The relationship between mental health and educational status of university students during the COVID-۱۹ pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: Mental health is one of the important dimensions of health that is related to thoughts, feelings and behavior and is a set of factors that play an effective role in preventing the development or progression of cognitive, emotional and behavioral disorders in humans. due to the spread of covid-۱۹, students' usual schedules were also changed so that they no longer had to attend the classroom at a certain time, and therefore it affected their academic performance. According to the literature review, there is a relationship between students' mental health and academic progress, so the purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between mental health and educational status of university students during the covid-۱۹ pandemic, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis study.Materials and methods: After searching, out of the ۱۱۶ articles found, ۷ articles were removed due to duplication, out of the remaining ۱۰۹ articles, ۱۰۱ articles were removed due to irrelevance and ۳ articles were removed due to lack of access to the full text and other reasons according to the Inclusion and Exclusion criteria, and finally ۵ studies were included in the meta-analysis process. Scatter plot was used to check meta-regression, and classic fail-safe N test and Precision Plot were used to check publication bias.Results: In the ۵ articles found, the sample size was ۶۸۱, ۴۰۹, ۶۱۷, ۵۴۴ and ۲۰۱۰۳ people, respectively. Data collection tools in the studies included SAS and SDS, an online questionnaire, DASS-۲۱, GAD-۷, PSS-۴ and CES- It was D-۸. The value of I-squared was reported as ۹۹.۹۸۳.Conclusion: Level of education, financial problems, delay in starting education, and the health of family members are risk factors for mental health. Meta-analysis shows that students with lower educational status show more anxiety and stress. based on the results, better education level leads to better mental health. anxiety and despair were more among postgraduate students than students of lower levels. Also, graduate students show more anxiety and stress than undergraduate students during the Covid-۱۹ pandemic.