Abstract
BackgroundThe COVID-19 outbreak has affected people’s health worldwide. For college students, web-based physical education is a challenge, as these course are normally offered outdoors.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to use data from a web-based survey to evaluate the relationship between the mental health status of college students and their sports-related lifestyles. Problems related to web-based physical education were also examined.MethodsA web-based survey was conducted by snowball sampling from May 8 to 11, 2020. Demographic data, mental health status, and sports-related lifestyles of college students in Wuhan as well as issues related to web-based physical education were collected. Mental health status was assessed by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21).ResultsThe study included 1607 respondents from 267 cities. The average scores of the DASS-21 subscales (2.46 for depression, 1.48 for anxiety, and 2.59 for stress) were significantly lower in our study than in a previous study (P<.05). Lower DASS-21 scores were significantly correlated with regular exercise, maintaining exercise habits during the outbreak of COVID-19, exercising more than 1 to 2 times a week, exercise duration >1 hour, and >2000 pedometer steps (all P<.05). None of the three forms of web-based physical education was preferred by more than 50% of respondents. Frequent technical problems were confronted by 1087/1607 students (67.6%). Shape-up exercises (846/1607, 52.6%), a designed combination of exercises (710/1607, 44.2%), and Chinese kung fu (559/1607, 34.8%) were suggested sports for web-based physical education.ConclusionsMental status was significantly correlated with regular exercise and sufficient exercise duration. Professional physical guidance is needed for college students in selected sports. Exercises not meeting students’ preferences, frequent technical problems, and the distant interaction involved in web-based physical education were the main problems that should be solved in future.
Highlights
In December 2019, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was first recognized in Wuhan and quickly spread worldwide, infecting millions of people [1]
Lower DASS-21 scores were significantly correlated with regular exercise, maintaining exercise habits during the outbreak of COVID-19, exercising more than 1 to 2 times a week, exercise duration >1 hour, and >2000 pedometer steps
Professional physical guidance is needed for college students in selected sports
Summary
In December 2019, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was first recognized in Wuhan and quickly spread worldwide, infecting millions of people [1]. Web-based education was not new in many fields [5]; it is novel in sports education, which requires essential interaction between teachers and students. Previous studies have stated that mental illness symptoms are common among university students according to the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) [6,7]. It has been reported that SARS-CoV-2 will coexist with humans for a long time [12], which suggests that web-based physical education could last for a relatively long time in the future. Web-based physical education is a challenge, as these course are normally offered outdoors
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