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Group 3: What are the mental health impacts of the Sydney lockdowns on the 2020/2021 cohort of university students who live away from home?
jordern.campion@gmail.com
hdaly000@gmail.com
mew893@uowmail.edu.au
jaw860@uowmail.edu.au
roseolivia828@gmail.com
renjupeter4964@gmail.com
ETHICS - WEEK 2
Discussion questions: 1) What do we mean by ‘informed consent’?
informed consent is where the participant is given a full document that describes what the research is for, where it will be published, what their participation will involve etc. The participant then is informed of everything and can properly give their consent. What if someone can’t provide their consent?
2) What techniques or strategies can be used to ensure ethical practice in research?
consulting with an ethics committee, keeping confidential information safe with coding programs, informed consent, researchers are qualified, avoiding sensitive topics, putting links in place for the participants to be taken care of, identifying vulnerable groups and participants. Consent without coercion.
3) What are some of the tensions between ‘good’ research and ‘ethical’ research?
Balancing the interests of the researcher, the participant, and the ‘greater good’ i.e. social value The researcher would be interested in having no missing data, convenience in the research, wide samples, The participant is interested in the right to withdraw from the research, to give informed consent etc. The social value is the outcomes of the research - how will the research be disseminated and who will benefit from it? To balance these tensions, you want a researcher who establishes trust with the participant so that the participant participates well and all ethical considerations are accounted for.
4) When do ‘the ends justify ‘the means’?
This is the utilitarian thing that Fiona was speaking about?? When the importance of the findings and their positive impact on humanity outweighs the risks to participants.
5) Are there areas of social life that simply shouldn’t be researched, or published? What if it might embarrass or harm some members of the community (such as the government, war criminals, the unemployed, people with obesity, etc)?
As long as transparency, ethical considerations and informed consent are complied with, not much is off-bounds.
Discuss ethical issues that pertain specifically to the topic of your Research Group. Please try and consider the following ethical issues concerned with the social issue you will be researching for your Qualitative Research Project:
● Recruiting participants ● Type of questions ● Conducting interviews ● Recording/reporting answers ● Issues with online interviewing and data gathering
Recruiting We invite participants with general blurb, then in the follow up we give a more detailed Information Sheet and Statement of Informed Consent. People with mental health difficulties may be less likely to...
Type of Questions - Sensitive Information Disclosing that sensitive issues could come up in this research Giving them access to support services and links Ensuring they know they can withdraw at any time, and they don’t have to answer any questions that they do not want to Questions themselves are open-ended, allowing the person to discuss what they are comfortable with
Conducting Interviews Build a sense of trust with the participant
Recording/Reporting Keep identifying information like contact details separate from the raw data Make the data anonymous - identifying them only by age and gender, not disclosing their address, their degree etc. Data coding procedures Being careful about where research is published and disseminated, and disclosing this to the participant
Online Interviewing This may diminish the rapport that can be built between the researcher and the participant Sensitive issues are more difficult to talk about over online rather than in-person People may be more/less likely to participate online
Recruiting participants - FB group - Ask friends - Incentivise them to do the follow up qualitative interview - free coffee/gift card. This is appropriate for university
students.
Type of questions - How old are you, what are you studying, what is your living situation now, etc. to categorise them with standard
identifying questions - When did you first move out of your family home? Tell us about why you decided to move out of home - How has living away from home/ your uni experience been different from how you imagined? - How much social interaction do you have during lockdown? Amount of people texting/ calling/ face-to-face per
week? - How has lockdown affected your motivation/your focus/your mood? - Have you found it more difficult to submit assignments? Applied for Academic Consideration more than usual? - Did you ever feel like moving back home at any point? Did you carry through with this thought and move back
home? If so, did it affect your marks/ studies? - How often have you felt anxious/ sad in the past week? - Have you noticed mental health symptoms increase since lockdown? - How many times have you noticed yourself having low levels of motivation in the past week? How does it
compare to pre-lockdown? - Thinking of your general health and wellness….
Conducting interviews - Zoom/ phone interviews - Survey monkey (include a question if they mind being contacted to answer more in-depth questions)
Recording/ reporting answers - Tables - Excel spreadsheet
Issues with online interviewing and data gathering - If we don’t know who the respondents are, they could give fake answers in the effort to look good (Hawthorne
effect) or to prank us/troll us - Less trust built between the researcher and the participant because it’s zoom, affects how open they are with the
response - People with negatively affected mental health would be less likely to participate (skews data and means that
target participants are missed)
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH - WEEK 3
What are the mental health impacts of the Sydney lockdowns on the 2020/2021 cohort of university students who live away from home?
Instructions: Come up an interview schedule of interview and focus group questions as a Research Group, in breakout rooms. Each group will need to:
● develop questions to go in an interview schedule for both an in-depth interview (6 questions) and a focus group (1-2 questions).
● You can develop the 6 in-depth interview questions together. I.e. everyone in your Research Group shares the same 6 questions. Some of these can be follow-up questions.
● You must develop your own unique focus group question for yourself, and a potential follow-up question if appropriate. You can do this in discussion with others, but must come up with your own unique question.
Question Ideas - How old are you, what are you studying, what is your living situation now, etc. to categorise them with standard
identifying questions - When did you first move out of your family home? Tell us about why you decided to move out of home - How has living away from home/ your uni experience been different from how you imagined? - How much social interaction do you have during lockdown? Amount of people texting/ calling/ face-to-face per
week? - How has lockdown affected your motivation/your focus/your mood? - Have you found it more difficult to submit assignments? Applied for Academic Consideration more than usual? - Did you ever feel like moving back home at any point? Did you carry through with this thought and move back
home? If so, did it affect your marks/ studies? - How often have you felt anxious/ sad in the past week? - Have you noticed mental health symptoms increase since lockdown? - How many times have you noticed yourself having low levels of motivation in the past week? How does it
compare to pre-lockdown? - Thinking of your general health and wellness….
Has your well-being differed in semester one 2021 compared to semester two 2021? If so, how? A lot of people have told us that their mental health has declined …
What is mental health?
Questions for Focus Groups What does mental health mean to you? What does being ‘mentally healthy’ look like? We are doing research on the mental health impacts of the Sydney lockdowns on the 2021/2022 cohort of university students… What do you think about this? We’ve picked you for this research because you’ve moved out of home to study.
- What were you expecting to experience while living out of home to study in 2020/2021? - How did you think you’d feel living out of home? - What did you expect your life to look like when living out of home?
Has lockdown made this experience different from how you imagined it? How so? (probe about social interaction, studying etc. if the participants bring it up) Do you prefer online learning or on-campus learning? Why is that? Thinking back to when the lockdown first started, did you think it would go on for this long?
Questions for In-Depth Interviews What does mental health mean to you? What does being ‘mentally healthy’ look like? We are doing research on the mental health impacts of the Sydney lockdowns on the 2021/2022 cohort of university students… What do you think about this? I’m interested in your story.
- When did you first move out of your family home? - Why did you decide to move out of home for study?
What has your university experience looked like? - What are you studying? - Did you start online? Did you start on campus?
What were you expecting to experience while living out of home to study in 2020/2021? - How did you think you’d feel living out of home? - What did you expect your life to look like when living out of home?
Thinking back to the start of the lockdowns, has your general health and wellbeing changed since then? How? Some people have mentioned that their face-to-face social interaction has decreased, but their online social interaction has increased. Can you relate to this statement? Some people have mentioned that lockdown and studying online made it difficult to keep studying. Can you relate to this? Has lockdown impacted upon your desire to complete your course? Thinking back to when the lockdown first started, did you think the lockdowns and remote learning would go on for this long? We’ve heard that some people who had moved out of home to study moved back home during the lockdowns. Did you ever feel like moving back home at any point?
FEEDBACK
“Uni experience” what does that mean? Is that answered in “what were you expecting” uni question? Slang for international students Follow up questions for social interaction question and the studying online question “What does mental health mean to you?” was a great questions “What do you think about this research?” they said they’d be really interested know about the impact of the research, they said the importance of the research to social policy, university policy Reword the second question - do you think this research topic is important? What are your attitudes to do it?
FINAL SIX QUESTIONS FOR IN-DEPTH
Question 1: What does being “mentally healthy” mean to you?
Question 2: Why did you decide to move out of home to study?
Question 3: What were you expecting to experience when living out of home to study in 2020/2021?
Question 4: Thinking back to life before lockdowns and remote learning, has your general mental health changed since then? If so, how?
Question 5: Some people have mentioned that their face-to-face social interaction has decreased, but their online social interaction has increased. Can you relate to this statement?
Question 6: Has lockdown and remote learning impacted your ability to study at all?
FOCUS GROUP
Questions for Focus Group
Question 1: What does being “mentally healthy” mean to you? Megan
Question 2: What is the “uni experience”? Jordern
Question 3: Do you feel that the Sydney lockdowns have impacted students getting the “uni experience”? Hannah
Question 4: Do you feel more confident and motivated doing online learning or face to face learning at university? Jessica
Question 5: Are you aware of any helpful support and mental health services that the university provides?
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWING - WEEK 4 Incentives : I think food vouchers are a good idea for uni students living by themselves that may not be able to afford healthy foods Power: not really because it’s uni students interviewing other uni students? Maybe the participants are living with mental health issues that the researchers aren’t
With power - do you think that us bumping into them on campus could be a problem? They might start seeking us for counselling possibly? - Yeah that’s a really good idea!!
We could provide services in our consent/ information form
QUOTES
Hannah Question 1 - What does being “mentally healthy” mean to you? “Wow, okay. Umm, a general satisfaction and positivity towards life. A lack of unhealthy attachments.” “Balance in all things, because like you want to be able to feel but also not constantly have mental breakdowns.” “Do you want me to go further and say how you get that? Well, a sense of purpose, positive relationships with, you know, partners, family and friends and the ability to socialise. The importance of what’s it called...self-efficacy!”
Question 2 - Why did you decide to move out of home to study? “My home was not a positive learning environment. So I live in [suburb of university] now, and my home is an eight hour drive away...I thought it would be better to live away from home for my mental health.”
Question 3 - What were you expecting to experience when living out of home to study in 2020/2021? “I was expecting and hoping for greater freedom, and a better social life. I mean, COVID stuffed that up but I was isolated before that.” “I was hoping that in [suburb of university] there would be more, not like-minded people, but more driven people. People who were interested in learning.
Question 4 - Thinking back to life before lockdowns and remote learning, has your general mental health changed since then? If so, how? “Yes, it has changed. But I don’t know if it’s in a net positive or net negative way.” COVID had made a significant negative impact, but he had made major positive improvements to his health throughout the last two years.
Question 5 - Some people have mentioned that their face-to-face social interaction has decreased, but their online social interaction has increased. Can you relate to this statement? “I can relate to the decrease and the increase. I don’t think that has been for the better. I find it hard to believe that anyone would say online interaction has been better for their mental health.”
Question 6 - Has lockdown and remote learning impacted your ability to study at all? “No. But that’s because I’ve always been terrible at it [laughter].”
“Maybe staying home has made it easier...I rarely interact with lectures and tutorials in person.”
Megan
Question 1: What does being “mentally healthy” mean to you? ● Exercise, seeing friends and family, getting out of the house. Tries to leave when can now for walks
Question 2: Why did you decide to move out of home to study? ● Family live too far away
Question 3: What were you expecting to experience when living out of home to study in 2020/2021? ● Make friends, socialise ● Impossible on zoom
Question 4: Thinking back to life before lockdowns and remote learning, has your general mental health changed since then? If so, how?
● Yes, isolated, less contact with friends, lack of motivation (with studies and general things like exercising, grocery shopping)
Question 5: Some people have mentioned that their face-to-face social interaction has decreased, but their online social interaction has increased. Can you relate to this statement?
● No. Less motivated to text people (bad at replying) ● For people who this statement does apply to, it’s a bad thing because increases anxiety, lost social skills ● Walks with one friend atm, but it’s not enough socialisation
Question 6: Has lockdown and remote learning impacted your ability to study at all? ● No, still submitting assignments on time and engaged
Olivia’s practice interview Question 1: What does being “mentally healthy” mean to you? Not just being positive but being able to respond and respond in a healthy and productive way to events and situations. Not lashing out but acting appropriately in the environment. Not necessarily not being sad but not overreacting. Absence of depression and anxiety. Question 2: Why did you decide to move out of home to study? I lived in a rural small town that didn't have a university and I wanted to study psychology. Question 3: What were you expecting to experience when living out of home to study in 2020/2021? I expected to have more freedom and the opportunity to make new friends and meet new groups of people. Being in lockdowns, I haven't had those opportunities, It has been really lonely and isolating. Question 4: Thinking back to life before lockdowns and remote learning, has your general mental health changed since then? If so, how? Yes, I have become more stressed and struggling to stay motivated. Have plenty of time so I've been pushing things back. Workload gets overwhelming Question 5: Some people have mentioned that their face-to-face social interaction has decreased, but their online social interaction has increased. Can you relate to this statement? Yes, defs atm, having more online interaction and not interacting with anyone but roommate. Facetiming with friends. Having increased online has made me feel more connected and help with the feelings of isolation.
Question 6: Has lockdown and remote learning impacted your ability to study at all? Yes, defs, I'm really struggling with online learning better in person. I like to keep study and home life separate so it's stressful not being able to disconnect the two.
Jordern Question 1: What does being “mentally healthy” mean to you?
● Someone who takes care of themselves ● If they have a problem they express it to someone ● They don’t bottle it up ● Speaking to a therapist when needed ● Diet and exercise also contributes ● Good communication with family and friends ● Financial stability
Question 2: Why did you decide to move out of home to study? ● It was very distracting to live at home ● Large family, a lot of chores and a lot of responsibility ● Lived far away as well ● Less contact with people than they ever did before ● Isolated from friends and family
Question 3: What were you expecting to experience when living out of home to study in 2020/2021? ● Experience partying ● Meeting new people ● Physically going to classes ● Having a good sense of community ● Meeting friends at bars ● Not expecting to be stuck inside ● Be a lot more physical at the library ● If I had any problems I could go see a tutor ● Mainly to make a lot more new friends
Question 4: Thinking back to life before lockdowns and remote learning, has your general mental health changed since then? If so, how?
● Yes ● I am naturally quite social - extroverted ● Lockdown has made him isolated ● Affected mental health ● Going out for essential items makes them anxious ● Lost touch to social skills ● More depressed about life as there is too much time alone ● Lost interest in hobbies because he cant go outside to do them anymore ● Isolation has made everything difficult
Question 5: Some people have mentioned that their face-to-face social interaction has decreased, but their online social interaction has increased. Can you relate to this statement?
● Of course ● I havent been able to see anyone face to face ● Zoom people tend to turn off their cameras
● Being social online has increased ● Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook ● Family mainly on Facebook ● Social media is the only thing that is keeping him going
Question 6: Has lockdown and remote learning impacted your ability to study at all? ● Yes ● Procrastinate so much more now ● Struggle to focus ● Switching between tabs ● Not very interactive ● Distracted by social media ● Very stressful picking up on social cues on zoom ● Study is so much more draining ● Less interaction with professors ● No access to library so it’s hard to find a new space to study in
Jess: Question 1: What does being “mentally healthy” mean to you?
● being able to go outside, not hiding from the world ● Feeling able to engage and participate socially ● Not struggling in the day to day ● Balance of socialising and work/study ● “Mentally healthy means being able to engage and participate socially”
Question 2: Why did you decide to move out of home to study? - I lived in regional NSW and needed to move closer to access uni
Question 3: What were you expecting to experience when living out of home to study in 2020/2021? ● Socialising ● “I moved out because I thought I would be able to meet like minded people”
Question 4: Thinking back to life before lockdowns and remote learning, has your general mental health changed since then? If so, how?
● Lockdown happened quite quickly, didn’t get the chance to know people ● Bad mental health, not a lot of socialising ● “My mental health is quite bad (during lockdown) as I can’t socialise with others”
Question 5: Some people have mentioned that their face-to-face social interaction has decreased, but their online social interaction has increased. Can you relate to this statement?
● Online interaction has increased, but only with hometown friends anyway ● Face to face decreased
Question 6: Has lockdown and remote learning impacted your ability to study at all? ● “My motivation has not changed, I still want to be here, but I have considered moving into a share
house to help with social isolation”
FOCUS GROUPS AND ANALYSIS - WEEK 5
QUOTES
Question 1: What does being ‘mentally healthy’ mean to you?
● Having positive relationships (family, friends, romantic) ● Feeling as though you have a "purpose and meaning in life." Spirituality ● "Feeling connected to yourself and allowing yourself to feel your emotions" ● Being able to ask for help. Having emotional intelligence ● Coping with day-to-day stresses, overall wellbeing ● "Dealing with emotions in a healthy way" ● Feeling content
Not mentally healthy?
● Struggling to do every day activities. Mental health issues ● Lack of resilience, both emotional and physical (e.g. getting sick) ● "Mental health affects your physical health" ● Not coping
Members were quiet and at times had to be drawn out by calling on them. Occasionally sat in silence until someone
spoke. Group members referenced each other but didn’t often flow on from each other's points. They agreed with each
other. Had to prompt people more to elicit more information, i.e. ask the question in an opposite way.
Question 3: Do you feel that the Sydney lockdowns have impacted students getting the “uni experience”?
● A “I think the university hasn’t been doing enough to get people to still have a ‘uni experience’ while these lockdowns have been going on. Why haven’t they been doing online events to get us involved?”
● B “I think the opposite actually. Considering the circumstances, I think the uni has been doing a lot to keep us engaged and socialising. I know they have been running online yoga classes, I have been receiving emails about it.”
● A “I didn’t receive those emails. Where’s my free yoga?” [raised voice to be heard] ● [C was quiet, unable to contribute to discussion between A and B. Asked C what they thought] ● C “Yes I agree, lockdowns have definitely impacted on the uni experience. It’s not quite the same being online as
it is in person. You can’t meet people.” ● [Said, follow up, a lot of us have brought up that they think uni have/haven’t been doing enough to engage us, is it
possible for online to measure up to in person?] ● A “Online is trash. It’s way harder to meet people. I can’t talk to people after class, I can’t debrief about the class
and the subject and the teachers.” ● B “Well that’s why facebook is good because you can add people who you meet over zoom and chat with them
there.”
Group members disagreed, some raised their voices in order to be heard. Group members A and B independently brought up their own experiences. Interviewer shut down what could have been a meaningful discussion on the yoga point because members A and B were getting quarrelsome. Interviewer moved on to group member C who was more quiet, unable to contribute to the discussion between A and B. Interviewer lost the yoga train of thought but tried to pull it back with follow up questions on whether online can measure up to in person.
Question 4: Do you feel more confident and motivated doing online learning or face to face learning at university?
● “have to be even more independent online”, difficult, less reminders ● Hannah disagrees, “some subjects have more online contact and support”, easier in that regard ● “So unmotivated, struggled so far, no benefit” wants to be able to see classmates in person ● Hannah and Jordern disagreed on the benefits of online learning, this led to a really informative discussion and encouraged
more sharing of opinions
Question 2: What is the uni experience?
Kim
● Very broad question ● Going to uni bar after uni ● Making friends ● Being involved in volunteering ● Free events in campus ● Being broke and lazy and a young adult
● Opposite uni experience is right now cos of covid ● We are not engaged at all
Kourtney
● Different types of experiences ● Social events by uni ● Thriving on the social aspect ● Similar to high school sub categories ● All are the uni experiences ● Common is that the diversity and ● Working all the time can dominate your time and then you don’t get the typical uni experience ● Privilege ● Can only people who have money and support from parents can they experience it only
Khloe
● Meeting new people ● Moving from small town ● Making new friends ● Intense uni workload can affect it ● Pre-med student has too much work to focus on and can't go out with friends ● Might have to work
ANALYSIS
Overall
Mental health was about ● Sense of purpose ● General satisfaction and positivity about life ● Emotional intelligence, dealing with emotions well ● Absence of unhealthy attachments/difficulties ● Positive relationships and socialising
Expectations for living out of home/the “uni experience” was about ● “Freedom and opportunity” ● Meeting new groups of people, diverse range of people, like-minded people, better social life ● Engaging in university activities ● Studying and working part of it, but not the stereotype of the uni experience ● Partying
Impacts of COVID and the Sydney lockdowns Overall COVID had a negative impact on mental health, “uni experience” etc.
● Social aspect ○ Some lost touch with others, felt they lost people skills ○ Some saw online as a poor replacement, some saw it as a positive mechanism during lockdown ○ Some spent too much time alone ○ Some attempted face-to-face within the restrictions e.g. walking with a friend ○ Some mentioned their room-mates helped / they wanted to move into share house
● Study aspect ○ Some said it was overwhelming having to study online ○ Some lost motivation ○ Some found it easier to study online ○ Some found it difficult to study in the home, couldn’t disconnect, work-life balance ○
● Other ○ Some said every aspect of life was difficult ○ Some said they lost motivation to go out for groceries or exercise ○ Some said they are anxious ○ Some said they have lost touch with their hobbies
Dominant Themes
Relationships and social aspect of mental health is very important Also very important to the idea of the “uni experience” and living out of home to study This has implications for lockdown, less social interaction potentially, could massively impact mental health. Sense of isolation and lack of socialisation. Expected this to increase with the uni experience.
Sense of purpose and responding/reacting in good/productive ways is an important part of mental health Could connect it to (1) routines and (2) leaving behind unhealthy attachments This has implications for lockdown, change in routine could massively impact mental health People have lost motivation to study/socialise/other daily things with the routine change
Other implications, maybe more time with self is a good thing, time for introspection, reflecting on self Living in a sharehouse or with their partner as a protective factor for mental health?
Social media both as a bad thing (distraction from studying, negative impact on mental health) and a good thing (keeping people connected) Less motivation (to study and other daily things)
University is somewhat responsible for the social experience we expected Directly responsible like with university campus life programs and services Indirectly responsible by providing the space for social interaction Not something we expected to come out of the data
Bibliography??
Tomasz Wieczorek, Agata Kołodziejczyk , Marta Ciułkowicz, Julian Maciaszek, Błazej Misiak, Joanna Rymaszewska and Dorota Szcześniak, “Class of 2020 in Poland: Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak in an Academic Setting”. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Changwon Son; Sudeep Hegde; Alec Smith; Xiaomei Wang; Farzan Sasangohar, “Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in the United States: Interview Survey Study”. Journal of Medical Internet Research.