First year students enrolled in university during the COVID-19 disaster and online classes: Physical and mental health and desire for Hikikomori

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively clarify the physical and mental health of first year university students whose classes were conducted online due to COVID-19. The checklist of Visual Display Terminal (VDT) syndrome suggested that physical stress was placed mainly on the eyes, shoulders, neck, and head. In addition, from the results of the Kessler psychological distress scale (K6) scale, higher values were obtained than those of previous studies, which indicated the poor mental health of first year university students. Consequently, university academics who conduct online classes must consider the physical and mental fatigue of the students. In contrast, there was a correlation between university students who had desire for Hikikomori and students who preferred online classes. In other words, for students who experienced difficulties with existing face-to-face classes, it is suggested that online classes are one of the potential solution.