Psychological crisis intervention for students during COVID‐19 lockdown in China

Abstract

AbstractObjectivesThis study aims to describe the experience and practice of an intervention process for mental health crisis with 14,093 students living in a suddenly quarantined campus during the COVID‐19 pandemic.MethodsAn expert committee of psychiatrists, psychologists and student counsellors was formed to manage the psychological crisis experienced by students. The committee provided online and onsite support, disclosed timely information, attended various online courses and facilitated various activities. Using the PHQ‐9, GAD‐7 and ISI scales, psychological weekly reports, student files and emergencies, students who were likely to have a crisis event were screened, and their degree of crisis was evaluated. A “one person–one case–one team” intervention was conducted for high‐risk students.ResultsOf the 14,093 students, 11,121 finished all three online questionnaires. Based on the results of the screening tests, 732 students were placed in the prioritised attention group, 293 in the crisis group and 33 (10 [3.41%] male and 23 [7.85%] female) showed severe suicidal intentions. In total, 186 (3.26%) students declared poor sleep quality, while 610 (10.05%) students were found to have depression. The number of students affected with generalised anxiety was 650 (10.77%). Clinical intervention was successful with no untoward incidents.ConclusionsWith strong support from the government, and the cooperation between multidisciplinary experts and the comprehensive intervention programme, the study obtained positive results. However, the limitations include the partial online survey responses and incomplete records of intervention. Nevertheless, the findings of this study could provide a foundation for further research.