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. 2025 Jul;45(4):429-446.
doi: 10.1177/2752535X241257561. Epub 2024 May 31.

Public Health Challenges for Post-secondary Students During COVID-19: A Scoping Review

Pooja Dey  1 , Leanne R De Souza  2   3
Affiliations

Public Health Challenges for Post-secondary Students During COVID-19: A Scoping Review

Pooja Dey et al. Community Health Equity Res Policy. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

Research about public health impacts of COVID-19 on post-secondary students is slowly beginning to emerge. This scoping review identified common public health challenges among post-secondary students in higher-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five databases were searched to find relevant peer-reviewed literature up to March 2022. Results were categorized according to reported public health challenges and relevant socio-economic variables. After screening, 53 articles were reviewed. Most articles were from the USA (39/53). The seven main public health challenges identified were mental health (35/53), financial instability (25/53), physical health (13/53), food insecurity (12/53), social well-being (8/53), digital access (7/53), and housing or relocation (6/53). Students with low socioeconomic status experienced heightened public health challenges. This review offers insight and opportunities for the development of longitudinal tools to support social determinants of health in post-secondary populations in high-income countries and may offer insight into similar experiences for students in other settings.

Keywords: COVID-19; health equity; post-secondary; social determinants of health; undergraduate; well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram for study selection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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