Department of Regulatory Science, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Institute of Regulatory Innovation Through Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jul 3;11:1197143. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1197143. eCollection 2023.
This study aimed to investigate the association between social determinants of health and perception of COVID-19 social distancing/mental health/quality of life during COVID-19 social distancing in Korean undergraduate students using online survey data augmented with natural language processing.
An online cross-sectional survey including sociodemographic characteristics, students' perceptions of COVID-19 social distancing, and social determinants of health was conducted between July and November in 2020. We conducted logistic regression analysis to investigate the relationship between social determinants of health (independent variables) and perceptions of COVID-19 social distancing, mental health, and quality of life (dependent variables). This association was augmented using sentiment analysis and word clouds by visualizing open-ended comments on COVID-19 social-distancing policies.
Data were collected from 1,276 undergraduate students. Participants who experienced negative impacts on their social-networking activities due to COVID-19 social distancing were at significantly higher odds to perceive COVID-19 social distancing as not being beneficial [odds ratio (OR) = 1.948, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.254-3.027], to have increased stress levels (OR = 1.619, 95% CI 1.051-2.496), and to experience decreased quality of life over 5 weeks (OR = 2.230, 95% CI 1.448-3.434) against those who answered neutrally. In contrast, Participants who reported positive perceptions of social-networking activities during the COVID-19 pandemic had lower odds of feeling depressed or anxious (OR = 0.498, 95% CI 0.278-0.894) and reporting a low quality of life over 5 weeks (OR = 0.461, 95% CI 0.252-0.842) compared to those who reported neutral perceptions. Furthermore, the results of the word cloud and sentiment analyses showed that most students perceived social distancing negatively.
The government's social-distancing policy to prevent the spread of COVID-19 may have had a negative impact, particularly on undergraduate students' social-networking activities. This highlights the need for greater social support for this population, including access to psychotherapeutic resources, and improvements in policies to prevent infectious diseases while still maintaining social connections.
本研究旨在使用在线调查数据和自然语言处理技术，调查韩国大学生在 COVID-19 社交隔离期间，社会决定因素与对 COVID-19 社交距离、心理健康和生活质量的感知之间的关联。
2020 年 7 月至 11 月期间，进行了一项包含社会人口统计学特征、学生对 COVID-19 社交隔离的看法以及社会决定因素的在线横断面调查。我们进行了逻辑回归分析，以调查社会决定因素（自变量）与对 COVID-19 社交隔离、心理健康和生活质量（因变量）的感知之间的关系。通过可视化有关 COVID-19 社交隔离政策的开放式评论，使用情感分析和词云来增强这种关联。
共收集了 1276 名大学生的数据。由于 COVID-19 社交隔离而对其社交活动产生负面影响的参与者，对 COVID-19 社交隔离的看法显著更倾向于认为其无益[比值比（OR）=1.948，95%置信区间（CI）1.254-3.027]，压力水平增加（OR=1.619，95%CI 1.051-2.496），且在 5 周内生活质量下降（OR=2.230，95%CI 1.448-3.434），而对中性回答的参与者则相反。相比之下，报告在 COVID-19 大流行期间对社交活动有积极看法的参与者，感到沮丧或焦虑的可能性较低（OR=0.498，95%CI 0.278-0.894），并且在 5 周内生活质量较低的可能性较低（OR=0.461，95%CI 0.252-0.842），而对中性看法的参与者则相反。此外，词云分析和情感分析的结果表明，大多数学生对社交距离持负面看法。
政府为预防 COVID-19 传播而采取的社交隔离政策可能产生了负面影响，尤其是对大学生的社交活动。这突显了需要为这一人群提供更大的社会支持，包括获得心理治疗资源，以及改进传染病预防政策，同时保持社交联系。
