Page 43 - JCBP-3-2

Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics Mental health status of Chinese college students in the post-epidemic period

doctorate), year of study (freshman, sophomore, junior, The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale,
senior, and 5 year), whether students were medical composed of 7 items, has a score range of 4 points from
th
professionals, whether students were interns at the time 0 to 3 for each item. A total score of more than 4 points
of survey, whether students had been vaccinated with the reflects the clinical level of anxiety. 16
COVID-19 vaccine, and whether students had ever been The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), a self-assessment
infected with the COVID-19. questionnaire consisting of 10 items for stress assessment,

2.2.2. Problems related to COVID-19 pressure has a total of 5 points from 0 to 4 for each item. A total
score of more than 13 points indicates abnormal pressure.
The survey dissected various pressure factors caused by The higher the score, the greater the pressure felt. 17
the uncontrolled pandemic situation by interrogating the
following questions: 2.4. Sleep-related factors
• Did your overall pressure increase/decrease or The self-rating scale of sleep (SRSS) is suitable for screening
remain unchanged after the easing of the COVID-19 people with sleep problems in different populations. This
restrictions? (Answer: Increased/decreased/remained scale has 10 items, each scored with 5 points (1 – 5). The
unchanged) higher the score, the more serious the sleep problem. The
• Could you fully cope with the pressure after the lowest score on this scale is 10 points (basically no sleep
restrictions were eased? Do you think other students problems); a score of more than 22 points indicates sleep
feel pressure/anxiety because of the easing of the disorders, and the highest score of 50 points indicates the
restrictions? (Answer: Yes/no) most serious condition. 18
• After the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were
relaxed, did you reduce your interactions with others? 2.5. Statistical analysis
(Answer: No/slightly/somewhat/very much)
• Since the restrictions were relaxed, have you been Statistical analysis was conducted using the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences version 23.0 (IBM).
worrying about your highly vulnerable families Descriptive analysis of the distribution of all measured
and relatives being infected? (Answer: No/slightly/ variables was performed. The Chi-square test was used
somewhat/very much) to test the bivariate correlation between mental health
• Did you worry about being infected after the and stress-related problems after the lifting of pandemic
restrictions were relaxed? (Answer: No/slightly/ restrictions, and Pearson’s correlation was used to assess
somewhat/very much)
• Was it more difficult to purchase COVID-19 mental health factors. Then, standardized odds ratio
regression coefficients, 95% confidence intervals, and
prevention materials after the restrictions were eased? P-values were reported by binary logistic regression analysis
(Answer: No/slightly/somewhat/very much) to evaluate the relationship of independent variables to
• Did you pay more attention to the treatment methods depression, anxiety, stress, and sleep disturbances.
for COVID-19 after the restrictions were relaxed?
(Answer: No/slightly/somewhat/very much) 3. Results
• Do you lack knowledge of COVID-19 transmission or
infection? (Answer: No/slightly/somewhat/very much) 3.1. Sample demographics
• Were you afraid of taking public transport after the A total of 1120 questionnaires were collected, of which
COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed? (Answer: No/ 1105 were valid, including 630 (57%) from women. The age
slightly/somewhat/very much) of recruited subjects ranged from 17 to 30 years (average
• What do you think is the health barrier to mental 20.26 years, standard deviation 2.92 years). The sample
health? (Answer: Lack of information on existing included undergraduate (n = 984, 89%), graduate (n = 117,
resources/limited resources/social discrimination/ 11%), and doctorate students (n = 4, 0.4%), which were
economy/others) further divided into first academic year (n = 586, 53%),
second academic year (n = 197, 18%), third academic year
2.3. Mental health problems (n = 173, 16%), and fourth academic year (n = 118, 11%)

The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) depression students. The students in this study were from the medical
symptom screening scale evaluates depression symptoms (n = 705, 64%) and nonmedical disciplines (n = 400,
within 2 weeks. The scale consists of 9 items with a total 36%). The vast majority of the sample collected had been
score of 4 points ranging from 0 to 3 for each item, and a vaccinated (n = 1092, 99%); 13 subjects (1%) were not
total score of more than 4 points indicates that there may vaccinated; 827 individuals (75%) had been infected;
be clinical depression. 15 and 278 individuals (25%) had never been infected with

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 37 doi: 10.36922/jcbp.2139