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The Association Between Changes in the University Educational Setting and Peer Relationships: Effects in Students' Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: Objective: Abrupt life changes imposed by the lockdown measures, with a direct impact on teaching methodology and social interactions, as well as sleeping patterns, harmed university students' mental health. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between satisfaction with online teaching, social interaction with depression, anxiety symptomatology, and to analyze the effects of the pandemic and the lockdown in mental care access. Methods: The online survey collected demographic data, satisfaction with online teaching, and social interaction. We evaluated the depression and anxiety symptomatology using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder, respectively. For the PHQ-9, we used the cut-off 15 for moderately severe depressive symptoms, whereas for GAD-7, we recurred to the cut-off 10 for moderately severe anxiety symptoms. This study used three data points: October 2019, June 2020, and March 2021. Findings: The study included n = 366 participants from all university study fields, with a mean age of 21.71 (SD = 1.42) in the last survey, and 71.3% were women. Depressive symptoms increased significantly from October 2019 to June 2020, and the mean scores grew until March 2021. Anxiety symptoms also significantly increased from October 2019 to June 2020; however, from June 2020 to March 2021, there was a non-significant decrease in the proportion. Mean scores for satisfaction with online teaching were 38.23% in June 2020 and 34.25% in March 2021, a non-significant difference. Satisfaction with social interaction significantly decreased from 37.35% in 2020 to 24.41% in 2021. Participants with scores above the cut-off of moderately severe and severe depressive and anxiety symptoms showed significantly lower satisfaction with online teaching than students with lower depression and anxiety scores. Despite the significant increase in clinical symptomatology, help-seeking behaviors did not change accordingly, and more than 50% of the students with mild or severe depressive and anxiety symptomatology did not get treatment during the pandemic. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that most students are dissatisfied with online teaching and the type of social interaction they were forced to adopt because of the pandemic. The severity of depressive and anxiety symptomatology significantly increased between October 2019 and March 2021, but help-seeking behaviors did not increase accordingly.

SUBMITTER: Conceicao V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8712485 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundDepression is being increasingly acknowledged as a global public health concern, and following this trend, attention towards eating disorders (EDs) has surged within China's national consciousness. EDs symptoms frequently coexist with various mental health conditions, including depression. However, research focusing on EDs symptoms and depressive symptoms among Tibetan students in China remains scant. This study employs network analysis to estimate the relational network between EDs and depressive symptoms.MethodsTibetan (n = 2,582) and Han (n = 1,743) students from two universities in the Xizang Autonomous Region, China, completed the Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). We estimated the network structure of EDs symptoms and depressive symptoms, identified central and bridge symptoms, and examined whether network characteristics differed by gender and ethnic.ResultsThe core symptoms identified within this study were Calorie_awareness, Desire_to_thin and Fatigue. Conversely, bridge symptoms included Appetite, Suicide, Anhedonia, Guilty, Body_fat_awareness, and Food_preoccupation. The study also revealed no significant gender differences within the network model. However, disparities among ethnic groups were observed within the network structure.ConclusionsOur study examined the correlation between EDs symptoms and depressive symptoms in Tibetan college students. Focusing on the individual's quest for the perfect body shape and some Tibetan students' appetite problems - potentially stemming from transitioning to a new university environment, adapting to the school canteen's diet, or being away from their hometown - could aid in the prevention and management of EDs and depression symptoms. It could reduce the incidence of complications by helping students maintain good physical and mental health. Concurrently, our research provides insights into the relatively higher levels of depression triggered by the unique plateau environment.

Project description:AimsChinese university students are at high risk for depressive symptoms and the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have exacerbated the mental health of university students. However, existing studies on depressive symptoms in Chinese university students during the COVID-19 pandemic reported a wide range of prevalence estimates, making mental health planning for this population difficult. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of surveys that assessed the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Chinese university students amid the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsMajor Chinese (CNKI, Wanfang, VIP) and English (PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo) databases and preprint platforms were searched to identify cross-sectional studies containing data on the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Chinese university students during the pandemic. Two authors independently retrieved the literature, evaluated the eligibility of potential studies, assessed the risk of bias (RoB) of included studies, and extracted data. RoB was assessed with the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Studies Reporting Prevalence Data.ResultsIn total, 1177 records were retrieved, and 84 studies involving 1 292 811 Chinese university students during the pandemic were included. None of the included studies were rated as completely low RoB. Statistically significant heterogeneity in the prevalence estimates of included studies was detected (I2 = 99.9%, p < 0.001). The pooled prevalence of depressive symptoms was 26.0% (95%CI: 23.3-28.9%), which was significantly higher in female than in male students (30.8% v. 28.6%, p < 0.001), in postgraduates than in undergraduates (29.3% v. 22.9%, p < 0.001), in students living inside than in those living outside the COVID-19 epicentre (27.5% v. 22.3%, P < 0.001), in students from universities at the epicentre than in those from universities outside the epicentre (26.2% v. 23.1%, p < 0.001), in students who had close contact with COVID-19 than in those who did not (46.0% v. 25.0%, p < 0.001), and in students who had acquaintances or relatives infected with COVID-19 (39.7% v. 24.0%, p < 0.001) than in those who did not. Five sources of heterogeneity were identified from the subgroup analysis: survey period, % of males among the survey sample, scale of depressive symptoms, cutoff score of the scale and level of RoB.ConclusionsOver one-fourth of Chinese university students experienced depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental health services for this population should include periodic evaluation of depressive symptoms, expanded social support and psychiatric assessment and treatment when necessary. It is also necessary to design depression prevention programmes that target higher-risk cohorts of university students.

Project description:AimsProspective studies on the mental health of university students highlighted a major concern. Specifically, young adults in academia are affected by markedly worse mental health status than their peers or adults in other vocations. This situation predisposes to exacerbated disability-adjusted life-years.MethodsWe enroled 1,388 students at the baseline, 557 of whom completed follow-up after 6 months, incorporating their demographic information and self-report questionnaires on depressive, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. We applied multiple regression modelling to determine associations - at baseline - between demographic factors and self-reported mental health measures and supervised machine learning algorithms to predict the risk of poorer mental health at follow-up, by leveraging the demographic and clinical information collected at baseline.ResultsApproximately one out of five students reported severe depressive symptoms and/or suicidal ideation. An association of economic worry with depression was evidenced both at baseline (when high-frequency worry odds ratio = 3.11 [1.88-5.15]) and during follow-up. The random forest algorithm exhibited high accuracy in predicting the students who maintained well-being (balanced accuracy = 0.85) or absence of suicidal ideation but low accuracy for those whose symptoms worsened (balanced accuracy = 0.49). The most important features used for prediction were the cognitive and somatic symptoms of depression. However, while the negative predictive value of worsened symptoms after 6 months of enrolment was 0.89, the positive predictive value is basically null.ConclusionsStudents' severe mental health problems reached worrying levels, and demographic factors were poor predictors of mental health outcomes. Further research including people with lived experience will be crucial to better assess students' mental health needs and improve the predictive outcome for those most at risk of worsening symptoms.

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The Association Between Changes in the University Educational Setting and Peer Relationships: Effects in Students' Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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