COVID-19 Impact on Kazakhstan University Student Fear, Mental Health, and Substance Use

Prevalence of fear of COVID-19, depression, and anxiety among undergraduate students during remote classes

BACKGROUND

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, undergraduate students were exposed to symptoms of psychological suffering during remote classes. Therefore, it is important to investigate the factors that may be generated and be related to such outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between fear of COVID-19, depression, anxiety, and related factors in undergraduate students during remote classes.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 218 undergraduate students (60.6% women and 39.4% men). Students answered a self-administered online questionnaire designed to gather personal information, pandemic exposure, physical activity level, fear of COVID-19 using the 'Fear of COVID-19 Scale', symptoms of depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and anxiety using General Anxiety Disorder-7.

RESULTS

Undergraduate students had a high prevalence of depression and anxiety (83.0% and 76.1%, respectively) but a low prevalence of fear of COVID-19 (28.9%) during remote classes. Multivariate analysis revealed that women who reported health status as neither good nor bad and who had lost a family member from COVID-19 had the highest levels of fear. For depression and anxiety, the main related factors found were female gender, bad health status, insufficiently active, and complete adherence to the restriction measures.

CONCLUSION

These findings may be used to develop actions to manage symptoms of anxiety and depression among students, with interventions through physical activity programmes to improve mental health.

The COVID-19 pandemic and mental health in Kazakhstan

The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impacts on mental health. We examined factors associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan. We surveyed 991 adults in Kazakhstan in July 2021 using multistage stratified sampling. Depression and anxiety were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-4. We conducted logistic regression to assess associations between depression and anxiety and sociobehavioral factors. Overall, 12.01% reported depressive symptoms and 8.38% anxiety. Higher likelihood of depression was associated with being female (AOR: 1.64; 95% CI [1.05, 2.55]), having experience with COVID-19 in the social environment (AOR: 1.85; 95% CI [1.1-3.14]), experiencing food insecurity (AOR: 1.80; 95% CI [1.11-2.89]), increased family conflict (AOR: 2.43; 95% CI [1.32-4.48]) and impaired healthcare access (AOR: 2.41; 95% CI [1.32-4.41]). Higher likelihood of anxiety was associated with being female (AOR: 3.43; 95% CI [1.91-6.15]), increased family conflict (AOR: 2.22; 95% CI [1.11-4.44]) and impaired healthcare access (AOR: 2.63; 95% CI [1.36-5.12]). Multiple factors were associated with mental health in Kazakhstan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research is needed to determine the extent to which these factors and their associated mental health outcomes may persist.

Validation of the Chinese version of the COVID-19 Phobia Scale among Chinese college students

Background and objective

Different languages and versions of the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S) have been developed and tested in several countries. Chinese college students are a large vulnerable group and are susceptible to psychological problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, no studies had yet examined the reliability and validity of the C19P-S in China among college students group. This study aims to evaluate the COVID-19-related phobia of Chinese college students and examine the reliability and validity of this scale.

Methods

A total of 1689 Chinese college students participated in this study from April 27 to May 7, 2022. They finished the online questionnaire including demographic information and C19P-S. Cronbach's alpha and split-half reliability were used to examine the internal consistency of the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was further used to examine the scale's construct validity. Convergence validity was also confirmed.

Results

This scale in Chinese had high reliability and validity. The Cronbach's alpha and split-half reliability of the total scale were 0.960 and 0.935, respectively. The construct validity-related indicators of the total scale met the standards (RMSEA = 0.064, IFI = 0.907, TLI = 0.906, and CFI = 0.907). Regarding the subscales, the composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) also met the cutoff values (CR > 0.7 and AVE >0.5). Comparison between gender groups showed that total and subscale scores between male and female students differed significantly.

Conclusion

The Chinese version of the C19P-S was appropriate for evaluating phobic symptoms among Chinese college students. Therefore, this tool could be used to evaluate the mental health of college students in the future.

Exploring Reddit conversations about mental health difficulties among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: We aimed to explore conversations about mental health difficulties by Reddit users who posted within college subreddits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants: Data were collected from the subreddits of 22 California campuses, representing 113,579 anonymous members. Using the following search terms, we retrieved 577 posts (ie, 268 original posts and 309 replies): COVID, Coronavirus, Quarantine, Pandemic, Anxiety, Anxious, Depressed, Depression, Overwhelmed, Stress, and Stressed. Methods: We used inductive, thematic data analysis to explore themes within posts and replies dated from 3/16/2020 to 3/16/2021. Results: We identified the following themes: 1) the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted engagement with learning; 2) remote learning has exacerbated students' mental health difficulties; and 3) students provide and receive social support online. Conclusions: These findings have implications that are particularly relevant as campuses are faced with continuous decisions related to repopulation.

Experiences of Kyrgyzstani Frontline Healthcare Workers during the “Black July” of 2020: a Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: The peak of the pandemic in Kyrgyzstan occurred in July 2020 with highest infection rates, almost 1000 cases daily, compared to 100 cases prior to this date. The state health system was fatally unprepared to accommodate patients, mobilize medical staff, or provide clear instructions to the population. This study explores personal narratives of healthcare practitioners who were affected by and survived COVID-19 during the Black July of 2020 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. METHOD: Healthcare workers (n=10) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. Interviews were transcribed then analyzed in accordance with interpretative phenomenological study guidelines. RESULTS: The narratives demonstrated both post-traumatic depreciation and post-traumatic growth, resulting in changes of attitudes, lifestyle, and identity. An important aspect of identity shift included an emerging desire for increased self-care, which was characterized by resistance against a heroic Hippocratic ideal to to save everybody. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 is perceived as a psycho-socio-cultural phenomenon, which has transformed the identities of healthcare workers in the Kyrgyz Republic. Further research is recommended into developing rehabilitation programs for healthcare workers.

Development and validation of COVID-19 Impact Scale

BACKGROUND

As the COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic is prolonged, psychological responses to the pandemic have changed, and a new scale to reflect these changes needs to be developed. In this study, we attempt to develop and validate the COVID-19 Impact Scale (CIS) to measure the psychological stress responses of the COVID-19 pandemic, including emotional responses and difficulty with activities of daily living.

METHODS

We recruited 2152 participants. Participants completed the CIS, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), and other mental health related measures. The factor structure, reliability, and validity of the CIS were analyzed. In addition, the validity of the scale was confirmed by its relationships to the existing measures assessing fear of COVID-19, depression, anxiety, subjective well-being, and suicidal ideation.

RESULTS

Using exploratory factor analysis (N₁ = 1076), we derived a one-factor structure. In confirmatory factor analysis (N₂ = 1076), the one-factor model showed good to excellent fitness. The CIS was positively correlated with depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, fear of COVID-19 and negatively correlated with subjective well-being. The FCV-19S did not show significant correlations with subjective well-being or suicidal ideation, and FCV-19S's explanatory powers on depression and anxiety were lower than those of the CIS.

CONCLUSIONS

These results support that the CIS is a valid assessment of emotional problems and deterioration of the quality of life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the limitations of this study and future research directions are discussed.

Fear of COVID-19 Among College Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background

Mental health issue among college students is routinely a major public health concern, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have exacerbated the students' mental health issues which include psychological distress, panic disorder, insomnia, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, few studies reached a consensus on the impact of COVID-19 fear on mental health among college students. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis that quantitatively synthesized the fear among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO electronic databases were systematically searched to identify cross-sectional study reporting the state of COVID-19 fear examined by the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) published up until November 20, 2021. Methodological quality was complied with the evaluation criteria of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The random effects model was employed to estimate the pooled mean of FCV-19S score. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression analysis were also conducted. Publication bias was assessed by Begg's test and funnel plot.

Results

A total of 16 studies with a sample size of 11,872 were included. A pooled mean of FCV-19S score was 17.60 [95% confidence interval (CI): 16.41–18.78]. The mean of COVID-19 fear in women (17.11, 95% CI: 16.59–17.64) was higher than that in men (15.21, 95% CI: 14.33–16.08). The highest and lowest pooled means of FCV-19S score were observed in the studies conducted in multiple countries that include Israel, Russian, and Belarus (21.55, 95% CI: 20.77–22.33) and in Europe (16.52, 95% CI: 15.26–17.77), respectively. No significant publication bias was detected by Begg's test.

Conclusions

College students experienced a moderate level of fear caused by COVID-19 pandemic. It is necessary to design and implement prevention programs that target the mental health of college students.

Systematic Review Registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021287017, identifier: CRD42021287017.

Relationship Between COVID-19 Threat Beliefs and Individual Differences in Demographics, Personality, and Related Beliefs

Individual differences in demographics, personality, and other related beliefs are associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat beliefs. However, the relative contributions of these different types of individual differences to COVID-19 threat beliefs are not known. In this study, a total of 1,700 participants in Croatia (68% female; age 18-86 years) completed a survey that included questions about COVID-19 risks, questions about related beliefs including vaccination beliefs, trust in the health system, trust in scientists, and trust in the political system, the HEXACO 60 personality inventory, as well as demographic questions about gender, age, chronic diseases, and region. We used hierarchical regression analyses to examine the proportion of variance explained by demographics, personality, and other related beliefs. All three types of individual differences explained a part of the variance of COVID-19 threat beliefs, with related beliefs explaining the largest part. Personality facets explained a slightly larger amount of variance than personality factors. These results have implications for communication about COVID-19.

Remote Working for Sustainability of Organization during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediator-Moderator Role of Social Support

Remote working became a widespread business practice during the COVID-19 pandemic as an organizational response to protect employees’ health and maintain business continuity. The aim of this paper is to reveal the role of social support in the relationship among NWHI, NHWI and loneliness, and work engagement and job performance. The study respondents were employees with a remote working status in Serbian companies, and a total of 226 valid surveys were collected. The PLS-SEM approach was deployed to test the hypothesized relationship between named variables. A standard bootstrapping procedure was used to reveal direct and indirect effects among latent variables. Results indicate a strong and positive direct association between social support and work engagement and job performance, while mediation and moderation of the role of social support were mostly confirmed but with some results opposite to what was expected. Social support was not able to buffer a negative home–work interaction and loneliness within remote working. The study offers insight into the role of social support and recommendations for managing the antecedents and consequences of remote working, with the aim to determine a sustainable model for extensive application, not only during the COVID-19 pandemic, but in regular times.

Using GAM functions and Markov-Switching models in an evaluation framework to assess countries' performance in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has initiated several initiatives to better understand its behavior, and some projects are monitoring its evolution across countries, which naturally leads to comparisons made by those using the data. However, most “at a glance” comparisons may be misleading because the curve that should explain the evolution of COVID-19 is different across countries, as a result of the underlying geopolitical or socio-economic characteristics. Therefore, this paper contributes to the scientific endeavour by creating a new evaluation framework to help stakeholders adequately monitor and assess the evolution of COVID-19 in countries, considering the occurrence of spikes, "secondary waves" and structural breaks in the time series.

Methods

Generalized Additive Models were used to model cumulative and daily curves for confirmed cases and deaths. The Root Relative Squared Error and the Percentage Deviance Explained measured how well the models fit the data. A local min-max function was used to identify all local maxima in the fitted values. The pure Markov-Switching and the family of Markov-Switching GARCH models were used to identify structural breaks in the COVID-19 time series. Finally, a quadrants system to identify countries that are more/less efficient in the short/long term in controlling the spread of the virus and the number of deaths was developed. Such methods were applied in the time series of 189 countries, collected from the Centre for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Results

Our methodology proves more effective in explaining the evolution of COVID-19 than growth functions worldwide, in addition to standardizing the entire estimation process in a single type of function. Besides, it highlights several inflection points and regime-switching moments, as a consequence of people’s diminished commitment to fighting the pandemic. Although Europe is the most developed continent in the world, it is home to most countries with an upward trend and considered inefficient, for confirmed cases and deaths.

Conclusions

The new outcomes presented in this research will allow key stakeholders to check whether or not public policies and interventions in the fight against COVID-19 are having an effect, easily identifying examples of best practices and promote such policies more widely around the world.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at (10.1186/s12889-021-11891-6).

Unpacking the Mental Health of Nurses during COVID-19: Evidence from Pakistan

The prime objective of the present study is to test the effect of COVID-19 fear on the mental condition of nurses in the public health sector of Pakistan. This study seeks to measure the psychological distress, anxiety, and psychological well-being of nurses due to fear of COVID-19 and exposure to COVID-19. This research further reveals the moderating role of “social support” in the link between COVID-19 fear, exposure and mental health. Through a convenient sampling technique, 250 sample contributors were chosen from 12 public hospitals. The results were obtained by applying multiple regression and moderation analysis by SPSS and the Hayes process. The outcomes indicated that fear of exposure to COVID-19 affects the mental health of nurses. The findings also discovered that social support is not very constructive in the pandemic. However, we suggested that social support is the best weapon to encourage nurses to relieve their fear and minimize negative emotions.

Mental Health in Health Students during Coronavirus Disease-19: Systematic Review

Purpose: This study aims to examine the description of mental health characteristics of health students who conducted studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The design of this study is to use a systematic review approach by collecting several articles from a database that has been selected consisting of Springer. , ScienceDirect and ProQuest with articles published in 2020. Search for articles was carried out by entering the keyword "mental health AND student AND COVID-19". The search for this article was limited to inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria in this study were health students who were still conducting studies during the COVID-19 pandemic and a cross-sectional study design, while the exclusion criteria were non-health students, only abstracts and books, and letters to the editor. Results: After a search on the selected database, the results are 677 Springer articles, 554 direct articles, and 1348 ProQuest articles. 11 were removed for duplicates, 444 full texts were reviewed and 6 articles matched inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results of the 6 articles that were reviewed showed that the majority of health students reported mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, stress, and another emotional status. Where moderate and severe levels of anxiety were experienced by some Health students who carried out education during the Covid-19 pandemic. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on psychological conditions, especially on health students who are carrying out their education. Students report poor mental health conditions while carrying out home education by learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Validation of the French Version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and Its Associations with Depression, Anxiety, and Differential Emotions

The COVID-19 crisis represents a global health concern, including mental health. Regarding the necessity to assess anxiety related to COVID-19, a scale was developed (Ahorsu et al., 2020). The goal of the present study was to validate the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) in French (official language in 29 countries), and investigate its relationship with indicators of affective disturbances. The sample comprised 316 participants (271 females) recruited online during the French lockdown. They were from several regions of France. The FCV-19S underwent a forward-backward translation procedure. Its psychometric properties were evaluated with the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The French FCV-19S demonstrated a stable unidimensional structure with robust psychometric properties (strong internal consistency, good convergent and divergent validity, and good test-retest validity). With its robust psychometric properties in assessing the unidimensional construct of the fear of COVID-19, this scale will help to provide a better understanding of the relationship between emotions and psychological or psychiatric disorders during the pandemics in French-speaking countries.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Fear of COVID-19

Background: Due to lack of preparedness of health systems, fast spread of the new virus, high mortality rates, and lack of a definite treatment, the outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) led to high levels of fear and anxiety in different populations. In addition, isolation, mental disorders, and limitations in social interactions as a result of lockdown and travel ban increased the fear of the new coronavirus. Methods: International databases, including Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google scholar, were searched without any time limitation, and all observational studies published in English reporting the mean of fear of COVID-19 based on the Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) were included in the analysis. Methodological quality was assessed using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines. Random effects model, subgroup analysis, and meta-regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Heterogeneity across studies was examined using Cochran's Q test and I ² statistic. All the statistical analyses were conducted using R software v4.0.3. Results: A total of 44 articles with a sample size of 52,462 were reviewed. A pooled mean of 18.57 was found for fear of COVID-19. The mean of fear of COVID-19 was higher in women than in men (20.67 vs. 18.21). The highest and lowest means of fear of COVID-19 had been found in Asia (18.36) and Australia (17.43) based on continent, and in hospital staff (19.51) and college students (17.95) based on target population, respectively. In addition, the highest and lowest means of fear of COVID-19 were related to items #1 and #3 of the scale, respectively. According to the results of meta-regression analysis, there was no significant association between the mean of fear of COVID-19 and sample size and participants' age. In addition, publication error was not significant (P = 0.721). Conclusion: The mean of fear of COVID-19 was high around the world; therefore, it seems necessary to pay more attention to the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.

Effect of Coronavirus-19 on Mental Condition of International Students in China

Despite its importance, no study investigates the effects of COVID-19 on the mental condition of international students in China. By using data from international students in China, this study finds the positive and affirmative connection between fear of COVID-19 and generalized anxiety disorder among foreign students. Furthermore, this study reveals a negative association between fear of COVID-19 and the psychological well-being of foreign students in China. We also find that emotional intelligence has a positive and optimistic moderating influence on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and generalized anxiety disorder but it has not moderating effect on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and psychological well-being. Our study contributes to the body and knowledge and offers new insights concerning the effects of COVID-19 on the mental condition of international students.