The perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental undergraduate students in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna.

The outbreak and diffusion of the novel SARS-CoV2 coronavirus have caused an emergency status in the dental education system. An anonymous survey composed of 34 questions was delivered to students of the Master Degree Programme in Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics of the Universities of Emilia-Romagna, the fifth Italian region most affected by the pandemic. The psychological impact of COVID-19 was assessed by means of the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7). Numerically recoded data were analysed using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), whilst to investigate the association between quantitative variables, the Pearson correlation coefficient (R) was computed. The questionnaire was completed by 399 students (75%) out of 532. Most students experienced difficulties in working at the thesis during the COVID-19 emergency. For over half of them, online teaching could only partially replace traditional face-to-face lessons. The negative impact on the study career was judged as particularly high by sixth-year students. Clinical training activities were considered as exposing to the risk of contracting COVID-19 infection by the majority of the students. The level of concern of contracting COVID-19 infections during future university activities was positively correlated to risk perception related to clinical training. The results of this survey could be used to train students to a correct risk assessment. Students reported experiencing concern whilst thinking of COVID-19 and 6.5% of them showed symptoms related to high levels of anxiety. These data may guide Universities in trying to reduce students' anxiety by means of correct communication strategies.

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