaseemanjum8@gmail.com 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Deccan College of Medical Sciences Hyderabad Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Deccan College of Medical Sciences Hyderabad 30 8 2023 11 2 46 50 19 6 2023 10 8 2023 23 7 2023 Perspectives in Medical Research is committed to keeping research articles Open Access. Journal permits any users to read, download, copy, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers subject to proper attribution and ownership of the rights. 2023 <bold id="s-533f71901422">Abstract</bold>

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced almost every aspect of life, education being no exception. The sudden shift of teaching and learning using virtual methods was not an easy task. While medicine needs not just knowledge but also skills there were many questions regarding the efficacy of online classes.

Aims: To study the impact of the sudden change of teaching method on the mental health of medical students using the DASS 21 questionnaires.

Methods and Material: It was a cross-sectional study. This study was done among the 1st, 2nd and 3rd-year medical students over a period of 5 months. Pre-structured DASS-21 questionnaire was used to assess the mental health of these students. We have excluded all the students who already had a history of anxiety, stress, and depression before the corona virus pandemic.

Results: Out of 122 students, 34 (27.9%) were males and 86 (70.5%) belonged to the age group 18-21 years. Depression, Anxiety and stress were more among the 1st MBBS students.

Conclusions: Sudden changes in the mode of teaching are not easily accepted by the students. The transition should be well-planned.

 Keywords Online teaching COVID-19 DASS-21 Depression Anxiety Stress None