COVID-19 related psychosocial problems among university students in Mexico – a longitudinal qualitative examination: Problemas psicosociales relacionados con el COVID-19 en estudiantes universitarios en México. Una examinación cualitativa

Research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among college students
around the world has primarily focused on their mental health symptoms and
COVID-specific worry. However, contextually specific understanding of outbreak
impacts is key to inform directed public health messaging and programming
to improve wellbeing and coping. The current study aimed to identify the
main psychosocial problems college students experienced during the first
6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Monterrey, Mexico. Participants were
606 college students (71% female) enrolled in a private university. Participants
described COVID-related problems in an open-ended prompt as part of a
longitudinal online survey: initially in May 2020, and then every 2 weeks for
3 months. Thematic analyses were conducted within a longitudinal inductive
qualitative approach to rank responses by frequency across themes. Five major
categories emerged. At baseline, over 75% of participants noted the outbreak
negatively impacted their daily activities and responsibilities, 73% their mental
health, 50% their physical health, 35% their interpersonal relationships, and 22%
their economic situation. Concerns remained relatively stable throughout the
follow-up period, with interpersonal and economic concerns becoming more
prevalent as the pandemic progressed. Problems identified in this study can
inform preventative measures for future health crises, including tailoring public
health messaging and expanding access to contextually sensitive mental and
behavioral health programming.