Perception of mental health in higher education students: changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Autores

  • Beatriz Minghelli Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget - Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal. Research in Education and Community Intervention (RECI). Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.
  • Beatriz Martins Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget – Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.
  • Carlos Pereira Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget – Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.
  • Joana Bento Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget - Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.
  • Leonor Nogueira Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget – Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.
  • Mariana Coelho Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget – Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.
  • Mariana Pargana Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget – Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.
  • Miriam Borges Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget – Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.
  • Rafaela Sousa Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget – Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.
  • Tatiana Calado Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget – Instituto Piaget de Silves. Silves, Portugal.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25758/set.595

Palavras-chave:

Saúde mental, COVID-19, Confinamento, Estudantes universitários, Exercício físico, Alimentação

Resumo

The actual pandemic context took several changes in the routine of higher education students, including interruptions of face-to-face classes, implementation of education at a distance, interruption or delayed phases, and others, which could compromise mental health. This study aimed to assess the perception of mental health among higher education students in times of the pandemic COVID-19 and associated factors. The sample was constituted of 1,004 higher education students, aged 18 to 51 years (20.33±3.35), 725 (72.2%) female. The instrument includes a questionnaire, elaborated by the researchers, divided into four parts: characterization social-demographic, physical exercise practice, feeding, and mental health. Before the confinement, 99 (9.9%) students classify their mental health as poor and during the confinement 423 (42.2%) said that their mental health was poor (p≤0.001). Women presented 1.91 (CI=1.42-2.56; p≤0.001) more probabilities of having poor mental health and the students that did not practice physical exercise during the confinement had 1.56 (CI=1.22-2.04; p≤0.001) more chances of having poor mental health. Most students classified their mental health as inferior during confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with women and the lack of physical exercise being the factors that were most related to poor mental health.

Downloads

Os dados de download ainda não estão disponíveis.

Referências

Hernández-Torrano D, Ibrayeva L, Sparks J, Lim N, Clementi A, Almukhambetova A, et al. Mental health and well-being of university students: a bibliometric mapping of the literature. Front Psychol. 2020;11:1226.

Hambisa MT, Derese A, Abdeta T. Depressive symptoms among Haramaya university students in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study. Depress Res Treat. 2020;2020:5027918.

Cleary M, Walter G, Jackson D. Not always smooth sailing: mental health issues associated with the transition from high school to college. Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2011;32(4):250-4.

Conselho de Ministros. Comunicado do Conselho de Ministros de 11 de março de 2021 [homepage]. Governo da República Portuguesa; 2021 Mar 11 [cited 2021 Apr 1]. Available from: https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc22/governo/comunicado-de-conselho-de-ministros?i=407

Cao W, Fang Z, Hou G, Han M, Xu X, Dong J, et al. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry Res. 2020;287:112934.

Amatori S, Zeppa SD, Preti A, Gervasi M, Gobbi E, Ferrini F, et al. Dietary habits and psychological states during COVID-19 home isolation in Italian college students: the role of physical exercise. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3660.

Bloom DA, Reid JR, Cassady CI. Education in the time of COVID-19. Pediatr Radiol. 2020;50(8):1055-8.

Kogan M, Klein SE, Hannon CP, Nolte MT. Orthopaedic education during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2020;28(11):e456-64.

Olfert MD, Wattick RA, Saurborn EG, Hagedorn RL. Impact of COVID-19 on college student diet quality and physical activity. Nutr Health. 2022;2601060221086772.

PORDATA. Alunos matriculados no ensino superior: total e por sexo [homepage]. Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos; 2021 [updated 2021 Oct 1; cited 2022 Mar 22]. Available from: https://www.pordata.pt/Portugal/Alunos+matriculados+no+ensino+superior+total+e+por+sexo-1048

Ma Z, Zhao J, Li Y, Chen D, Wang T, Zhang Z, et al. Mental health problems and correlates among 746,217 college students during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak in China. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2020;29:e181.

Teixeira LA, Costa RA, Mattos RM, Pimentel D. Brazilian medical students’ mental health during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. J Bras Psiquiatr. 2021;70(1):21-9.

DeWitt D. Fighting COVID-19: enabling graduating students to start internship early at their own medical school. Ann Intern Med. 2020;173(2):143-4.

Elmer T, Mepham K, Stadtfeld C. Students under lockdown: comparisons of students’ social networks and mental health before and during the COVID-19 crisis in Switzerland. PLoS One. 2020;15(7):e0236337.

Amaral-Prado HM, Borghi F, Mello TM, Grassi-Kassisse DM. The impact of confinement in the psychosocial behaviour due COVID-19 among members of a Brazilian university. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2021;67(6):720-7.

Smith L, Hill N, Kokanovic R. Experiences of depression, the role of social support and its impact on health outcomes. J Ment Health. 2015;24(6):342-6.

Geirdal AØ, Ruffolo M, Leung J, Thygesen H, Price D, Bonsaksen T, et al. Mental health, quality of life, wellbeing, loneliness and use of social media in a time of social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-country comparative study. J Ment Health. 2021;30(2):148-55.

Peluso MA, Andrade LH. Physical activity and mental health: the association between exercise and mood. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2005;60(1):61-70.

Mikkelsen K, Stojanovska L, Polenakovic M, Bosevski M, Apostolopoulos V. Exercise and mental health. Maturitas. 2017;106:48-56.

Zhang Y, Zhang H, Ma X, Di Q. Mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemics and the mitigation effects of exercise: a longitudinal study of college students in China. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(10):3722.

Scarmozzino F, Visioli F. Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown modified dietary habits of almost half the population in an Italian sample. Foods. 2020;9(5):675.

Sidor A, Rzymski P. Dietary choices and habits during COVID-19 lockdown: experience from Poland. Nutrients. 2020;12(6):1657.

Downloads

Publicado

30-11-2022

Edição

Secção

Artigos

Como Citar

Perception of mental health in higher education students: changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (2022). Saúde & Tecnologia, 27, 44-49. https://doi.org/10.25758/set.595