key: cord-0715053-l2rr1ndq authors: Pavlenko, Valentyna; Kurapov, Anton; Drozdov, Alexander; Korchakova, Nataliia; Reznik, Alexander; Isralowitz, Richard title: Mental Health and Substance Use Among Ukrainian “Help Profession” Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic date: 2022-05-03 journal: Int J Ment Health Addict DOI: 10.1007/s11469-022-00831-z sha: 5137dfbcebfce5934196b09a69d47f5c1cb9da1b doc_id: 715053 cord_uid: l2rr1ndq nan the Omicron variant most likely due to the low level of vaccination -only 35% of the Ukrainian population had been vaccinated (Park, 2022) . The Ukraine, part of the former Soviet Union until 1991, is one of the poorest countries in Europe (Atlantic Council, 2019) . In this study, we hypothesize substance use among Ukrainian "help" profession (i.e., medicine, psychology, and social work) students is associated with conditions related to COVID-19 such as fear, psycho-emotional well-being, burnout, and eating behavior. A total of 1,014 medical (n = 210), psychology (n = 728), and social work (n = 76) students -85.1% female and 14.9% male -completed the on-line questionnaire from September to November 2021. The RADAR Center has institutional research approval for study of substance abuse and related psycho-emotional conditions during the coronavirus crisis. Also, Ukrainian investigators (i.e., those from Karazin Kharkiv National University, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Shevchenko National University "Chernihiv Colehium", Rivne State University of Humanities) received approval from the ethics committees of their universities for this research. The Ukrainian university ethics approval process is equivalent to established regulations to help protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects. No external grant funding was received for the study. The Qualtrics software platform was used and data collection included three scales: Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19 S) (Ahorsu et al., 2020; Reznik et al., 2021) , Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) (Smith et al., 2008) , and Short Burnout Measure (SBM) (Malach-Pines, 2005 ). Cronbach's reliability of the FCV-19 S is 0.825, 0.775 for the BRS, and 0.900 for SBM. Regarding gender and religiosity, fear among males was less than that of females (t 957 = 5.073; p < .001); and, secular students reported less fear than those who reported being religious (t 955 = 5.278; p < .001). Resilience was found more prevalent among males than females (t 943 = 4.457; p < .001); however, the rate was similar among secular and religious students (t 940 = 0.229; p = .819; n.s.). Female (t 932 = 3.224; p = .001) and secular students (t 931 = 3.197; p = .001) reported significantly more burnout. Regarding substance use, 70.8% of the respondents reported last month use. Among these students, 85.9% used alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol use was more prevalent among psychology (65.8%) and social work students (60.0%) than those from medicine (52.5%) (p = .004); prescription drug use for pain was more prevalent among female (12.3%) than male students (4.3%) (p = .005); and last month drug use was more prevalent among secular (75.5%) than religious students (67.5%) (p = .008). Regardless of gender, religiosity, and study profession, 14.6% of the study respondents reported an increase of monthly substance use due to COVID-19. Survey results evidence deterioration of student psycho-emotional well-being due to COVID-19. Students reported the following conditions (note: percentages of positive responses are in parentheses): depression (19.1%), exhaustion (30.4%), loneliness (24.6%), nervousness (29.0%), anger (26.2%), and problem eating behavior (48.4%). Additionally, 32.5% of the respondents reported a weight increase due to pandemic conditions. Students who reported problem eating behavior had higher COVID-19 fear (t 905 = 4.420; p < .001) and burnout (t 923 = 7.021; p < .001); and lower resilience (t 931 = 5.358; p < .001). Also, an increase of monthly substance use was found associated with deterioration of student psycho-emotional well-being (odds ratio (OR) = 3.657; 95% CI: 2.395-5.586), eating unhealthy foods including those with high levels of sugar and/or salt (OR = 2.133; 95% CI: 1.463-l.3.108), and weight gain (OR = 1.535; 95% CI: 1.058-2.226). Logistic regression analysis shows more last month substance use associated with deterioration of psycho-emotional well-being (OR = 2.294; 95% CI: 1.505-3.808); burnout (OR = 0.948; 95% CI: 0.926-0.971); and, last month binge drinking (OR = 11.907; 95% CI: 6.127-23.141). Nagelkerke R 2 = 0.226. During the fourth wave of pandemic infection in the Ukraine, substance use and eating behavior were significantly associated with COVID-19-related fear, burnout, and resilience factors. Such findings, common to disaster conditions and conflict zones in Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Croatia for example (Doty et al., 2018; Gire & Ibaishwa, 2019; Greene et al., 2018; Malla, 2021; Mohsen et al., 2021) , are expected to have increased in Ukraine resulting from its present war with Russia. Further research is needed across multiple locations in the country and overtime to understand the impact of disaster conditions on Ukrainian students as well as other segments of the population including women who are the majority of students and professionals in the health professions. The fear of COVID-19 scale: Development and initial validation What is wrong with the Ukrainian economy? Adaptation and testing of an assessment for mental health and alcohol use problems among conflict-affected adults in Ukraine Patterns of substance use among internally displaced persons in Borno state Challenges and opportunities for implementation of substance misuse interventions in conflict-affected populations COVID 19 fear, stress, anxiety, and substance use among Russian and Belarusian university students COVID 19 fear impact among Russian "helping profession" students The burnout measure, short version Substance abuse and mental health disorder among the youth living in conflict environment War-related trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder prevalence among Syrian university students Why Ukraine's COVID-19 problem is everyone's problem COVID-19 fear in Eastern Europe: Validation of the fear of COVID-19 scale The brief resilience scale: Assessing the ability to bounce back Statement -Risk remains high in eastern Europe and central Asia with arrival of COVID-19 Omicron variant Acknowledgements We acknowledge Ukrainian university faculty members and students who participated in this survey about the impact of COVID-19 on health and well-being. Gratitude is expressed to Drs. Toby and Mort Mower for their generous support of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev -Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research (RADAR) Center. Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate Informed consent has been received from the participating survey respondents and all human and animal rights have been protected. The authors declare no competing interests.