Literacy and Mental Health of Portuguese Higher Education Students and Their Use of Health Promotion Strategies during Confinement in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The pandemic of COVID-19 caused significant changes in economies and societies with a major impact on the entire education process. However, these changes did not invalidate a constant effort of adaptation. This cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational study used an online questionnaire administered to students from various study cycles at higher education institutions in Portugal, with the aim of exploring the influence of literacy and mental health on the use of mental health promotion strategies during COVID-19 confinement. A total of 329 students from higher education institutions participated in this study, mostly from the age group 18–24 years (n = 272; 82.7%) and female (n = 265, 80.5%). The most mentioned health promotion strategies during this period included studying (n = 170; 51.7%); physical activities (n = 151, 45.9%); social networking (n = 124, 37.7%); cooking activities (n = 120, 36.5%); and listening to music (n = 118, 35.9%). Academic success is self-reported, and it is weakly correlated with the MHI5 (r = 0.103, p = 0.063). Students in the pre-graduate programs studied more during the times of the pandemic and used this activity as a mental-health-promoting strategy with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.033). Although it was difficult to improve health literacy related to COVID-19 in such a short period of time, there was a very strong motivation to access, understand, evaluate, communicate, synthesize, and apply information and knowledge to maintain mental health through self-care using health promotion strategies.

Differences in Psychological Vulnerability, Mental Health Liter-Acy, Positive Mental Health, and Health Behaviours in Portu-Guese Higher Education Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The low literacy levels in the present study should be interpreted with caution. Notwithstanding these results, similar outcomes were found in other studies with the overall population and students (Dias et al, 2018;Oliveira et al, 2022). MHL is essential for students' health promotion because it refers to knowledge of how to obtain and maintain good mental health (recognise mental disorders, help-seeking efficacy, and help-seeking strategies) (Sykes et al, 2021).…”

Impact of COVID-19 Confinement on Mental Health in Youth and Vulnerable Populations: An Extensive Narrative Review

“…In addition, social networks were filled with people sharing their experiences, their ideas, and their subjective and individual perceptions of what they were experiencing, and this provoked a feeling of extreme fear in certain groups, who made attributions and inferences based on opinions that may or may not have a scientific basis [17]. Although on many occasions this type of testimony was made with the intention of helping other people, the reality is that it provoked a greater sense of fear, hopelessness, and uncertainty about the future and with it, the appearance of avoidance behaviors and emotional and psychological problems [18].…”

Using Co-Design to Explore New Trends in Future Kitchen Designs: An Exploratory Workshop Study of College Students in China

“…They are highly educated thinkers and communicators, are creative and imaginative, and have great potential for development [ 17 ]. College students are highly concerned about health and environmental issues, are better equipped to promote mental health, and can achieve higher levels of health literacy [ 18 , 19 ].…”