Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the years before – a cohort study on sports students
The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice
ISSN: 1755-6228
Article publication date: 28 August 2024
Issue publication date: 10 October 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Within the student population, students who study sport at the university level represent a special cohort struggling with specific academic and developmental challenges. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that sports students are particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of their mental health. The aim of this study is to examine whether mental health (i.e. depression and well-being) among sports students changed during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the data before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study compared 907 German sports students before the COVID-19 pandemic to 1,124 German sports students during the COVID-19 pandemic (55.7% BA students, 13.3% MA students and 29.4% PE students). Mental health was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) (risk for depression) and the well-being index (WHO-5). To identify students at risk, a cut-off score of = 3 (PHQ-2) or of = 12 (WHO-5) was used.
Findings
The results show that across all study programs, the risk for depression was significantly higher and well-being was significantly lower during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. Moreover, remarkably more sports students were at high risk for depression (11.1% vs 38.3%) or showed strongly decreased well-being (24.6% vs 57.3%) during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Originality/value
The results are comparable to those of other fields of study that do not involve physical activity. Implications for further research, for sports students’ mental health practice and for mental health professionals are discussed. It remains to be examined to what extent this impairment also has an impact on the further psychological development of the students after the pandemic.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank all students who participated in this study. The authors especially thank Carolin Krumm for the organization of the pre-covid data.
Declaration of interest statement: This work was realized in the context of the Student Health Management of the German Sport University Cologne. This project is partly funded by the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK).
Citation
Lüdemann, J. and Kleinert, J. (2024), "Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the years before – a cohort study on sports students", The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, Vol. 19 No. 5, pp. 280-288. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMHTEP-05-2023-0054
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited