TY - JOUR
T1 - The early impact of the global lockdown on post-secondary students and staff
T2 - A global, descriptive study
AU - Nowrouzi-Kia, Behdin
AU - Osipenko, Leeza
AU - Eftekhar, Parvin
AU - Othman, Nasih
AU - Alotaibi, Sultan
AU - Schuster, Alexandra M.
AU - Sun Suh, Hae
AU - Duncan, Andrea
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Objectives: The aim of this study was to gain a preliminary, broad-level understanding of how the first lockdown impacted post-secondary students, faculty, and staff worldwide. Methods: The data were obtained via a global online cross-sectional questionnaire survey using a mixed-method design and disseminated to university students, faculty, and staff from April to November 2020. The data were categorized in four themes/categories: (1) social life and relationships, (2) access to services, (3) health experiences, and (4) impact on mental health well-being. Results: The survey included 27,804 participants from 121 countries and 6 continents. The majority of participants were from Europe (73.6%), female (59.2%), under 30 years of age (64.0%), living in large urban areas (61.3%), %), and from middle-income families (66.7%). Approximately 28.4% of respondents reported that the lockdown negatively impacted their social life, while 21.2% reported the lockdown had a positive impact. A total of 39.2% reported having issues accessing products or services, including essentials, such as groceries, or medical services. In addition, respondents reported an increase in stress and anxiety levels and a decrease in quality of life during the first 2 weeks of the lockdown. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures had an evident impact on the lives of post-secondary students, faculty, and staff. Further research is required to inform and improve policies to support these populations at both institutional and national levels.
AB - Objectives: The aim of this study was to gain a preliminary, broad-level understanding of how the first lockdown impacted post-secondary students, faculty, and staff worldwide. Methods: The data were obtained via a global online cross-sectional questionnaire survey using a mixed-method design and disseminated to university students, faculty, and staff from April to November 2020. The data were categorized in four themes/categories: (1) social life and relationships, (2) access to services, (3) health experiences, and (4) impact on mental health well-being. Results: The survey included 27,804 participants from 121 countries and 6 continents. The majority of participants were from Europe (73.6%), female (59.2%), under 30 years of age (64.0%), living in large urban areas (61.3%), %), and from middle-income families (66.7%). Approximately 28.4% of respondents reported that the lockdown negatively impacted their social life, while 21.2% reported the lockdown had a positive impact. A total of 39.2% reported having issues accessing products or services, including essentials, such as groceries, or medical services. In addition, respondents reported an increase in stress and anxiety levels and a decrease in quality of life during the first 2 weeks of the lockdown. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures had an evident impact on the lives of post-secondary students, faculty, and staff. Further research is required to inform and improve policies to support these populations at both institutional and national levels.
KW - COVID-19
KW - faculty
KW - lockdown
KW - mental health
KW - post-secondary
KW - staff
KW - students
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123696893&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/20503121221074480
DO - 10.1177/20503121221074480
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123696893
SN - 2050-3121
VL - 10
JO - SAGE Open Medicine
JF - SAGE Open Medicine
ER -
