Prevalence of Mental Disorders among Moroccan Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The mental health of university students was already a public health problem even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic. It was the subject of several international studies before and during the Pandemic which revealed worrying prevalence of disorders. In Morocco few studies have been conducted on university students. The main objective of our study was to help improve the prevention and management of mental disorders in students during a pandemic. A cross-sectional study with an analytical aim was carried out among university students in the RSK region. 401 university students aged 18 to 29 answered a structured electronic questionnaire comprising validated psychometric scales, pretested and shared online. Data analysis was performed using Epi-Info^TM 7.2. The prevalence of psychological distress among university students in the RSK region is 59% of the students surveyed (95% CI [56%; 63%]). One in three students had symptoms of depression (95% CI [31%; 38%]) and 38% had symptoms of anxiety (95% CI [34%; 41%]). More than one in two students showed signs of loneliness (95% CI [47%; 55%]) and more than half suffered from the absence or poor social support (95% CI [53%; 61%]). The study allowed us to highlight the fragility of the mental health of students in the phase of a serious health crisis.