“The Room”: student accounts of resilient strategies to mitigate mental health impacts of pandemic-related campus restrictions

Keywords: Covid-19, Spatial Differentiation, Spatial Restrictions, Campus Environments, Wellbeing
Abstract Type: Virtual Lightning Paper Abstract

Abstract

Background: In response to the Covid-19 pandemic in spring 2020, US higher education institutions closed campuses. As institutions reopened the next academic year, students returned to campuses subject to spatial restrictions designed to reduce viral spread. At many institutions, students were confined to their rooms, typically converted to single occupancy, except when participating in select academic activities. Indoor social activities were restricted, at times severely. Decisionmakers knew little about how student experience of learning and of community would be impacted when environments designed for interaction were sharply restricted.

Context: This study draws on student development literature that considers how campus environments impact student learning, development, health, and wellbeing. Data interpretation was advanced by considering research on the impact of spatial confinement on international space agencies’ crew members’ mental health, cognition, and productivity in space and space analogues.

Method: This presentation shares findings from a qualitative study documenting student accounts of pandemic-related campus restrictions. During Spring 2021, semi-structured interviews of undergraduates living in on-campus residence halls were conducted; interviews of the same students living in more typical conditions followed one year later.

Results: Findings show that spatial restrictions affected perceptions of time and space leading to dysregulation and mental health declines; spatial monotony altered spatial meaning and reduced productivity. However, students also demonstrated resilient coping strategies by adopting purposeful regimens, incorporating environmental changes, and expanding their networks through unexpected activities. Findings extend research concerning the mitigation of psychological distress in response to the pandemic lockdown and related spatial restrictions.