Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Jun 19, 2021; 11(6): 232-241
Published online Jun 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i6.232
COVID-19 impact on high school student’s education and mental health: A cohort survey in China
Zhong-Ren Ma, Wei-Hua Ma, Sakinah Idris, Qiu-Wei Pan, Zulqarnain Baloch
Zhong-Ren Ma, Wei-Hua Ma, Qiu-Wei Pan, Biomedical Research Center, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, Gansu Province, China
Sakinah Idris, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Batu Caves 68100, Selangor, Malaysia
Zulqarnain Baloch, Center for Molecular Medicine in Yunnan Province, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, Yunnan Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed to the concept of this study; Baloch Z, Pan QW and Ma ZR designed the study; Ma WH and Baloch Z acquired and analyzed data; Baloch Z, Idris S and Pan QW wrote the manuscript; All the authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The Institutional Review Ethical Committee of Northwest Minzu University reviewed and approved the protocol used in this study.
Informed consent statement: Consent was obtained individually from each participant.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no competing interests.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the risk of compromising the individual privacy of participants, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zulqarnain Baloch, PhD, Professor, Center for Molecular Medicine in Yunnan Province, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Wu Jiaying Street, Chenggong District, Kunming 650500, Yunnan Province, China. znbalooch@yahoo.com
Received: December 12, 2020
Peer-review started: December 12, 2020
First decision: January 7, 2021
Revised: January 25, 2021
Accepted: April 26, 2021
Article in press: April 26, 2021
Published online: June 19, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the universal implementation of control measures are fundamentally affecting every aspect of our society and daily lives.

AIM

To evaluate the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and their associated factors as well as the effects and attitudes towards online education in Chinese high school students.

METHODS

A total of 883 students were included. The first, second and third-year students of a high school in Lanzhou, Gansu province of China were invited to participate in this study. They were requested to involve their parents to complete the survey together. A detailed questionnaire of 65 questions was designed and divided into five sections. The survey was anonymously conducted via WeChat, a Chinese multipurpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app.

RESULTS

Overall, 32.94% of students experienced post-traumatic stress disorder due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The majority of students (60.82%) felt that online education was not (10.76%) or less effective (50.06%) in terms of gaining knowledge and improving practical and communications skills. Correlation analysis revealed that the class level, residential background and whether living with parents were significantly linked with the effectiveness and satisfaction of the online education system. Of the final year students, 74.2% said that the COVID-19 outbreak has negatively affected their preparation for the college entrance exam, and 68% of students felt that this outbreak increased psychological pressure for their college entrance examination preparation. In case of having COVID-19 symptoms during the exam, 50.7%, 13.3%, and 10.2% would notify the proctor, teacher and parents, respectively.

CONCLUSION

We found a high prevalence rate of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in high school students. Thus, our results call for urgent attention from both government and schools to implement effective interventions to cope with the psychological effects and the disturbance of education by COVID-19 on children.

Keywords: COVID-19, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Students, College entrance examination, China, Education

Core Tip: This study evaluated the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and their associated factors as well as the effects and attitudes towards online education in Chinese high school students. We found a high prevalence rate of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in high school students. Thus, our results call for urgent attention from both government and schools to implement effective interventions to cope with the psychological effects and the disturbance of education by coronavirus disease 2019 on children.