Students hit hard by Covid stress

A third of students at NUI Galway were depressed to ‘severe’ or ‘very severe’ levels in the first full semester to take place with Covid-19 restrictions in place, according to a survey carried out by the university.

The survey, which was run in conjunction with the university’s School of Psychology, attracted just under 4,000 respondents from students at all levels, and found that depression levels had jumped by around 10% when compared with May 2020 – in the midst of the first lockdown.

In the case of first year students, the numbers in the severe and very severe categories had almost doubled when compared to 2019.

The results, seen by the Connacht Tribune, have been circulated internally and highlight growing levels of depression, stress and anxiety across the student body in recent months.

Participants were asked about their ability to wind down, take initiative and have a positive outlook in a raft of questions used to assess their mental health.

Another area examined by the online questionnaire was online learning, with 47% of the respondents linking problems encountered to poor connectivity or technology. 37% experienced difficulty learning due to the unsuitability of their learning environment, caused by various issues including shared spaces and noise.

See full story – and latest Covid coverage – in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in all shops now, or you can download the digital version from www.connachttribune.ie

And don’t forget, next week’s Connacht Tribune will be in the shops earlier than usual, from first thing on Tuesday morning.