Responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency: The usefulness of an online brief psychological intervention with Italian university students.
Rita CeruttiValentina SpensieriSimone AmendolaGiuseppe Stefano BiusoAlessia RenziRenata TambelliPublished in: Psychology in the schools (2022)
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about new stressors on university students, with a negative impact on their mental health and well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of a brief psychodynamically oriented intervention on general functioning by investigating changes in symptoms of depression, anxiety, hopelessness, and burnout. The sample was comprised of 67 university students (22.4% males), with a mean age of 23.27 (standard deviation (SD) = 3.27), who asked for psychological help at a psychological university service. Pre- and posttreatment data showed a significant improvement in general functioning and symptom reduction due to the psychological intervention. The mean change was very high for depression ( d = 1.11) and high for general functioning ( d = 0.70) and anxiety ( d = 0.69). Our findings showed the importance of considering university students a vulnerable population that requires specific services within the university context and underlined the fact that mental-health-promotion policies should be extensively implemented.
Keyphrases
- sleep quality
- mental health
- public health
- randomized controlled trial
- depressive symptoms
- healthcare
- health promotion
- physical activity
- sars cov
- emergency department
- coronavirus disease
- primary care
- electronic health record
- machine learning
- multidrug resistant
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- data analysis
- artificial intelligence