NDLI: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress, mental health and coping behavior in German University students – a longitudinal study before and after the onset of the pandemic

Content Provider	Springer Nature : BioMed Central
Author	Voltmer, Edgar Köslich-Strumann, Susen Walther, Anna Kasem, Mahmoud Obst, Katrin Kötter, Thomas
Abstract	Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to massive restrictions in public and private lives, including a shut-down of face-to-face teaching at universities in Germany. We aimed to examine the impact of these changes on perceived stress, mental health and (study-)related health behavior of students in a longitudinal study. Methods For two timepoints – the year before the COVID-19 pandemic (2019, n = 1377) and the year during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020, n = 1867) – we surveyed students of all faculties at one German university for perceptions and preventive behavior regarding the COVID-19 pandemic using standard instruments for stress, anxiety, depression, and behavior and experience patterns. Results About 90% of students (n = 1633) in 2020 did not have a known contact infected with SARS-CoV-2, while 180 (9.8%) did have one. Only 10 respondents (0.5%) reported an infection with SARS-CoV-2. Wearing masks and washing hands more often were practiced by ≥80% of students. Taking more care about cleanliness (51.8%) and using disinfectants (39.2%) were practiced much less. A higher percentage of female compared with male students and medical/health science students compared with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students engaged more frequently in specific or nonspecific preventive measures. More than three quarters (77.1%) of all students rated their general health as (very) good. There were no significant differences in general health, stress, and depression between 2019 and 2020 in the students who responded at both timepoints. The distribution of behavior and experience patterns for this group showed a slight but significant difference from 2019 to 2020, namely decreasing proportions of students with a healthy pattern and a risk pattern for overexertion. Students with different behavior and experience patterns showed marked differences in perceptions and reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as psychosocial stress and symptoms, with higher scores for mental health symptoms and lower scores in preventive behavior regarding risk patterns. Conclusion Despite massive alterations to students’ lives in 2020, there were only moderate consequences for mental health compared with 2019 in the total student group of this German university. However, identifying students at risk would offer opportunities to foster mental health in relevant subgroups.
Related Links	https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12889-021-11295-6.pdf
Ending Page	15
Page Count	15
Starting Page	1
File Format	HTM / HTML
ISSN	14712458
DOI	10.1186/s12889-021-11295-6
Journal	BMC Public Health
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	21
Language	English
Publisher	BioMed Central
Publisher Date	2021-07-13
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Public Health Medicine Epidemiology Biostatistics Vaccine Environmental Health COVID-19 Students Mental health Preventive measures Behavior patterns Medicine/Public Health
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Journal Impact Factor	3.5/2023
5-Year Journal Impact Factor	3.9/2023

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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