Browsing by Subject "COVID-19 pandemic"

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Adapting to Online Instruction: Disparities Among Graduate and Professional Students
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020-06) Soria, Krista M.
Nearly two-thirds of graduate and professional students enrolled at five large, public research universities reported that they were able to adapt to online instruction “well” or “very well” according to the Graduate Student Experience in the Research University (gradSERU) COVID-19 survey of 7,690 graduate and professional students (Figure 1). Preliminary survey results suggest that 24% of students adapted “very well” to the transition to remote learning while 42% of students adapted “well” to the transition to online learning implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, approximately one-third (34%) of graduate and professional students indicated that they adapted only “slightly well” or “not at all well” to the transition to remote instruction implemented by their universities. Although many students adapted well to online instruction, the data suggest that students from low-income or working-class backgrounds and students with disabilities did not adapt as easily to online instruction.
Art meets reflective teaching: exploring the experience of teaching higher education arts courses during emergency remote learning
(2024) Christensen, Danielle
This doctoral dissertation offers an example of how arts-based educational research can be a space to inquire about and explore the complexities of one’s own teaching practice and in this case teaching undergraduate arts courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic led to me emergency remote teaching, I began creating digital art and reflecting on how this experience was affecting my teaching practice. This visual art data and corresponding artist narrative data were then analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Guiding this study were two questions: Q1: How did I experience a lack of connection with my students due to emergency remote teaching? Q2: How did technology play a role in my emergency remote teaching practice? Within this study, I share six themes and two sub-themes in response to the first research question, while the second research question resulted in six themes and three sub-themes that capture not only my posed questions but my experience in general.
Assessing the association between the COVID-19-related experiences and the mental health of primary caregivers and Its association with child neurobehavioral development
(2024-09) Park, Saeun
Background: In Uganda, strict lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing societal problems, including poverty, food insecurity, and the burden of disease. These unexpected effects of the pandemic led to increased stress levels among Ugandans, particularly caregivers of young children, who faced increased caregiving responsibilities without adequate social support. This is particularly concerning as caregivers' mental health is closely linked to child developmental outcomes, yet this topic remains severely understudied in Uganda. This study aimed to assess the association between COVID-19-related experiences with mental health among caregivers and how the mental health of caregivers, in turn, is associated with child behavioral and cognitive outcomes. Method: We conducted a COVID-19 sub-study within an ongoing randomized trial of iron supplementation in children with malaria and iron deficiency (Optimizing Iron Status in Malaria-Endemic Areas, OptiM) at Mulago Hospital in Kampala and Jinja Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda. The sub-study enrolled caregivers of 100 children aged 6–48 months, newly enrolled in OptiM between October 2022 and April 2023. Eighty-five of the children had iron deficiency and malaria at baseline, and 15 children were community controls without iron deficiency or malaria. The sub-study used an internally designed COVID-19 survey to capture the different COVID-19-related experiences among caregivers. The survey was developed based on existing COVID-19 experience surveys, including the COVID Experiences (COVEX) questionnaire and the Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) COVID-19 survey, but the questions were tailored to the Ugandan context through pilot testing. The sub-study collected data on caregivers' depression and anxiety using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-20) at baseline and at 6 and 12 months follow-up. Child behavioral and cognitive outcomes were already being assessed in OptiM using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Behavioral Rating Scale (BRS), and Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) at baseline and at 12 months follow up. The CBCL was additionally administered at the 6-month follow-up for children with malaria and iron deficiency. The first manuscript evaluated the relationship between adverse COVID-19 experiences and caregivers' depression and anxiety. The second manuscript investigated how these symptoms of depression and anxiety in caregivers were associated with child behavioral outcomes. The third manuscript investigated the link between caregivers' depression and anxiety and child cognitive functions. For all manuscripts, associations were assessed over the 12-month follow-up period. We also explored whether there were changes in these associations across the study visits (baseline, 6 months, or 12 months) and/or the child’s malaria and iron deficiency status at enrollment. All associations were analyzed using mixed-effects models with random intercepts, adjusting for relevant covariates. Results: In the first manuscript, which included 100 caregivers of young children, we found that certain COVID-19-related experiences—such as changes in living situations (locations or household members), food insecurity, and limited access to healthcare or daycare—were associated with depression and anxiety among caregivers. Greater food insecurity, in particular, showed consistent and longitudinal associations with increased symptoms of depression and anxiety over the 12-month period (HSCL-25: β = 3.04, 95% CI [0.85, 5.24]; CESD-25: β = 1.99, 95% CI [0.30, 3.68]). The second manuscript, which included 100 caregiver-child pairs, found that caregivers' depression and anxiety were associated with child behavioral outcomes both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Specifically, higher levels of caregiver depression and anxiety were consistently linked to greater difficulties in emotional regulation (HSCL-25: β = 0.04, 95% CI [0.01, 0.06]; CESD-20: β = 0.04, 95% CI [0.01, 0.06]) and working memory (HSCL-25: β = 0.06, 95% CI [0.01, 0.10]) in children over the 12-month follow-up period. Lastly, the third manuscript evaluated the associations between caregivers' depression and anxiety and child cognitive development. It found no meaningful associations with cognitive outcomes, except for a cross-sectional inverse association between caregivers' depression, measured by CESD-20, and child expressive language scores (β = -0.01, 95% CI [-0.03, -0.00]) at baseline. We did not detect significant mediation effects of children having malaria or iron status at enrollment on the associations found in all manuscripts. Conclusions: This research provides valuable evidence on the link between caregiver mental health during COVID-19 and child neurobehavioral outcomes in low-income settings. The findings suggest that more adverse experiences during COVID-19 are associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety among caregivers, which, in turn, are linked to disturbances in emotional and behavioral development in children. However, no significant long-term association was found between caregiver mental health and cognitive functions in children. Further research is needed to explore the long-term effects on various domains of child development and to identify mechanisms to provide adequate support for vulnerable families during crises in low-income settings.
The Experiences of Undergraduate Students with Physical, Learning, Neurodevelopmental, and Cognitive Disabilities During the Pandemic
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020-10) Soria, Krista M.; Horgos, Bonnie; Chirikov, Igor; Jones-White, Daniel
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities who are enrolled at large public research universities, according to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey administered from May to July 2020 of 30,099 undergraduate students at nine universities. Approximately 6% of respondents (n = 1,788) reported having at least one disability (physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, or cognitive). Students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities were more likely than students without disabilities to experience financial hardships during the pandemic, including unexpected increases in spending for technology, unexpected increases in living expenses, and loss or reduction in income (from family members or personal wages from off-campus employment). Furthermore, students with disabilities were also more likely to experience food and housing insecurity compared to students without disabilities. Students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities were less likely to believe that they feel like they belong on campus and less likely to agree that the campus supported them during the pandemic. Students with those disabilities also experienced higher rates of major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder than students without disabilities. Students with disabilities were also less likely to live in safe environments compared to students without disabilities. As institutional leaders continue to adapt to higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, we encourage them to consider the impact different instructional modalities may have in perpetuating disparities for students with disabilities.
The Experiences of Undergraduate Students with Physical, Learning, Neurodevelopmental, and Cognitive Disabilities During the Pandemic
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020) Soria, Krista M.; Horgos, Bonnie; Chirikov, Igor; Jones-White, Daniel
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities who are enrolled at large public research universities, according to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey administered from May to July 2020 of 30,099 undergraduate students at nine universities. Approximately 6% of respondents (n = 1,788) reported having at least one disability (physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, or cognitive). Students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities were more likely than students without disabilities to experience financial hardships during the pandemic, including unexpected increases in spending for technology, unexpected increases in living expenses, and loss or reduction in income (from family members or personal wages from off-campus employment). Furthermore, students with disabilities were also more likely to experience food and housing insecurity compared to students without disabilities. Students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities were less likely to believe that they feel like they belong on campus and less likely to agree that the campus supported them during the pandemic. Students with those disabilities also experienced higher rates of major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder than students without disabilities. Students with disabilities were also less likely to live in safe environments compared to students without disabilities. As institutional leaders continue to adapt to higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, we encourage them to consider the impact different instructional modalities may have in perpetuating disparities for students with disabilities.
Fare Free Future
(2021-05) Cummins, Dillon; Ketcham, Caroline; Shepard, Erika; Hanson, Jed
The COVID-19 pandemic radically altered Metro Transit’s revenue system, likely with lasting change to transit ridership. This disruption is an opportunity to evaluate Metro Transit’s fare system. This report provides recommendations to reach a vision for a simplified and more equitable fare system. These recommendations are developed from background information on Metro Transit and its riders, documentation of existing conditions, review of relevant literature, and interviews with stakeholders and subject matter experts. Recommendations focus on the conceptual level and center all-purpose riders. Recommendations vary in their complexity and impact. Metro Transit can effectively simplify the current system just by paring down its sheer number of fare offerings. Beyond simplification, Metro Transit may improve ridership and mobility through simplified pass and needs based programs combined with heightened enrollment efforts. In the medium-term, a fare capping policy may achieve much of these recommendations across rider groups. Finally, this report recommends eliminating fares. A fare-free transit system best achieves the stated goals of this report: a simpler rider experience, revenue stability and growth, and improved mobility for all-purpose riders.
First-Generation Students’ Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic
(Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium, 2020-08) Soria, Krista M.; Horgos, Bonnie; Chirikov, Igor; Jones-White, Daniel
The COVID-19 pandemic has negative impacts on first-generation students enrolled at large public research universities, according to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey of 28,198 undergraduate students conducted May through July 2020 at nine universities. In the survey, 26% of respondents (n = 7,233) identified as first-generation students (those whose parents have not earned a bachelor’s degree). First-generation students were more likely than continuing-generation students to experience financial hardships during the pandemic, including lost wages from family members, lost wages from on- or off-campus employment, and increased living and technology expenses. Compared to continuing-generation students, first-generation students are nearly twice as likely to be concerned about paying for their education in fall 2020. Furthermore, first-generation students were also less likely to live in safe environments free from abuse (physical, emotional, drug, or alcohol) and more likely to experience food and housing insecurity. First-generation students also experienced higher rates of mental health disorders compared to their peers. The results of our study suggest that first-generation students experienced more challenges adapting to online instruction compared to continuing-generation students, including encountering obstacles related to lack of adequate study spaces and lack of technology necessary to complete online learning. Compared to continuing-generation students, first-generation students were also less likely to be able to meet during scheduled virtual class times. As institutional leaders look forward to the fall 2020 semester, we encourage them to consider the impact different instructional modalities may have in perpetuating existing disparities for first-generation students.
Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Newsletter, 2020, Vol 24, No. 2
(University of Minnesota Libraries, 2020-06) Johnson, Timothy J; McKuras, Julie; Weiss, Ed; Utechin, Nicholas; Thaden, Gary
Quarterly newsletter of the Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries. This issue includes articles on posting art work by Frederic Dorr Steele to social media during the pandemic; a welcome to Lisa German, new Dean of Libraries; Harald Curjel’s article “Doctors in the Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, M.D.: A Medical Dictionary" along with his other published works; a letter to the editor about Jules Castier (mentioned in Vol. 24, No. 1); an update from the curator on how to access various library records which might provide assistance for researchers during the pandemic; and regular columns from the Friends president (who notes the first virtual meeting of the Friends' board) and newsletter editor.
Graduate and Professional Students’ Financial Hardships During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the gradSERU COVID-19 Survey
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020) Soria, Krista M.
While approximately one-third of graduate and professional students did not experience financial hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic, 27% experienced unexpected increases in their living expenses, 24% experienced unexpected increases in spending for technology, and 24% experienced a loss or reduction in income from other family members (Figure 1). According to the Graduate Student Experience in the Research University (gradSERU) COVID-19 survey of 7,690 graduate and professional students enrolled at five large, public research universities, an additional 19% experienced the loss or cancellation of an expected job or internship offer and 16% experienced loss of wages from off-campus employment (Figure 1). Furthermore, the gradSERU COVID-19 survey data suggest that fewer graduate and professional students experienced additional hardships, including loss of wages from on-campus employment (8%), loss or reduction of a scholarship (3%), loss or reduction of insurance coverage (2%), loss or reduction of grant aid (2%), and loss or reduction of student loan aid (1%) (Figure 2). There are also disparities in the financial hardships encountered by students based upon students’ parental education levels, caretaking responsibilities for adults or children, and social class background, as reported below.
The Impact of the COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium on Landlord-Initiated Displacement Actions In Minnesota
(Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota, 2022-10) Goetz, Edward G; Wang, Yi; Damiano, Anthony
The COVID-19 pandemic created a critical housing situation for many lower-income households whose earnings were interrupted by the economic dislocations produced by the pandemic. Renters especially were faced with the prospect of being forced from their homes through eviction if and when they fell behind on rent. Moreover, the potential for families to be homeless was seen additionally as a public health issue during a pandemic when increased exposure could readily lead to increasing infection and death rates. In this environment, local, state, and federal authorities began to respond by issuing eviction moratoria of different types and providing emergency rental assistance to keep families in their homes. In Minnesota, the Governor’s Executive Order 20-14 established an eviction moratorium on March 23, 2020. This Order remained in force until a phase out began in August of 2021. The federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a temporary national moratorium on September 1, 2020. Originally set to expire on December 31, Congress extended it for one month to January of 2021 and then President Biden extended it through July of that year. The CDC moratorium was targeted to counties experiencing high levels of COVID-19 transmissions, and thus did not cover all areas. The CDC moved to issue a new moratorium in August of 2021, but this was challenged by the real estate industry and overturned by the Courts. The Minnesota eviction moratorium was more comprehensive than the CDC eviction moratorium but was renewed on a monthly basis. Finally, in July of 2021, 16 months after it was first initiated, the moratorium was phased out. In July, evictions were allowed for lease violations but not for non-payment of rent. In August, landlords could terminate leases for non-payment from tenants who were ineligible for COVID-19 emergency rental assistance. In September, evictions were allowed for tenants ineligible for COVID-19 emergency rental assistance. This gradual reduction of tenant protections was referred to as the ‘eviction off-ramp’. The final eviction protections applied in cases of non-payment by eligible tenants with a pending COVID-19 emergency rental assistance application. Those protections lasted until June 1, 2022. Eviction moratoria did much to alleviate the concerns of tenants and their advocates that families would be thrust out of their homes during the pandemic. At the same time, however, reports of landlords ignoring the eviction moratoria (see, e.g., Morgenson 2020; Strickler, 2022; U.S. House of Representatives, 2022) were an ongoing concern. Additionally, there was concern that landlords were resorting to other means to move renters out of units, that instead of pursuing formal eviction proceedings through the Courts, that landlords were pushing out renters through other extra-judicial means. Together, eviction and extra-judicial actions taken by landlords to move renters out of their homes constituted what we call “Landlord Initiated Displacement Actions” (LIDAs). This study is an attempt to analyze the question of how the moratorium affected the rate at which LIDAs occurred across the state of Minnesota. We examine these questions by looking at the calls made by tenants to a statewide tenant help line in Minnesota operated by HOME Line. HOME Line is a nonprofit statewide tenant advocacy organization that provides free and low-cost legal, organizing, education, and advocacy services to tenants. In this study we report on LIDAs generally, but we also look specifically at the trends related to the use of formal eviction and extra-judicial LIDAs. Our findings show that tenant calls to HOME Line about LIDAs declined during the moratorium period. This decline was entirely due to a reduction in calls about formal evictions. Calls about non-eviction LIDAs did not change during the pandemic. Thus, we did not see a “substitution” effect take place during the moratorium in which landlords reduced formal eviction efforts and replaced them with extra-judicial LIDA activity. Concerningly, however, after the pandemic eviction calls returned to their pre-pandemic level and non-eviction LIDA calls increased to a level above what they had been before the pandemic. One potential explanation for this is that although a ‘one-for-one’ substitution between eviction and non-eviction LIDAs did not take place, the reduction in evictions during the moratorium resulted in a greater relative use of extra-judicial LIDAs. The period of the moratorium may have convinced landlords of the usefulness, for their purposes, of extra-judicial LIDAs, leading to an increase in their use after the moratorium was lifted. This increased use more or less maintained the relative importance of non-eviction LIDAs in the repertoire of landlord strategies. We may be seeing the establishment of a ‘new normal’ in which landlords are more reliant on extra-judicial LIDAs. We also examined whether landlord strategies, as reflected in the calls tenants made to HOME Line, varied by the racial profile of the area or by the race of the renter. We found that eviction calls were less common in predominantly White zip codes than they were in zip codes that were more than 50% Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC). The same was true of non-eviction LIDA calls. The impact of the moratorium was to reduce eviction calls both in White and in BIPOC areas, though the reduction was greater in BIPOC areas and it continued after the moratorium ended. In White zip codes, eviction calls dropped by less and then rose above pre-moratorium levels after the moratorium ended. Similarly, during the moratorium, eviction calls from BIPOC tenants declined more than from White tenants. Eviction call levels remained below pre-moratorium levels for BIPOC renters after the moratorium phase out, but increased to above pre-moratorium levels for White renters. In all, it seems that the moratorium had a greater ameliorative impact on BIPOC renters and in BIPOC communities than it did for White renters and White areas.
International Students’ Experiences and Concerns During the Pandemic
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020-07) Chirikov, Igor; Soria, Krista M.
In contrast to domestic students, international students at research universities are more satisfied with their academic experiences and institutional support during the pandemic, according to the recent Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey of 22,519 undergraduate students and 7,690 graduate and professional students at five public research universities. International students’ primary concerns are not with universities themselves but with health, safety and immigration issues.
The Obstacles to Remote Learning for Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional Students
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020-07) Soria, Krista M.; Chirikov, Igor; Jones-White, Daniel
The vast majority of students at research universities—96% of undergraduate students and 88% of graduate students—experienced at least one obstacle in their transition to remote learning, according to the recent Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey of 22,519 undergraduate students and 7,690 graduate and professional students at five public research universities. The biggest obstacle among undergraduate, graduate, and professional students was the lack of motivation for remote learning during the pandemic. Other common obstacles included lack of interaction with other students, inability to learn effectively in an online format, and distracting home environments or lack of access to appropriate study spaces. The obstacles vary by students’ social class background and major/program.
Resilience and adaptation in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic: Complex mixed methods research of adults in Minnesota and Hong Kong
(2023-05) Chan, Athena Chung Yin
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to escalating family conflicts while limiting resources previously available to cope with stress. The mechanisms underlying resilience in the pandemic largely remain a black box. This dissertation aims to generate a holistic understanding of the trajectories of resilience capacity in response to complex acute-onset and chronic stress associated with the pandemic. My proposed Multisystemic Resilience Framework, a conceptual framework, illuminates resilience as a developing capacity changing over time. Informed by and empirically examining the framework, this dissertation employed complex mixed methods design targeting adults living with family members in Western cultures (i.e., Minnesota) and Eastern cultures (i.e., Hong Kong) over the first two years of the pandemic. Study 1 used a sequential, explanatory mixed-methods design to generate a fuller understanding of resilience capacity as manifested by individual and family resources, cumulative pandemic-related stressors, and mental health of adults. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the moderating roles of coping resources in each region, while qualitative content analysis elucidated the quantitative findings. Coping resources predicted around one-third of the variance in perceive resilience capacity during the early outbreak of pandemic in each region. Different individual and family coping resources were protective of adult mental health when facing high levels of pandemic-related stressors. The qualitative findings illuminated the situation-specific and culture-specific coping strategies utilized by participants. Study 2 used a critical realism paradigm to deepen the understanding of resilience mechanisms under specific contextual conditions throughout the pandemic. These resilience mechanisms, involving family hardiness, distress tolerance, and cognitive flexibility, offered insights into ways that individuals and families cope with complex stressors involving competing priorities. The study elucidated ways that individuals balanced family togetherness, family roles and responsibilities with their personal sense of safety from the infectious nature of COVID-19. Overall, this complex mixed methods research provides significant theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to our current understanding of resilience mechanisms within sociocultural contexts. While these empirical findings align with existing psychological treatments, the findings are suggestive of the need for culturally-tailored interventions to effectively ameliorate the negative impacts of a global pandemic and future related crises.
Rowing A Boat in a Hurricane: Nonprofit Strategic Leadership During Community Crises
(2022-05) Quanrud, Julia
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically disrupted the communities served by nonprofit human service organizations while also throwing the organizations themselves into incredibly challenging conditions. This study examines how organizations’ and their leaders in particular responded and adapted to these crises, drawing from the insights of nonprofit executives interviewed in the spring of 2022. Society relies on nonprofit human service organizations to continue providing critical services in a crisis, even as the organizations themselves reel from the crisis. They must be able to withstand the stress of a crisis and rapidly adapt the services they provide to the community. Community crises are unpredictable events, but when they do arrive, strategic and adaptive leaders can turn them into transformational opportunities for the organization. Leaders must strategically assess, mitigate, and react to the danger of the crisis, using their mission as a compass for their response.
Social Class Differences in Students’ Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020) Soria, Krista M.; Horgos, Bonnie
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant hardships for students from low-income, poor, and working-class backgrounds enrolled at large, public research universities, according to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey of 30,697 undergraduate students conducted May through July 2020 at nine universities. In the survey, 7% of respondents (n = 2,112) identified as low-income or poor, 16% identified as working-class (n = 4,970), 42% identified as middle-class (n = 12,815), 32% identified as upper-middle or professional-middle class (n = 9,924), and 3% identified as wealthy (n = 876). The results of our study suggest that students from low-income/poor and working-class backgrounds were significantly more likely than their peers to experience financial hardships, including the loss or reduction of income from other family members, unexpected increases in living experiences and technology, the loss/cancellation of expected jobs or internships, and the loss of wages from off-campus employment. Furthermore, students from low-income/poor and working-class backgrounds were significantly more likely than their peers to experience food insecurity and housing insecurity. Additionally, students from low-income/poor and working-class backgrounds had significantly higher rates of generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder and academic obstacles during the transition to remote learning, such as lack of access to appropriate study spaces, technology, academic advising, and learning support services. As campuses roll out their programs and services for the fall 2020 semester, we encourage them to consider the unique needs and experiences of students from low-income/poor and working-class backgrounds and reconfigure their programs to address those students’ financial hardships, food/housing insecurity, mental health disorders, and academic obstacles.
Undergraduate and Graduate Students’ Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020-07) Chrikov, Igor; Soria, Krista M.; Horgos, Bonnie; Jones-White, Daniel
The COVID-19 pandemic has looming negative impacts on mental health of undergraduate and graduate students at research universities, according to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey of 30,725 undergraduate students and 15,346 graduate and professional students conducted in May-July 2020 at nine public research universities. Based on PHQ-2 and GAD-2 screening tools, 35% of undergraduates and 32% of graduate and professional students screened positive for major depressive disorder, while 39% of undergraduate and graduate and professional students screened positive for generalized anxiety disorder. Major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder rates are more pronounced among low-income students; students of color; women and non-binary students; transgender students; gay or lesbian, bisexual, queer, questioning, asexual, and pansexual students; and, students who are caregivers. The prevalence of major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder is higher among the undergraduate and graduate students who did not adapt well to remote instruction. Furthermore, the pandemic has led to increases in students’ mental health disorders compared to previous years. In fact, the prevalence of major depressive disorder among graduate and professional students is two times higher in 2020 compared to 2019 and the prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder is 1.5 times higher than in 2019.
Undergraduate Student Caregivers’ Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Financial Hardships, Food and Housing Insecurity, Mental Health, and Academic Obstacles
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020) Soria, Krista M.; McAndrew, Molly; Horgos, Bonnie; Chirikov, Igor; Jones-White, Daniel
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant hardships for student caregivers enrolled at large, public research universities, according to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey of 30,593 undergraduate students conducted May through July 2020 at nine universities. In the survey, 6% of respondents (n = 1,767) identified as caregivers for children, 11% of respondents (n = 3,236) identified as caregivers for other adults (age 18 and over), and 3% (n = 874) cared for both children and adults during the pandemic. Students who were caregivers for children may have been parents caring for their own children or family members (e.g., siblings). Students who were caregivers for adults may have been caring for their family members (e.g., parents, partners, spouses) or others. The results indicated that the pandemic has heightened caregivers’ financial hardships; specifically, students who were caregivers were more likely to experience the loss or reduction in family members’ income, loss or reduction of wages from off-campus and on-campus employment, and unexpected increases in living expenses or technology expenses compared to their peers who were not caregivers. Students who were caregivers were also more likely to experience food insecurity and housing insecurity compared to their peers who were not caregivers. Additionally, students who were caregivers were also more likely to screen positive for generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder than their peers who were not caregivers. Finally, students who were caregivers were also more likely to lack access to an appropriate study environment and were less likely to be able attend scheduled online classes during the transition to remote learning.
Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional Students’ Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020-08) Soria, Krista M.; Horgos, Bonnie; Jones-White, Daniel; Chrikov, Igor
One in five undergraduates (22%) and graduate and professional students (19%) enrolled at large public research universities experienced food insecurity, according to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey of 31,687 undergraduate students at nine universities and 16,453 graduate and professional students from ten universities during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from the survey suggest that undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from underrepresented and marginalized backgrounds experienced significantly higher rates of food insecurity compared to their peers. Specifically Black, Hispanic and Latinx, American Indian or Alaskan Native, and international students; low-income, poor, or working-class students; students who are caregivers to adults during the pandemic; first-generation students; and students who are transgender, nonbinary, bisexual, pansexual, or queer all experienced significantly higher rates of food insecurity during the pandemic compared to their peers. As colleges and universities prepare for the upcoming fall 2020 semester, we encourage them to provide resources to alleviate students’ food insecurity, offer students greater access to nutritious and affordable food, and expand food security efforts given that the pandemic is likely to disrupt students’ traditional means of accessing food on campus. We encourage institutional leaders to provide targeted outreach efforts to the students who are most likely to experience food insecurity and consider novel ways of providing students with access to free or discounted meals, even if institutions are offering primarily online classes.
Undergraduates’ Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Disparities by Race and Ethnicity
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020) Soria, Krista M.; Roberts, Brayden J.; Horgos, Bonnie; Hallahan, Katie
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted students who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC students). The Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey was administered from May to July 2020 to 31,687 undergraduate students enrolled at nine large public research universities. Among the respondents, 0.1% were American Indian or Alaska Native (n = 36), 19.9% were Asian (n = 6,301), 4.2% were Black (n = 1,336), 3.7% were Latinx (n = 1,171), 0.1% were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (n = 42), 53.4% were White (n = 16,917), 13.1% were multiracial (n = 4,152), and 5.5% had an unknown or unreported race or ethnicity (n = 1,732). According to the results, BIPOC students were more likely to experience academic obstacles in the transition to remote instruction, including lacking access to technology, not being able to attend online class sessions, and lacking access to appropriate study spaces. BIPOC students were also more likely than White students to experience financial hardships, including the loss or reduction of wages from on-campus employment, unexpected increases for living expenses and technology, and loss or reduction of income of family. BIPOC students also experienced higher rates of food and housing insecurity, and were more likely to experience symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. Finally, BIPOC students were less likely than White students to live in places free from emotional or physical abuse, where they felt their identities were respected, and where they felt safe and respected.
Undergraduates’ Mental Health During the Pandemic: New Insights into Links with Financial Hardships, Academic Obstacles, and Support
(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020) Soria, Krista M.; Horgos, Bonnie; Luu, Kevin
The COVID-19 pandemic has looming negative impacts on mental health of undergraduate students at research universities. According to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey of 31,048 undergraduate students conducted in May-July 2020 at nine public research universities, 35% of undergraduates screened positive for major depressive disorder and 39% screened positive for generalized anxiety disorder. We previously reported about the demographic disparities in students’ mental health disorders during the pandemic. In this brief, we highlight other factors during the pandemic that may compromise students’ mental health. Students who experienced financial hardships, including unexpected increases in spending for technology or living expenses, the loss or wages from on-campus or off-campus employment, the loss or cancellation of an expected job or internship, and food and housing insecurity had significantly higher rates of screening positive for symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder compared to students who did not experience financial hardships. Furthermore, students who experienced academic obstacles in the transition to online instruction had significantly higher rates of screening positive for symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder compared to their peers who did not experience those academic obstacles. Students who felt more supported by their institutions during the pandemic had lower rates of screening positive for generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder compared to their peers who did not feel supported by their institutions.

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