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. 2022 Nov 16:10:1009027.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1009027. eCollection 2022.

COVID-19 burnout, resilience, and psychological distress among Chinese college students

YueYi Sun  1 , ShuYue Zhu  1 , GanXin ChenHuang  1 , LiYa Zhu  1 , ShuHan Yang  1 , XiaoCong Zhang  1 , Zheng Zheng  1
Affiliations

COVID-19 burnout, resilience, and psychological distress among Chinese college students

YueYi Sun et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Chinese college students have spent 3 years dealing with infection prevention. Some students have undergone quarantine due to the detection of new variants of COVID-19 and the rise in cases. This study examines pandemic-related isolation and its psychological impact on Chinese college students and explores the relationships among COVID-19 burnout, resilience, and psychological distress in Chinese college students during the pandemic.

Methods: The COVID-19 Burnout Scale, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Brief Symptom Inventory were used to investigate 388 college students from Nanjing City, China. All participants were enrolled in university after 2019, and they participated in the survey voluntarily via the Internet. Participants were divided into two groups (isolated group vs. non-isolated group) based on whether or not they had been isolated.

Results: (1) Significantly lower scores were found for all factors in the isolated group; (2) COVID-19 burnout significantly negatively predicted resilience and significantly positively predicted psychological distress (anxiety, depression, and somatization symptoms), while resilience significantly negatively predicted psychological distress; and (3) Resilience mediated the relationship between COVID-19 burnout and psychological distress.

Conclusion: Isolation is a risk factor for psychological distress related to COVID-19. Resilience can buffer psychological distress and help improve Chinese college students' wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19 burnout; China; mental health; resilience; students.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mediation effect of resilience between COVID-19 burnout and psychological distress. ***p < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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