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Distress of tertiary education students in Australia during the COVID‐19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Tuck David,
Wiley Joshua,
Patlamazoglou Lefteris,
Berger Emily
Publication year - 2023
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.23445
Subject(s) - pandemic , distress , tertiary level , covid-19 , higher education , tertiary care , psychology , population , psychological distress , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , family medicine , mental health , mathematics education , environmental health , political science , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law
Objective This project sought to characterize levels of distress in Australian tertiary education students during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods Advertisements were placed on multiple participant recruitment and student run websites associated with various tertiary institutions. Level of overall distress was assessed with the K‐10 so that comparisons could be made with previous research. A total of 1072 tertiary education students 18 years or older participated in the study. Results 70.9% of tertiary education students studying in Australia displayed elevated levels of psychological distress during the pandemic, with 23.01% of the sample reporting extreme levels of distress. Conclusions More tertiary education students experienced severe distress during the COVID‐19 pandemic than adults in the general population, as well as before the pandemic. Implications: Services are needed to help tertiary education students cope with elevated levels of distress associated during the COVID‐19 pandemic.