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Class of 2020 in Poland: Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak in an Academic Setting

The COVID-19 pandemic had led universities to introduce lockdowns, which has led to significant shifts in students’ lives. Classes were moved online, students had to leave dorms and move; they had to forgo regular meetings with their peers. Subsequently, a vital demand for examining students’ mental...

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Autores principales: Wieczorek, Tomasz, Kołodziejczyk, Agata, Ciułkowicz, Marta, Maciaszek, Julian, Misiak, Błażej, Rymaszewska, Joanna, Szcześniak, Dorota
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7999098/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33799848
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18062884
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author Wieczorek, Tomasz
Kołodziejczyk, Agata
Ciułkowicz, Marta
Maciaszek, Julian
Misiak, Błażej
Rymaszewska, Joanna
Szcześniak, Dorota
author_facet Wieczorek, Tomasz
Kołodziejczyk, Agata
Ciułkowicz, Marta
Maciaszek, Julian
Misiak, Błażej
Rymaszewska, Joanna
Szcześniak, Dorota
author_sort Wieczorek, Tomasz
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic had led universities to introduce lockdowns, which has led to significant shifts in students’ lives. Classes were moved online, students had to leave dorms and move; they had to forgo regular meetings with their peers. Subsequently, a vital demand for examining students’ mental health emerged. The data were collected at a time when universities in Poland were under lockdowns. Participants represented students of many different fields of study. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used. Student’s subjective evaluation of online learning and their adaptation to academic life shifts were reviewed. A total of 1123 participants took part in this study. Relationship analysis included tests, such as U Mann–Whitney, appropriate for specific variables. The impact of variables connected with the pandemic on the GHQ scores was tested using multivariate regression analysis. The results were considered significant at a p-value set at 0.05. Overall, 76.96% of the participants manifested psychopathological symptoms measured by the GHQ. Four demographical variables were possibly associated with the GHQ scores: female sex, living in a big city, necessity to move back home, and being in a relationship. Negative correlations between subjective evaluation of variables concerning e-learning, such as its efficiency or quality, and the GHQ scores were found. Some variables were found to be potential protective factors, whereas others could have contributed to worsened mental health. The study provides data on students’ worsened mental health due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shifts in academic life it caused. Therefore, recommendations for early psychosocial interventions among students are strongly advised.
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spelling pubmed-79990982021-03-28 Class of 2020 in Poland: Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak in an Academic Setting Wieczorek, Tomasz Kołodziejczyk, Agata Ciułkowicz, Marta Maciaszek, Julian Misiak, Błażej Rymaszewska, Joanna Szcześniak, Dorota Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The COVID-19 pandemic had led universities to introduce lockdowns, which has led to significant shifts in students’ lives. Classes were moved online, students had to leave dorms and move; they had to forgo regular meetings with their peers. Subsequently, a vital demand for examining students’ mental health emerged. The data were collected at a time when universities in Poland were under lockdowns. Participants represented students of many different fields of study. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used. Student’s subjective evaluation of online learning and their adaptation to academic life shifts were reviewed. A total of 1123 participants took part in this study. Relationship analysis included tests, such as U Mann–Whitney, appropriate for specific variables. The impact of variables connected with the pandemic on the GHQ scores was tested using multivariate regression analysis. The results were considered significant at a p-value set at 0.05. Overall, 76.96% of the participants manifested psychopathological symptoms measured by the GHQ. Four demographical variables were possibly associated with the GHQ scores: female sex, living in a big city, necessity to move back home, and being in a relationship. Negative correlations between subjective evaluation of variables concerning e-learning, such as its efficiency or quality, and the GHQ scores were found. Some variables were found to be potential protective factors, whereas others could have contributed to worsened mental health. The study provides data on students’ worsened mental health due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shifts in academic life it caused. Therefore, recommendations for early psychosocial interventions among students are strongly advised. MDPI 2021-03-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7999098/ /pubmed/33799848 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18062884 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wieczorek, Tomasz
Kołodziejczyk, Agata
Ciułkowicz, Marta
Maciaszek, Julian
Misiak, Błażej
Rymaszewska, Joanna
Szcześniak, Dorota
Class of 2020 in Poland: Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak in an Academic Setting
title Class of 2020 in Poland: Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak in an Academic Setting
title_full Class of 2020 in Poland: Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak in an Academic Setting
title_fullStr Class of 2020 in Poland: Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak in an Academic Setting
title_full_unstemmed Class of 2020 in Poland: Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak in an Academic Setting
title_short Class of 2020 in Poland: Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak in an Academic Setting
title_sort class of 2020 in poland: students’ mental health during the covid-19 outbreak in an academic setting
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7999098/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33799848
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18062884
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