DETERMINATION OF THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' OPINIONS ABOUT CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) GLOBAL OUTBREAK

Abstract

The rapid spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic has become a global threat. In this context, this study aimed to determine the university students' opinions about the COVID-19 global outbreak. The research was conducted on 344 university students from different universities in Turkey for the 2019-2020 academic year’s spring term. Within the scope of the research, literature, researches, and current publications on COVID-19 were examined. The scanning model was used because it aimed to describe the current situation as it is. In the study, the Questionnaire for Determining the Opinions of University Students on the COVID-19 Global Outbreak prepared by the researchers was used to collect data. Such research was needed due to the lack of sufficient research on university students' views on the COVID-19 global pandemic. As a result of the research, it was determined that university students have positive opinions as well as negative views about the COVID-19 global pandemic. 214 of the university students (62,2%) stated that they were worried about the epidemic, 277 (80,8%) were upset when they thought of COVID-19, and 287 (83.4%) stated that they found COVID-19 fatal. As a result of the research, approximately 92% of university students stated that they were affected by COVID-19. On the other hand, 12 (3,5%) of the participants stated that they were confident in the protection from COVID-19 and 332 (96,5%) were not confident. 16 of the participants (4.7%) stated that they were not psychologically affected by COVID-19, while 328 (95,3%) were psychologically affected. Of the university students, 158 (46,3%) were psychological, 140 (41,1%) sociologically, 28 (8,2%) economically and 18 (4,4%) They stated that they were affected by the direction. In this study, looking at the impact of COVID-19 on the family relationships of university students, 93 (27,2%) of the participants stated that it was negatively affected, 112 (32,7%) did not affect it, and 137 (40,1%) positively affected. Due to the strong family ties in Turkish culture, the negative impact is considered to be low As a result of this research, university students also stated that although they were negatively affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic, they also had positive aspects such as the development of family relationships.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• university student
• pandemic.

Koronavirüs (Covid-19) Küresel Salgınının Üniversite Öğrencileri Üzerindeki Etkilerinin İncelenmesi

Öz

COVID-19 salgınının hızla yayılması küresel bir tehdit haline gelmiştir. Bu kapsamda bu araştırmayla COVID-19 küresel salgınının üniversite öğrencileri üzerindeki etkilerinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırma, 2019-2020 akademik yılı bahar döneminde Türkiye’deki farklı üniversitelerde eğitim gören 344 üniversite öğrencisi üzerinde yapılmıştır. Araştırmada, son zamanlarda yayınlanmış literatür ve güncel yayınlar incelenmiştir. Araştırmada var olan durumu olduğu şekilde betimlemeyi amaçladığı için tarama modeli kullanılmıştır. Araştırmada veri toplamak için literatür taraması yapıldıktan sonra araştırmacılar tarafından geliştirilen Salgınının Üniversite Öğrencileri Üzerindeki Etkilerinin İncelenmesi Formu kullanılmıştır. COVID-19 salgınının üniversite öğrencileri üzerindeki etkileri ile ilgili yeterli sayıda araştırma bulunmaması nedeniyle, bu araştırmanın yapılmasına ihtiyaç duyulmuştur. Araştırma sonucunda, üniversite öğrencileri, COVID-19 küresel salgının insanlar üzerinde olumsuz etkilerinin yanı sıra olumlu etkilerinin olduğunu bildirmişlerdir. Bu araştırmada, üniversite öğrencilerinin yaklaşık % 93'ünün bu salgından etkilendiği bulunmuştur. Üniversite öğrencilerinin 214’ü (%62,2) salgın nedeniyle endişe duyduklarını, 277’si (%80,8) koronavirüsü düşündüğünde üzüldüklerini ve 287’si (%83,4) Koronavirüsün ölümcül olduğunu düşündüklerini belirtmişlerdir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• COVID-19
• üniversite öğrencisi
• pandemi

Kaynakça

1. BAO, Y., Sun, Y., Meng, S., Shi, J. & Lu, L., (2020). 2019-nCoV epidemic: address mental health care to empower society. Lancet 395 (10224), e37–e38 London, England.
2. CAO, W., Fang, Z., Hou, G., Han, M., Xu, X., Dong, J., & Zheng, J. (2020). The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry research, 112934.
3. CDC (2020) Public Attitudes, Behaviors, and Beliefs Related to COVID-19, Stay-at-Home Orders, Nonessential Business Closures, and Public Health Guidance — United States, New York City, and Los Angeles, May 5–12, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6924e1.htm?s_cid=mm6924e1w. [accessed 14.08.2020].
4. CHENG, C., Barceló, J., Hartnett, A.S. et al. COVID-19 Government Response Event Dataset (CoronaNet v.1.0). Nat Hum Behav (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0909-7. [accessed 14.08.2020].
5. DUAN, L., (2020). Psychological interventions for people affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. The Lancet Psychiatry.
6. FELDMANN, H. & Geisbert, T.W., (2011) Ebola haemorrhagic fever. Lancet;377:849- 62. 2.
7. FOLKMAN, S., & Greer, S. (2000). Promoting psychological well‐being in the face of serious illness: when theory, research and practice inform each other. Psycho‐Oncology: Journal of the Psychological, Social and Behavioral Dimensions of Cancer, 9(1), 11-19.
8. GUAN, W.J., Ni, Z.Y., Hu Y., Liang, W.H., Ou, C.Q., He JX, et al. (2020). Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med 2020;, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032?url_ver=Z39.882003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed [accessed 28 Feb 2020]. In press.

9. HARTMAN, A.L., Towner, J.S. ve Nichol, S.T.,( 2010). Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fever. Clin Lab Med; 30:161-77.
10. JUN, Zhang, Weili Wu, Xin Zhao & Wei Zhang (2020). Recommended psychological crisis intervention response to the 2019 novel Coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in China: a model of West China Hospital, Precision Clinical Medicine, Volume 3, Issue 1, March 2020, Pages 3–8, https://doi.org/10.1093/pcmedi/pbaa006. [accessed 14.08.2020].
11. KO, C.H., Yen, C.F., Yen, J.Y., Yang, M.J., 2006. Psychosocial impact among the public ofthe severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic in Taiwan. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci.60 (4), 397–403.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1819.2006.01522.x. [accessed 14.08.2020].
12. LAM, M.H., Wing, Y.K., Yu, M.W., Leung, C.M., Ma, R.C., Kong, A.P., ..., Lam, S.P., 2009. Mental morbidities and chronic fatigue in severe acute respiratory syndrome survivors: long-term follow-up. Arch. Intern. Med. 169 (22), 2142–2147. https://doi.org/ 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.384. [accessed 13.08.2020].
13. LEUNG, G.M. (2003). The impact of community psychological responses on outbreak control for severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 2003, 57, 857–863.
14. LEUNG, G.M. (2009). Community psycho-behavioural surveillance and related impact on outbreak control in Hong Kong and Singapore during the SARS epidemic. Hong Kong Med. J. 2009, 15 (Suppl. S9), 30–34.
15. Lİ, S.W., Wang, Y., Yang, Y.Y., Lei, X.M., Yang, Y.F. (2020). Analysis of influencing factors of anxiety and emotional disorders in children and adolescents during home isolation during the epidemic of novel Coronavirus pneumonia. Chinese Journal of Child-Health. 1–9.
16. LÓPEZ, L., Rodó, X. The end of social confinement and COVID-19 re-emergence risk. Nat Hum Behav (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0908-8. [accessed 12.08.2020].
17. LU, Y.C., Shu, B.C., Chang, Y.Y., Lung, F.W., 2006. The mental health of hospital workers dealing with severe acute respiratory syndrome. Psychother. Psychosom. 75 (6), 370–375. https://doi.org/10.1159/000095443. [accessed 11.08.2020].
18. MAK, I.W., Chu, C.M., Pan, P.C., Yiu, M.G., Ho, S.C., Chan, V.L., 2010. Risk factors for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in sars survivors. Gen. Hosp. Psychiatry 32 (6), 590–598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2010.07.007. Retrieved from. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21112450. [accessed 10.08.2020].
19. PAKPOUR, A. H., & Griffiths,M. D. (2020). The fear of COVID-19 and its role in preventive behaviors. Journal of Concurrent Disorders, 2(1), 58–63.
20. QIU, J., Shen, B., Zhao, M., Wang, Z., Xie, B., & Xu, Y. (2020). A nationwide questionnaire of psychological distress among Chinese people in the COVID-19 epidemic: implications and policy recommendations. General psychiatry, 33(2).
21. RUBIN, G.J.; Potts, H.W.W.; Michie, S. (2010). The impact of communications about swine flu (influenza A H1N1v) on public responses to the outbreak: Results from 36 national telephone questionnaires in the UK. Health Technol. Assess. 2010, 14, 183–266.
22. WANG, C., Pan, R., Wan, X., Tan, Y., Xu, L., Ho, C. S., & Ho, R. C. (2020). Immediate psychological responses and associated factors during the initial stage of the 2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic among the general population in China. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(5), 1729.
23. WHO (2003)World Health Organization. Summary table of SARS cases by country, 1 November 2002–7 August 2003. http://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/2003_08_15/en/ [accessed31.05.2020].Google Scholar.
24. WHO. Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Situation Report-51 (2020). https:// www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200311- sitrep-51-covid-19.pdf?. [accessed 10.08.2020].
25. XIAO, C., (2020). A novel approach of consultation on 2019 novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)-Related psychological and mental problems: structured letter therapy. Psychiatry Investig. 17 (2), 175–176.
26. YANG, Y., Li, W., Zhang, Q., Zhang, L., Cheung, T., Xiang, Y.T., (2020). Mental health services for older adults in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. Lancet Psychiatry 20 30079-1.
27. YU, W.B., Tang, G.D., Zhang, L. & Corlett RT. (2020). Decoding the evolution and transmissions of the novel pneumonia Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) using whole genomic data. ChinaXiv [411_TD$DIFF]a;, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.12074/202002.00033.Submitted for publication http://www.chinaxiv.org/abs/202002.00033. [accessed 11.08.2020].