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EFFECT OF QUARANTINE AND ISOLATION ON MENTAL HEALTH IN STUDENT ATHLETES

Abstract

Victoria Tredinnick, Walker Gagnon, Jake Tingom, Steven Pfeiffer, Amy Knab, FACSM. Queens University of Charlotte, Charlotte, NC.

BACKGROUND: In 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic took a large toll on the mental health of many college students (Batra et al., 2021). In order to prevent the spread of the virus, quarantining and isolating became common place. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of quarantine and isolation due to COVID-19 on mental health of students and student athletes at Queens University of Charlotte. METHODS: A survey was developed specific to mental health outcomes in college students during quarantine and isolation. The anonymous survey (Microsoft Forms) was distributed via email to student-athletes toward the end of the Spring 2021 semester. RESULTS: 124 participants consented to the study (55 males, 68 females), 66% reported “white” for ethnicity, and were equally distributed freshman to senior. Sixty four percent of subjects reported having to isolate or quarantine at least once, with 50% doing so on campus. Of the nine questions pertaining to mental health, majority of subjects reported dramatically or slightly more than normal issues with: “getting upset over trivial things” (58.2%), “just couldn’t seem to get going” (74.3%), “found it difficult to relax” (69.7%), and felt like I had nothing to look forward to” (63.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Given the context of already elevated stress and mental health pressures for college students, this data shows that quarantine and isolation only exasperated the existing mental health pressures in this student-athlete population. Current and future research on mitigating these issues in this population is warranted.

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