The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Chinese Postgraduate Students’ Mental Health

Liang, Zhengyan; Kang, Derong; Zhang, Minqiang; Xia, Yuanlin; Zeng, Qing

doi:10.3390/ijerph182111542

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Medical postgraduates who experienced the COVID-19 outbreak and returned to school life for the first time were in a relatively negative mood, feeling anxious and depressed. Similar to studies reporting the psychological situation of medical students worldwide (35,36), our study also showed that selfrated anxiety and depression were high. Female students were significantly more influenced than male students, and they had lower social support.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Anxiety, depression, psychological stress and coping style in medical postgraduates in southeastern China when restricted to commuting between the campus and hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic

Tan

Liu²,

Zhao³

et al. 2023

Front. Psychiatry

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BackgroundAs the COVID-19 epidemic was gradually brought under control, a new autumn semester began in 2020. How was the mental health of postgraduates as they experienced quarantine at home, only commuting between the school and hospital?MethodsThe research was conducted in a cross-sectional online survey in October 2020. The data were collected from 1,645 medical postgraduates (master’s and doctoral students) by using the demographic information questionnaire, the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Questionnaire on Psychological Stressors of Postgraduates (QPSP), the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) and the Social Support Rate Scale (SSRS). One-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation were used to explore the relationships among anxiety, depression, psychological stressors, social support and coping style. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to assess the mediation model.ResultsAmong the total of 1,645 medical postgraduates, 21.6% (n = 356) had self-rated depression symptoms, and 9.4% (n = 155) had self-rated anxiety symptoms. The main disturbances they experienced were employment, academic and interpersonal pressure. The master of third grade students had the highest employment pressure, and the master of second grade students had the highest academic and interpersonal pressure. Negative coping played a negative mediating role and social support played a positive mediating role in the relationships between perceived stress and anxiety (β = 0.027, P < 0.01; β = 0.124, P < 0.01) and depression (β = 0.016, P < 0.01; β = 0.193, P < 0.01).ConclusionMedical postgraduates in China restricted to studies on campus and in the hospital experienced psychological distress. Our results suggest that providing employment and learning guidance, while strengthening social support and guiding positive coping may be effective at improving the mental health of the medical graduate students, mediating their perceived stress and negative emotions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Anxiety, depression, psychological stress and coping style in medical postgraduates in southeastern China when restricted to commuting between the campus and hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic

Tan

Liu²,

Zhao³

et al. 2023

Front. Psychiatry

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“…This indicates the worsening mental health condition of this particular population in recent years, especially in the context of the repeated resurgences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased the stress of college students and exposed them to new frustrating stressors that caused various mental health concerns [ 2 ]. Given college students’ high stress and anxiety levels during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 88 ], 35 (71%) of the 49 studies [ 2 , 12 , 48 , 49 , 52 - 58 , 61 - 64 , 67 - 69 , 72 - 77 , 81 - 89 , 91 , 92 ] investigated the COVID-19–induced mental health concerns of Chinese undergraduate students and proposed specific interventions in response to the severity of the psychological impact of COVID-19 [ 87 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The interventions proposed in the included studies can be divided into two broad categories: social support and coping strategies. Social support was provided by government authorities [ 49 , 52 - 54 , 61 , 62 , 68 , 72 , 84 , 86 - 88 ]; university authorities [ 12 , 48 , 50 , 51 , 53 - 55 , 57 - 59 , 62 , 64 , 65 , 67 , 69 , 91 , 93 ]; students’ affairs counselors and teachers [ 54 , 75 , 83 - 85 , 87 , 93 ]; family members [ 52 , 54 , 57 , 83 , 94 ]; health care authorities and professionals [ 52 , 63 , 66 , 75 , 77 - 79 , 87 ]; researchers [ 70 , 85 ]; and media-, internet-, and smartphone-based interventions [ 26 , 53 , 55 , 56 , 60 , 71 , 73 , 75 , 77 , 80 , 81 ]. Positive coping strategies were adopted by undergraduate students themselves [ 52 , 82 , 83 , 85 , 86 ,…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies proposed university authorities to make the following interventions in undergraduate students’ mental health concerns, including (1) developing a caring culture and ambience, which backs up undergraduate students to make life adjustments, promoting cultural and sports activities, facilitating the expansion of social networks, strengthening mental health education and counseling (eg, hotlines providing timely help for those in urgent need), early detection and effectively managing mental health concerns [ 12 ]; (2) screening for adverse childhood experiences and providing strength-based, trauma-informed interventions on fostering resilience [ 48 ]; (3) screening for anxiety disorders [ 50 , 57 ]; (4) screening and managing of emotional eating [ 51 ]; (5) organizing health education activities, and encouraging undergraduate students to arrange their time reasonably and find a proper approach to alleviate stress [ 53 ]; (6) encouraging timely, effective communication between family members [ 54 ]; (7) conducting interventions using cognitive behavioral approaches and screening for and addressing excessive social networking service use [ 55 ]; (8) developing psychological help-seeking interventions, strengthening the dissemination of mental health knowledge, and improving the level of mental health perception to improve help-seeking attitudes and increase the probability of seeking psychological help [ 57 ]; (9) being aware of undergraduate students’ coping strategies, organizing programs such as an online experience-sharing competition, encouraging students by offering rewards or financial aids, and supplying necessary food and health care materials [ 58 ]; (10) implementing various interventions such as sleep hygiene, mobile phone and internet use hygiene, mental health education courses, and professional psychological counseling [ 59 , 62 , 64 , 67 , 91 ]; (11) providing positive mental imagery training [ 65 ]; (12) offering relevant online mental health courses [ 67 ]; (13) adopting a web-based positive psychology intervention [ 69 ]; (14) establishing an early warning system for mental health concerns, guiding students to correctly understand their mental health status and individual differences in mental tolerance while encouraging them to seek help if necessary, developing targeted mental health education programs, and creating a new guidance mode to improve the communication between students and counselors [ 91 ]; and (15) promoting stress-coping strategies [ 93 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interventions in Chinese Undergraduate Students’ Mental Health: Systematic Review

Shan¹,

Ji²,

Xie³

et al. 2022

Interact J Med Res

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Background Over 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. Objective The 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. Methods We 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. Results We 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. Conclusions This 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.

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“…Perz et al's (2020) validation of the fear of COVID-19 found high anxiety for students of Asian backgrounds. Liang et al (2021) identified Chinese postgraduate students had negative experiences of anxiety and depression, which impacted their mental health and academic work. Participants' responses also showed international students, including Asians and Africans, were quite insecure on campus, at shopping centres and within the larger community.…”

Section: Fear and Insecuritymentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences: Cross-Border Voices of International Graduate Students in Australia and America

Ackah‐Jnr

Appiah

Udah

et al. 2022

IJLTER

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The study analyses cross-border experiences of international graduate students in two universities, one in Australia and the other in the United States of America, during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand how this impacted their learning and wellbeing. COVID-19 crisis led to dramatic changes in higher education institutions worldwide, affecting the academic and social life of international students, and as well opening windows of opportunities for them. International students of African and Asian backgrounds were purposely selected for the study. Data were collected with an open-ended qualitative questionnaire and analysed thematically. Findings indicate international students had mixed experiences, including stress and hardship, isolation, fear and insecurity, frustration and helplessness that affected their academic and social lives and wellbeing. Other students however developed strong connections, resilience, confidence, and optimism for the future. The shared cross-border experiences raise awareness to the global impact of COVID-19 in higher education. Findings have implications for how universities could respond to the needs of international students, which must be inclusive, equitable, and human-centric, during unforeseen crises.

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The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Chinese Postgraduate Students’ Mental Health

Cited by 25 publications

References 40 publications

Anxiety, depression, psychological stress and coping style in medical postgraduates in southeastern China when restricted to commuting between the campus and hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic

Anxiety, depression, psychological stress and coping style in medical postgraduates in southeastern China when restricted to commuting between the campus and hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic

Interventions in Chinese Undergraduate Students’ Mental Health: Systematic Review

COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences: Cross-Border Voices of International Graduate Students in Australia and America

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