Ma Jingru, Saita Kazuya, Kaneko Fumiko, Okamura Hitoshi
Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan.
BMC Public Health. 2025 Mar 27;25(1):1166. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-22380-5.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exacerbated mental health problems worldwide; however, research on the stressors experienced by international students during the COVID-19 pandemic remains limited.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 international students (male, 8; female, 12; average age, 31.5 years) at Hiroshima University, Japan. Inductive thematic analysis was performed using NVivo software to identify how international students (1) perceived and experienced stress and (2) describe the specific stressors they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The findings revealed that international students experienced multiple stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic, including extrapersonal (e.g., financial pressure), interpersonal (e.g., social commentary and perceived xenophobia against foreigners), and intrapersonal (e.g., fear of infection) stressors.
Results revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign students experienced stress from various sources. Although this global pandemic has ended, similar public health crises may occur in the future. Examination of the sources of stress faced by international students during the pandemic can help us obtain valuable lessons for responding to future global crises. These findings can provide better policy support, resource allocation, and mental health assistance for the international student community during future crises.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行加剧了全球范围内的心理健康问题；然而，关于国际学生在COVID-19大流行期间所经历的压力源的研究仍然有限。
对日本广岛大学的20名国际学生（男性8名；女性12名；平均年龄31.5岁）进行了半结构化访谈。使用NVivo软件进行归纳主题分析，以确定国际学生如何（1）感知和体验压力，以及（2）描述他们在COVID-19大流行期间面临的具体压力源。
研究结果显示，国际学生在COVID-19大流行期间经历了多种压力源，包括个人外部压力源（如经济压力）、人际压力源（如社会评论以及对外国人的排外情绪）和个人内部压力源（如对感染的恐惧）。
结果表明，在COVID-19大流行期间，外国学生经历了来自各种来源的压力。尽管这场全球大流行已经结束，但未来可能会发生类似的公共卫生危机。审视大流行期间国际学生所面临的压力源，有助于我们获得应对未来全球危机的宝贵经验教训。这些研究结果可以在未来危机期间为国际学生群体提供更好的政策支持、资源分配和心理健康援助。
