Mental health of new undergraduate students before and after COVID-19 in China.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lu P
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8458482 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:The purposes of this study were to assess differences between sociodemographic groups in student mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, to investigate whether the pandemic disproportionately affected certain groups, and to examine between-group differences in pandemic-related stressors. Data from Minnesota undergraduate and graduate students who completed an online survey in 2020 (N = 2,067) were compared to data collected from students in 2018 (N = 3,627). The survey assessed days of poor mental health, stress, stress management ability, days of adequate sleep, and pandemic-related stressors (2020 only). Multivariate analyses of variance assessed differences between study years (2020 vs. 2018), sociodemographic groups (gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, international student), and their interactions with study year in predicting mental health, and the sociodemographic groups in predicting pandemic stressors, among undergraduate and graduate students. Stress management ability decreased and sleep improved from 2018 to 2020. The sociodemographic variables most associated with poorer mental health were identifying as female, a sexual minority, or having a disability. Undergraduates reported poorer mental health than graduate students. Differences between sociodemographic groups were not larger during the pandemic, except among students with disabilities. All five sociodemographic variables were related to greater pandemic stressors in some domains.
| S-EPMC8805912 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveThe COVID-19 pandemic has been a period of upheaval for college students. The objective of this study was to assess the factors associated with the increased levels of mental health burden among a sample of undergraduate college students in Northern New Jersey, the region of the U.S. severely impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19.MethodsCollege students (N = 162) enrolled in an introductory core curriculum course completed a cross-sectional survey. The survey collected information on demographics, knowledge levels and sources of COVID-19 information, behavior changes, academic and everyday difficulties, and mental health measurements (depression, anxiety, somatization, and stress). Multivariable regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with mental health outcomes.ResultsDescriptive findings indicate that students have a fundamental knowledge of COVID-19 transmission and common symptoms. Students tend to use and trust the official sources and have changed their behaviors in accordance with public health recommendations (i.e., increased hand washing, wearing mask). However, students reported a number of academic and everyday difficulties and high levels of mental health distress. High levels of depression were associated with difficulties in focusing on academic work and with employment losses, while higher levels of anxiety were more likely to be reported by students other than freshmen and those who spend more than one hour per day looking for information on COVID-19. Inability to focus on academic work and an elevated concern with COVID-19 were more likely to be associated with higher levels of somatization, while trusting news sources was associated with lower levels of somatization. Those with higher levels of perceived stress were more likely to be females, unable to focus on academic work, and report difficulties in obtaining medications and cleaning supplies.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic is making a significant negative impact on mental health of college students. Proactive efforts to support the mental health and well-being of students are needed.
| S-EPMC7526896 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study investigates students' social networks and mental health before and at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, using longitudinal data collected since 2018. We analyze change on multiple dimensions of social networks (interaction, friendship, social support, co-studying) and mental health indicators (depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness) within two cohorts of Swiss undergraduate students experiencing the crisis (N = 212), and make additional comparisons to an earlier cohort which did not experience the crisis (N = 54). In within-person comparisons we find that interaction and co-studying networks had become sparser, and more students were studying alone. Furthermore, students' levels of stress, anxiety, loneliness, and depressive symptoms got worse, compared to measures before the crisis. Stressors shifted from fears of missing out on social life to worries about health, family, friends, and their future. Exploratory analyses suggest that COVID-19 specific worries, isolation in social networks, lack of interaction and emotional support, and physical isolation were associated with negative mental health trajectories. Female students appeared to have worse mental health trajectories when controlling for different levels of social integration and COVID-19 related stressors. As universities and researchers discuss future strategies on how to combine on-site teaching with online courses, our results indicate the importance of considering social contacts in students' mental health and offer starting points to identify and support students at higher risk of social isolation and negative psychological effects during the COVID-19 pandemic.
| S-EPMC7377438 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundLittle is known about the psychological impact of COVID-19 on university students during the disease outbreak in China, but this information is important for the development of services to support these students who are typically in their early 20s. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine university students' knowledge, attitudes, and mental health status during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.MethodsOn February 10, 2020 and during the second week of national lockdown, 511 students from a university in China were assessed using the COVID-19 General Information Questionnaire and the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) questionnaire. To understand the mental health status of the current sample, we compared it with the normal population.ResultsFour hundred and seventy-two valid questionnaires were collected. In total, 11% of respondents reported confirmed COVID-19 cases in their hometowns or communities. In view of students' knowledge about COVID-19, 56% had sufficient knowledge of typical symptoms of COVID-19, and 41% knew a lot about prevention methods for the future pandemic. In terms of the risk perceptions, 57% had experienced considerable fear of this disease, and 19% perceived a high risk of becoming infected. In terms of attitudes towards the COVID-19 pandemic, 63% felt positive about its development (i.e., it was generally under control), and 92% declared that they were willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The scores for somatization, obsessive-compulsive disorder, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and the general severity index were significantly increased compared with the norm (p < 0.001). However, no differences in the scores for depression, hostility and psychoticism were noted (p > 0.05).ConclusionUniversity students possessed insufficient COVID-19 knowledge and high-risk perceptions. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the mental health of university students. Social support and targeted interventions tailored to university students should be provided during such an outbreak, and university administration should strengthen the cultivation of students' mental toughness using standard teaching processes.
| S-EPMC7834369 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundOver 30% of university students from 8 countries were afflicted with mental distress according to a World Health Organization survey. Undergraduate students in increasing numbers in China have also been reported to suffer from different mental problems. Various psychological distresses significantly impact their academic and daily life, thereby causing role impairments and unsatisfactory academic achievements. While the prevalence of, diverse underlying factors for, and interventions of social support in college students' mental health have extensively been investigated in China, there is no study exclusively focusing on the impact of interventions on their psychological well-being.ObjectiveThe aim of this review was to identify and synthesize the interventions in the mental health concerns of Chinese undergraduate students studying in China reported in the literature to inform educational authorities, college and university management, students' affairs counselors, and mental health providers.MethodsWe performed a systematic review and reported the research findings of previous studies according to the protocol of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 statement. First, based on the predefined search strategy, keyword searches were performed in the PubMed and ProQuest databases to retrieve relevant studies. Subsequently, we screened the candidate articles based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, we analyzed the included papers for qualitative synthesis.ResultsWe retrieved a total of 675 studies from the PubMed and ProQuest databases using the search strategy on March 15, 2022. Among these candidate studies, 15 that were not written in English, 76 duplicates, and 149 studies of other document types were removed before screening. An additional 313 studies were excluded in the screening process, with 73 articles ruled out for being not relevant to interventions, not related to mental health, or not focused on undergraduate students in the full-text review. As a result, 49 papers were eligible and included in this systematic review. In the qualitative synthesis, we divided the interventions reported in the selected studies into two categories: (1) social support from government authorities, university authorities, students' affairs counselors and teachers, family members, health care authorities and professionals, and the media (various online platforms), and (2) various coping strategies adopted by undergraduate students themselves. We identified further research on mental health interventions that may be delivered by digital medical platforms, conversational agents (eg, chatbots), and researchers.ConclusionsThis was the first systematic review of interventions to address the mental health concerns of Chinese undergraduate students studying in China. The categorization of reported interventions and the identification of new intervention channels can effectively inform stakeholders. Interventions for undergraduate students' mental health is a research topic worth further investigation.
| S-EPMC9244660 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic is found to affect the mental health of the population. Undergraduate medical students are especially prone to mental health disorders and hence could be more vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic.MethodsA prospective longitudinal study was conducted on 217 undergraduate medical students in a medical college at Chennai, India. Depression, anxiety, and stress levels were recorded using Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 Items (DASS21) before and during the COVID-19 outbreak in India in December 2019 and June 2020, respectively. In the follow-up survey, in addition to DASS21, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to assess sleep quality and a self-administered questionnaire to assess the impact of COVID-19 related stressors were used. The self-administered questionnaire assessed the status of COVID-19 testing, interactions with COVID-19 patients, self-perceived levels of concerns and worries related to academics (COVID-19-AA (academic apprehensions)) and those pertaining to the self and family/friends (COVID-19-GA (general apprehensions)). Cross-sectional and longitudinal comparison of overall scores of depression, anxiety, and stress and scores stratified by gender, year of study, place of residence and monthly family income were performed. Predictors for depression, anxiety, and stress during COVID-19 were investigated using adjusted binary logistic regression analysis and results were expressed as adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI). A P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsThe average scores of depression, anxiety, and stress during the baseline survey were 7.55 ± 7.86, 4.6 ± 6.19 and 7.31 ± 7.34 with the prevalence (95% Cl) of 33.2% [27-39.9%], 21.2% [16-27.2%] and 20.7% [15.5-26.7%]; in follow-up survey, the mean scores were 8.16 ± 8.9, 6.11 ± 7.13 and 9.31 ± 8.18 with the prevalence being 35.5% [29.1-42.2%], 33.2% [27-39.9%] and 24.9% [19.3-31.2%] for depression, anxiety, and stress respectively. There was a significant increase in both the prevalence and levels of anxiety and stress (P < 0.001), with depression remaining unchanged during COVID-19, irrespective of gender, year of study, place of residence and family's monthly income. Poor sleep quality, higher levels of baseline depression, anxiety, and stress, higher COVID-19-GA, COVID-19 patients in family/friends and direct interactions with COVID-19 patients were found to be significant predictors of negative mental health in undergraduate medical students. COVID-19-AA was not significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and stress.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic appears to negatively affect the mental health of the undergraduate medical students with the prevalence and levels of anxiety and stress being increased, and depression symptoms remaining unaltered. Addressing and mitigating the negative effect of COVID-19 on the mental health of this population is crucial.
| S-EPMC7571415 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study evaluates the impact of Covid-19 on the mental health of 8004 French students in the East part of France, which has been the first and hardest hit region by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is, to our knowledge, the largest study conducted on mental health of students during the pandemic. Our results show that students suffer from particularly high level of anxiety, depression and distress. A significant proportion of students might require psychological support, especially because the high distress scores suggest that the epidemic and confinement have favored the emergence of post-traumatic stress symptoms.
| S-EPMC7445153 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-BSST1055 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundWith the launch of the COVID-19 vaccines, the vaccination rate has become a hot issue of concern. However, the evidence for the relationship between college students' attitudes toward vaccines and anxiety and depressive symptoms has been limited.MethodsIn total, 140,259 college students were recruited using a cluster sampling method in Zhengzhou, Xinxiang, Xinyang city of Henan Province, China, May 21-27, 2021. Anxiety symptoms were determined by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder tool (GAD-7) and depressive symptoms were determined by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Multiple logistic regression was performed to estimate the association between students' attitudes toward the vaccines and anxiety and depressive symptoms.ResultsThe results indicate that 22.45% of students are unclear whether the vaccine can protect them from infection and 45.57% are unclear whether the vaccine is safe and has no side effects. In addition, after adjusting, the model showed that students who think vaccines can protect them and are safe had 0.128 (95%CI 0.110-0.150; Ptrend < 0.001) times lower risk of anxiety compared to their counterparts who think vaccines can neither protect them nor are safe. Similar ORs were found in depression (aOR = 0.157; 95%CI 0.137-0.180).ConclusionThis large-scale study has shown an association between symptoms of anxiety and depression and reluctance to obtain vaccination.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-023-01830-7.
| S-EPMC9886423 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundA number of community based surveys have identified an increase in psychological symptoms and distress but there has been no examination of symptoms at the more severe end of the mental health spectrum.AimsWe aimed to analyse numbers and types of psychiatric presentations to inform planning for future demand on mental health services in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodWe analysed electronic data between January and April 2020 for 2534 patients referred to acute psychiatric services, and tested for differences in patient demographics, symptom severity and use of the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), before and after lockdown. We used interrupted time-series analyses to compare trends in emergency department and psychiatric presentations until December 2020.ResultsThere were 22% fewer psychiatric presentations the first week and 48% fewer emergency department presentations in the first month after lockdown initiated. A higher proportion of patients were detained under the MHA (22.2 v. 16.1%) and Mental Capacity Act 2005 (2.2 v. 1.1%) (χ2(2) = 16.3, P < 0.0001), and they experienced a longer duration of symptoms before seeking help from mental health services (χ2(3) = 18.6, P < 0.0001). A higher proportion of patients presented with psychotic symptoms (23.3 v. 17.0%) or delirium (7.0 v. 3.6%), and fewer had self-harm behaviour (43.8 v. 52.0%, χ2(7) = 28.7, P < 0.0001). A higher proportion were admitted to psychiatric in-patient units (22.2 v. 18.3%) (χ2(6) = 42.8, P < 0.0001) after lockdown.ConclusionsUK lockdown resulted in fewer psychiatric presentations, but those who presented were more likely to have severe symptoms, be detained under the MHA and be admitted to hospital. Psychiatric services should ensure provision of care for these patients as well as planning for those affected by future COVID-19 waves.
| S-EPMC8314272 | biostudies-literature