Coping with COVID-19 stressors: A study with university level students

Mollika Roy, Saira Hossain

Abstract


Abstract: COVID-19 outbreak caused a global crisis in every possible sector. More specifically, the health, economy, and education sectors. Different initiatives have been taken to mitigate the global crisis, such as movement restriction, Movement Control Order (MCO), and social distancing for a long time. Consequently, all educational institutions across the globe had to remain closed for a long time. They limited the scope of face-to-face classes and grossly jeopardised students' social lives. Students had to face several unforeseen challenges worldwide for which they were unprepared. In this study, we mainly investigated the stressors students faced due to COVID-19 and how this has cost their coping strategies. We recruited 228 university students (Undergrad, postgrad, and PhD). Among them, 50% were undergraduate students. We found anxiety regarding family safety, timely completion of the degree and study level as the most common COVID-19-related stressors. Besides these, cognitive restructuring and social support were the two most commonly used coping strategies to handle students' stress during the pandemic. We recommend taking the initiative to accelerate positive coping strategies among students to cope with real-life crises more effectively.

Keywords: COVID 19; coping strategies; stressors; and university students

Abstrak: Wabah COVID-19 menyebabkan krisis global di segala bidang. Lebih khusus lagi, sektor kesehatan, ekonomi, dan pendidikan. Berbagai inisiatif telah diambil untuk memitigasi krisis global, seperti pembatasan pergerakan, Movement Control Order (MCO), dan jarak sosial untuk waktu yang lama. Akibatnya, semua institusi pendidikan di seluruh dunia harus ditutup untuk waktu yang lama. Mereka membatasi ruang lingkup kelas tatap muka dan sangat membahayakan kehidupan sosial siswa. Siswa harus menghadapi beberapa tantangan tidak terduga di seluruh dunia yang tidak mereka siapkan. Dalam studi ini, kami terutama menyelidiki stresor yang dihadapi siswa akibat COVID-19 dan bagaimana hal ini merugikan strategi koping mereka. Subjek penelitian ini 228 mahasiswa (Sarjana, Pascasarjana, dan PhD). Di antara mereka, 50% adalah mahasiswa sarjana. Kami menemukan kecemasan terkait keamanan keluarga, penyelesaian gelar, dan tingkat studi tepat waktu sebagai pemicu stres terkait COVID-19 yang paling umum. Selain itu, restrukturisasi kognitif dan dukungan sosial merupakan dua strategi koping yang paling banyak digunakan untuk mengatasi stres mahasiswa selama pandemi. Kami merekomendasikan mengambil inisiatif untuk mempercepat strategi koping positif di kalangan siswa untuk mengatasi krisis kehidupan nyata secara lebih efektif.

Kata kunci: COVID 19; strategi penanggulangan; penyebab stres; dan mahasiswa

 

Keywords


COVID 19, coping strategies, stressors, and university students

Full Text:

PDF

References


Aamir, S., & Winkel, C. (2021). The impact of Covid-19 on Saudi Arabian female students: an application of the CES-D depression scale. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 11(1), 23–31. https://doi.org/10.36941/jesr-2021-0003

Abouammoh, N., Irfan, F., & Alfaris, E. (2020). Stress coping strategies among medical students and trainees in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study. BMC Medical Education, 20(1), 124. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02039-y

Alsalman, A., Mubarak, H., Aljabal, M., Abdulnabi, M., Ishaq, A., Yusuf, A., Bragazzi, N., & Jahrami, H. (2020). The psychological impact of covid-19 pandemic on the population of bahrain. Acta Biomedica, 91(4), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v91i4.10336

Baloran, E. T. (2020). Knowledge, Attitudes, Anxiety, and Coping Strategies of Students during COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 25(8), 635–642. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2020.1769300

Bam, V., Oppong, G., & Ibitoye, M. (2015). Stress and coping mechanisms of nursing students during clinical practice in Ghana. Journal of Science and Technology (Ghana), 34(2), 50. https://doi.org/10.4314/just.v34i2.6

Blanco, C., Okuda, M., Wright, C., Hasin, D. S., Grant, B. F., Liu, S. M., & Olfson, M. (2008). Mental health of college students and their non-college-attending peers: Results from the national epidemiologic study on alcohol and related conditions. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65(12), 1429–1437. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.65.12.1429

Blomberg, K., Bisholt, B., Kullén Engström, A., Ohlsson, U., Sundler Johansson, A., & Gustafsson, M. (2014). Swedish nursing students’ experience of stress during clinical practice in relation to clinical setting characteristics and the organisation of the clinical education. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 23(15–16), 2264–2271. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12506

Brooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. The Lancet, 395(10227), 912–920. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8

Cao, W., Fang, Z., Hou, G., Han, M., Xu, X., Dong, J., & Zheng, J. (2020). The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry Research, 287, 112934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112934

Cheng, C., Kogan, A., & Chio, J. H. man. (2012). The effectiveness of a new, coping flexibility intervention as compared with a cognitive-behavioural intervention in managing work stress. Work and Stress, 26(3), 272–288. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2012.710369

Chou, P. C., Chao, Y. M. Y., Yang, H. J., Yeh, G. L., & Lee, T. S. H. (2011). Relationships between stress, coping and depressive symptoms among overseas university preparatory Chinese students: A cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 11(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-352

Cusinato, M., Iannattone, S., Spoto, A., Poli, M., Moretti, C., Gatta, M., & Miscioscia, M. (n.d.). Stress, Resilience, and Well-Being in Italian Children and Their Parents during the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 8297.

De Man, J., Buffel, V., van de Velde, S., Bracke, P., Van Hal, G. F., Wouters, E., Gadeyne, S., Kindermans, H. P. J., Joos, M., Vanmaercke, S., van Studenten, V. V., Nyssen, A. S., Puttaert, N., Vervecken, D., & Van Guyse, M. (2021). Disentangling depression in Belgian higher education students amidst the first COVID-19 lockdown (April-May 2020). Archives of Public Health, 79(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00522-y

Freire, C., Ferradás, M. del M., Regueiro, B., Rodríguez, S., Valle, A., & Núñez, J. C. (2020). Coping Strategies and Self-Efficacy in University Students: A Person-Centered Approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(841). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00841

Hamaideh, S. H., Al-Omari, H., & Al-Modallal, H. (2017). Nursing students’ perceived stress and coping behaviors in clinical training in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Mental Health, 26(3), 197–203. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638237.2016.1139067

Hanjarvelianti, S., & Kurniasih, D. (2020). Pemanfaatan Minyak Jelantah dan Sosialisasi Pembuatan Sabun Dari Minyak Jelantah Pada Masyarakat Desa Sungai Limau Kecamatan Sungai Kunyit-Mempawah. Jurnal Buletin Al-Ribaath, 15(2), 26. https://doi.org/10.29406/br.v17i1.1878

Heffer, T., & Willoughby, T. (2017). A count of coping strategies: A longitudinal study investigating an alternative method to understanding coping and adjustment. PLoS ONE, 12(10), 0186057– 0186057. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186057

Islam, M. S., Ferdous, M. Z., & Potenza, M. N. (2020). Panic and generalized anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic among Bangladeshi people: An online pilot survey early in the outbreak. Journal of Affective Disorders, 276, 30–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.06.049

John, A. (2020). Increased anxiety and depression top college studets’ concerns in coronavirus survey. In Los Angles Times. Los Angeles Times.

Khater, W. a, Akhu-zaheya, L. M., & Shaban, I. a. (2014). Sources of Stress and Coping Behaviours in Clinical Practice among Baccalaureate Nursing Students Wejdan A . Khater , RN , PhD Jordan University of Science and Technology Jordan University of Science and Technology. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 4(6), 194–202. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=a03ee600f177437e65676652f893a4f4910e17ba

Labrague, L. J., McEnroe-Petitte, D. M., Gloe, D., Thomas, L., Papathanasiou, I. V., & Tsaras, K. (2017). A literature review on stress and coping strategies in nursing students. Journal of Mental Health, 26(5), 471–480. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2016.1244721

Milojevich, H. M., & Lukowski, A. F. (2016). Sleep and mental health in undergraduate students with generally healthy sleep habits. PLoS ONE, 11(6), 156372. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156372

Roy, D., Tripathy, S., Kar, S. K., Sharma, N., Verma, S. K., & Kaushal, V. (2020). Study of knowledge, attitude, anxiety & perceived mental healthcare need in Indian population during COVID-19 pandemic. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102083

Talidong, K. J. B., & Toquero, C. M. D. (2020). Philippine Teachers’ Practices to Deal with Anxiety amid COVID-19. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 25(6–7), 573–579. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2020.1759225

Turner, J., Bartlett, D., Andiappan, M., & Cabot, L. (2015). Students’ perceived stress and perception of barriers to effective study: Impact on academic performance in examinations. British Dental Journal, 219(9), 453–458. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2015.850

Wang, Z. H., Yang, H. L., Yang, Y. Q., Liu, D., Li, Z. H., Zhang, X. R., Zhang, Y. J., Shen, D., Chen, P. L., Song, W. Q., Wang, X. M., Wu, X. B., Yang, X. F., & Mao, C. (2020). Prevalence of anxiety and depression symptom, and the demands for psychological knowledge and interventions in college students during COVID-19 epidemic: A large cross-sectional study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 275, 188–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.06.034




DOI: https://doi.org/10.18860/psikoislamika.v19i2.18027

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Indexing By:

     

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PSIKOISLAMIKA: Jurnal Psikologi dan Psikologi Islam by http://ejournal.uin-malang.ac.id/index.php/psiko is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.