**5. Discussion**

The present study aims to provide an explorative and descriptive overview regarding the psychological distress and symptomatology of students included in NoiBene between March 2019 and March 2021. Moreover, we investigated whether the different phases of the COVID-19 restrictions impacted students' mental health differently.

### *5.1. Participant Characteristics*

Most of the sample was composed of females. These data were consistent with the percentage of females usually included in web-based interventions [38] and with data suggesting that males are less disposed to seek mental help than women [39]. Interestingly, more males asked to participate in NoiBene during the lockdown compared with other phases. From the beginning of the pandemic, it was immediately apparent that, apart from physical health, mental health needed to be seriously taken into consideration. For this reason, psychologists and non-governmental services increased and strengthened online counselling therapy, or e-therapy [40]. It is possible to hypothesize that the increased attention to mental health has normalized the need to ask for help. Considering that the perceptions of normativeness influence help-seeking behaviour [41], this could be the reason why a significant number of males asked for help during the quarantine.
