Lessons learned from lockdown: how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed intersecting inequalities of mental health, well-being, and learning for first-year UK university students.

First-year university students with intersecting vulnerabilities (low income and prior poor mental health) experienced a sense of barely surviving in managing mental health impacts during the pandemic.

• The theme '(Not) managing mental health impacts' captured participants' expressed sense of barely surviving
• Longitudinal semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 first-year students from UK universities during the 2020-2021 academic year
• Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
• The study conceptualised vulnerability as an intersection of being a first-year student, having a history of poor mental health, and being from a low-income background

Low-income students reported struggling to balance the risk of illness with the necessity of employment during the pandemic lockdown.

• The theme 'little choice, more risk, and more isolation' specifically captured low-income student experiences
• Low-income students reported having little choice but to continue working, exposing them to greater COVID-19 infection risk
• This employment necessity contributed to increased isolation from peers and university life
• The intersection of financial pressure and pandemic conditions created compounded disadvantage for this group

Students with previous experiences of poor mental health were left vulnerable to a spiralling state of poor mental well-being during the pandemic.

• The theme 'Past mental health experiences: Feeling more isolated and forgotten' described how prior poor mental health history amplified vulnerability
• Previous mental health experiences left students feeling more isolated and forgotten during the pandemic
• Participants described a spiralling state of poor mental well-being
• Past mental health history interacted with pandemic circumstances to worsen current mental health outcomes

Many COVID-19 studies treating the student population as homogenous conceal the experiences of vulnerable student groups.

• The study identified this homogenising tendency in the existing COVID-19 student research literature as a key gap
• The study specifically targeted a triply vulnerable group: first-year status, poor mental health history, and low-income background
• This intersectional conceptualisation of vulnerability was used to reveal experiences that aggregate studies would obscure

The study found that vulnerabilities intersect and interact with challenging circumstances to compound inequalities experienced by students.

• Twenty first-year students from UK universities participated across the full 2020-2021 academic year
• The longitudinal design allowed tracking of experiences over one year of the pandemic
• Recommendations were made to support students by improving visibility and access to mental health services
• The intersectional framework revealed how multiple disadvantages compounded rather than operated independently