Effects of an Intervention on University Students' Mental Health and Learning During COVID-19

Summary

Since the beginning of the pandemic, several authors (Lee, 2020; Sahu, 2020; Zhai \& Du, 2020) have highlighted the various challenges faced by university students, as well as their negative effects on their mental health. A deterioration in their mental health was observed, particularly during lockdown, with very high levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms (Essadek \& Rabeyron, 2020; Husky et al., 2020; Le Vigouroux et al., 2021; Odriozola-González et al., 2020). In addition, COVID-19 has brought about a digital revolution in higher education (Strielkowski, 2020). However, distance learning was not without consequences on student stress (IAU, 2020). The detrimental effects of distance education, in terms of stress and anxiety, could also have important consequences for students' learning and academic success.

Our research proposes to evaluate effects of an intervention focused on stress and learning on mental health and learning strategies. This intervention will be proposed to students from University of Nimes. Its primary objective is to prevent psychological health alterations and to improve students' learning strategies.

Three groups will be constituted: a group that will participate in an online program (online group), a group will participate in a hybrid program, i.e. with online content and face-to-face support (hybrid group) and a group that will not be receiving any interventions (control group). The investigators plan to include between 150 and 200 university students, between 40 and 70 in each group.

The levels of mental health and learning strategies of the two experimental group (online and hybrid group) will be compared to a control group with the realization of pre and post intervention measures. Sociodemographic (e.g., level education) and situational variables (e.g., diagnostic of COVID-19) will be considered in the analyses.

Conditions

• Mental Health Issue
• Learning Problem
• Student Burnout
• Motivation
• Young Adults/ Students
• University-based Intervention

Interventions

OTHER

University-based intervention to promote better management of emotions and learning

It included 9 video capsules (that take place over 9 weeks), with the following themes: stress information, learning information, emotion and stress regulation strategies, cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies, motivation for learning, physical activity, diet, sleep, and managing worry and uncertainty. It is based on previous online student mental health intervention studies. It presents two innovative aspects: elements and examples specific to the COVID-19 pandemic and the addition of modules focused on learning strategies. The different modules were designed by 5 associate professors, 2 Master students in clinical psychology and 2 undergraduate students in psychology. For the control group, the videos will be posted every week on a You Tube channel and broadcast on a private discord group. For the hybrid group, student will have to attend 10 lessons of 2 hours. These courses include the viewing of videos and a time for discussion between students and the teacher.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Nimes

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-09-25

Primary Completion

2021-12-20

Completion

2021-12-30

Countries

• France

Study Locations