Effects of dietary supplement use during COVID-19 treatment on post-COVID academic motivation: a sample of college students

Abstract

Introduction: Although few studies have emphasized the preventive and therapeutic efficacy of dietary supplements in COVID-19, their efficacy in the postinfection period has not been focused. The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of therapeutic use of dietary supplements during COVID-19 treatment on post-COVID academic motivation in college students

Methodology: The study was conducted with 1584 college students studying at Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University. Three-day food consumption was recorded and anthropometric measurements (height and body weight) were taken to assess nutritional status. The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), a 28-item 7-point Likert scale consisting of three subdimensions (amotivation, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation), was used to assess the motivational status of participants.

Results: The rate of participants who survived COVID-19 was 35.9% (n = 568). There was no significant difference in AMS subscores between participants who routinely used dietary supplements and those who did not. Participants who used dietary supplements preventively had higher intrinsic motivation scores than those who did not. Lastly, all AMS subscores of COVID-19 survivors who used dietary supplements therapeutically during treatment were found to be more favorable than those who did not. However, there was no significant difference in AMS subscores between the types of dietary supplements most frequently used therapeutically.

Conclusions: The finding of higher post-COVID academic motivation in COVID-19 survivors who used dietary supplements as an adjunct to treatment will make an important contribution to the literature. However, longitudinal intervention studies examining the effectiveness of specific dietary supplements in COVID-19 will undoubtedly provide more valuable results.