The rapid change of mental health in college students after on-campus quarantine in Shanghai 2022 Covid lockdown

Abstract

Importance: Social isolation during outbreaks of epidemics always challenge psychological resilience profoundly. However, it still remains unclear how students’ mental health would be affected by strict on-campus quarantine, which means students stayed at dormitories or on-campus for quarantine. We analyzed the data from one of the earliest universities releasing strict on-campus quarantine to prevent the Omicron spread-out in Shanghai, to evaluate the time course of the psychological resilience in the influence of an unexpected change in the living space in university students.Objectives：The campus was locked down on 9th March. From 9th to 23rd, all students on campus were asked to stay in their dormitries, and teachers sent food supplies three times a day. From 24th March to early April, students were gradually allowed to enter the campus for necessary activities. We quantify dynamic changes in depression severity during the campus locked down.Method: All participants were undergraduate or graduate students. The survey was released on 5th, April. All survey was dropped a public link on www.wjx.cn and administered from April 5th to 7th, 2022. Following the schedule of quarantine area, we assessed depressive symptoms in SJTU students from Period 1 (two weeks before 9th, March), Period 2 (9th to 23rd, March), and Period 3 (24th March to 5th April). 274 students completed the online survey, and two incomplete data were excluded for further analysis. All these participants aged range from 18 to 25 years old and were quarantined in dormitories since 9th March 2022.Findings:A remarkable increase in depression was observed in university students after stringent quarantine. The portion of students with depression started at 9.1% before quarantine and rapidly increased to 36.1% right after quarantine. No more increase in depressive symptoms was observed with time though quarantine was ongoing, which can be predicted by the food supplement satisfaction and the duration of physical fitness per day. Interestingly, the impact of a sudden change in living space on the psychological resilence was more evident in students who have a romatic relationship than singles.

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“…Wang et al ( 16 ) and Du et al ( 19 ) found a significant increase in the rate of depression in Chinese adolescents and adults, respectively. For Chinese students, COVID-19 on-campus quarantine increased diagnoses of depression from 9.1 to 36.1% ( 20 ). The rapid growth of psychological diseases such as depression caused by the COVID-19 lockdown or quarantine has become a common problem globally.…”

“…This conclusion has been reflected in multinational data. For instance, Khubchandani et al (17) found an increased rate of depression and anxiety after the COVID-19 lockdowns in the USA; Schwinger et al (18) (20). The rapid growth of psychological diseases such as depression caused by the COVID-19 lockdown or quarantine has become a common problem globally.…”