Understanding Mental Health, Educational Risk and Resilience for Vulnerable First-Year Students during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A UK-based, Longitudinal Qualitative Study

Background: Whilst the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health has been examined, less is known about the longitudinal impacts on university students. The novelty of this work was that it examined intersecting vulnerabilities (being a first-year student, on low income, with experience of poor mental health) rather than treating ‘students’ as a homogenous group.
Aims: To explore the experiences of vulnerable UK university students during the pandemic. It highlighted three key aspects: how multiple vulnerabilities impacted students; how vulnerabilities and the pandemic impacted learning; how those experiences could help support vulnerable students.
Participants: 20 participants were recruited. Eligibility criteria included: (1) be a first-year student at a UK university; (2) self-report as having prior experience of poor mental health; (3) be entitled to the full UK student maintenance loan.
Methods: A mixed-methods, longitudinal design was deployed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at three time points over one year, supported by prior completion of diaries. Interview data were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. At each time point, participants also completed a measure of mental health (GP-CORE). The study had ethical approval from the University of Leeds, Faculty of Medicine and Health Ethics Committee.
Results: Key findings included: (1) how income inequality shaped the experience, and what that meant for those with prior experience of poor mental health; (2) how the liminality of young adulthood and attending university impacted mental health and learning; (3) the damaging mental health legacy of the pandemic; (4) the intersection of mental health and new ways of learning.
Conclusions: This study identified how vulnerabilities intersect and interact with challenging circumstances to bring new dimensions to existing pandemic literature. Recommendations were made to support vulnerable students by improving visibility of, and access to, mental health services.