Introduction:

COVID-19 has generated serious consequences on humans' mental health, and has caused psychological reactions such as fear and anxiety. Medical Sciences students, as protagonists of the active research, could be prone to present such manifestations.

Objective:

to describe anxiety and fear reactions to COVID-19 in student researchers from Falcón town, Villa Clara.

Methods:

a quantitative, cross-sectional and descriptive questionnaire-based study was performed in January 2021. The sample consisted of 27 medical student researchers from Falcón town. The results were analyzed using non-parametric statistical tests.

Results:

low levels of anxiety were found, while fear obtained balanced results between low and high levels. These manifestations were found mostly in the participants who did not meet people diagnosed with the disease. A significant inverse correlation was noted between age and anxiety variables. Anxiety and fear levels were found to be inversely related to meeting a person diagnosed with COVID-19. A positive and direct correlation between fear and anxiety was highlighted.

Conclusions:

the current investigation constituted an approach to the mental health status of medical students linked to the active research. One of the research strengths lies in the use of instruments developed to assess psychological reactions specifically related to COVID-19. Similar studies should be carried out in older populations, which would allow the results to be generalized.