Psychological Impact Of lockdown on Students
Hi Everyone,
Following is my research on both school and college students regarding the impact of lockdown on their lives. We all know that the past few months were difficult for us as most of the students were confined to their homes with any link or whatsoever only through their computer screens.
This is my First Blog so do mention your valuable thoughts in the comment section below regarding how you liked it or you want me to improve in any section or any particular topic you want me to write a blog on.
Thank you
INTRODUCTION
According to Lazarus and Folkman psychological stress is a particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well being.(Lazarus and Folkman, 1984, p. 19). Covid-19, the infectious disease caused by the recently discovered coronavirus has caused a humongous impact to our lives. Governments all over the world in an attempt to save their economic and human resources implemented lockdowns where all of us were confined to our homes.
In this attempt the primary, secondary schools and colleges were closed as soon as in march. According to a UNESCO report there are more than 157crore students across 191 countries that are severely impacted by the closure of educational institutes due to coronavirus that accounts around 91% of the worlds student population.
The compulsory lockdown has resulted in carrying normal routine activities from homes whether it is a person doing his/her job or for students carrying out their studies. Many universities and schools have shifted to emergency remote teaching(ERT) via online platforms which has further induced anxiety and stress among students. The sudden shift of education on online platforms, the postponement of some of the very important exams like JEE, NEET or DUJAT from june-july to november-december has created a lot of tension in the students which have resulted into severe mental and physical disorders. Being myself a second year student who feels privileged of having all the requisite technology or other necessary resources to carry on my studies there are many students who don't have or cannot afford the resources to tackle the challenging times. This instills in them the fear of being left out from the race which can have a huge impact on their mental health.
To date many studies have been conducted on the effects of covid-19 pandemic and lockdown on mental health of the general population and specifically children. But most of the studies have been conducted in the western countries or China and Malaysia. one of them are the study of psychological well being of university students in spain by Ordiozola-Gonzalez.
In this practicum I will try to cover the responses collected from a diverse set of people including secondary level students, teachers, college students and candidates as well appearing for national level exams. to understand the condition better and will try to put forward the existing measures taken by the government to tackle the challenge.
METHODOLOGY
Purpose
To find and understand the psychological impact of lockdown on children
To understand any experiences that students have faced in the time period
Exploring the steps taken by government and the steps that can be taken to address the issue of mental health in students
Data collection
The data was collected through qualitative methods instead of quantitative methods. The research is focussed on the study of psychology hence, to focus on the words, emotions etc qualitative method was used. The survey was forwarded through whatsapp messages and email with periodic reminders to students of both public and private institutes
The data was further collected in two phases that is an online survey through google form and telephonic interviews. In reaching to the people the purpose of the study was explained, participation of students was voluntary and consent of the participants was taken and general information about the researcher was provided in case of any query. In addition to this the confidentiality of the participants were insured. The questions which formulated were based on the surveys conducted by many different institutes and in accordance with the mental health care act 2017. To provide a clear picture about the information gathered and to understand the complexity of the problem the survey was designed on open questions which can measure the extent of the problems faced.
The online questionnaire was succeeded by a set of interviews. For conducting the same focus groups were made based on the age group that is 14-16, 17-21. The interviews were open ended with the length of each interview ranging between 10-15 minutes. The responses were recorded both on recording as well as notes. In the process their confidentiality was assured. furthermore the interview questions were based on the questionnaire but were flexible at the same time to collect diverse responses.
Data Analysis
The data collected through surveys were analysed by tabulating them and presenting them in pie and bar graphs to understand the age group of participants and to find a correlation between the findings. The notes and the recordings made at the time of interviews were also tabulated to understand the findings. Over discourse analysis narrative analysis is used to analyze the data as it uses the stories or the personal experiences stated by the respondents during the interview. To ensure the proper analyses the data collected was referred to again and again with the objective of the study.
FINDINGS
Details of the participants
Impact of lockdown on school and college going students
Impact of lockdown on underprivileged children
DETAILS OF THE PARTICIPANTS
The details of the participants who took part in the survey is given below. Names of the participants are not disclosed to maintain confidentiality. All the other information disclosed is gathered through survey with due consent of them.
The following is the data collected by surveying different sets of students. The focus groups were made on the basis of their current place of living and the type of institute they study in.
Out of the 16 students surveyed 5 students were interviewed. They were from high, higher secondary and college level students. Apart from them 3 teachers were also interviewed 1 from private and 2 from government schools. All the interviews conducted were telephonic interviews.
For further classification of data on institution type and current living
From the above it is clear that most of the samples covered are college students. They are basically from urban or semi areas and studying in Delhi, Gurgaon and Chandigarh.
The school students covered under the survey are from Khanna(PB), Ludhiana(PB) or its adjoining areas.
The above graph shows us the current living status of the students. This helps to cover and understand the basic necessities like the internet or computers or other kind of emotional support available to them.
IMPACT OF LOCKDOWN ON SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS
The study aimed at finding psychological impact on students. This section will deal with the personal experiences of students collected through interviews and the survey findings.
Based on the findings 29.4%, 23.5%, 17.6% of the population have experienced anxiety from minimal to moderate, to severe, extreme levels respectively.
There is a correlation between the anxiety level experienced and the gender of a person. The odds of anxiety among female students were higher as compared to male students. One reason behind this is that females generally express their emotions to a greater extent as compared to males. In addition to this social media played a major role in triggering anxiety among students. It has been observed that due to 24/7 media coverage or the portraying of the news in a negative manner the anxiety levels has increased in younger students. One of the response collected was this
“We are confined to our homes and now we cannot meet our school friends. The only thing we are able to do is to talk with them on phone or through whatsapp messaging. But we cannot always be on mobile phones. I have been avoiding tv for quite some time now as whenever i turn on the news something negative is covered for the whole day by them like how many people are infected or died. This causes worry to me”.
Further the effect of negative news or more use of social media has been seen in the younger population as compared to the older ones. This can be due to the constant presence of younger students on social media and the always available facet of the social media.
The other correlation which has been observed is between the stress level of students belonging to different studies. It is observed that students belonging to commerce or arts courses experience higher levels of stress as compared to students in the medical field. One attribute could be that the level of information available to different sets of students.
Students living alone have been seen experiencing severe to extreme levels of stress that those living with their families. Those staying alone in different states are usually away from their loved ones; the feeling of loneliness, financial instability or threat to their security could be possible factors in addition to worry about their families.
“I live in delhi and my family is in punjab. I didn't move back because of some commitments here but now I am facing financial insecurity. With the business being closed we are using our savings only. I am able to survive here only because my parents saved money before. But now the relaxations have been given in lockdown but still we are not able to cover our expenditure”.
Based on the interviews and some secondary data collected it has been found that the most common stressors are financial constraints, online classes and uncertainty about the future. Due to shift to online classes or better known as ERT students are facing restlessness. Many of the students covered in the survey did not have constant access to the internet, many of those who have access have to attend classes for continuously 6-7 hours on their mobile phones which further increased their stress and health issues. The schools and colleges have shifted to online classes but the teachers are unable to innovate their teaching method which is useful only for face-to-face teaching. Moreover the overwhelming work given to students with no flexibility in deadlines also increases their stress level.
In college students it has been observed that the inability of universities to impart proper education through online methods and the uncertainty about exams in addition to not being able to launch their future who have graduated resulted in stress and anxiety in them.
IMPACT OF LOCKDOWN ON UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN
In this section the psychological impact on underprivileged children is discussed. The findings are governed majorly by the interviews conducted with government school teachers and some secondary research as the students were not able to readily express themselves.
Before understanding the impact it is important to know the number of children living in the monetary-poor households. The following data is collected from data provided by unicef on their website
It is estimated that at least 463 million students around the world cannot be reached through digital and broadcast remote learning programmes. In India only 40 million children from poor families have been affected. A number of poor or street children has been shifted to live in poverty and are unable to continue their studies.
Many of the students do not have the required devices and resources to continue their studies. Even in pre-covid era it took the government 3 months to supply books to the needy students and now the supply has been hindered. With no notebooks or subject books available to children their education has taken a set back.
This inreturn can increase the dropout rates among students who are forced to do labour to support their families or have now increased responsibilities to manage their siblings, although no data is available as of now about the dropout rates due to covid-19 and lockdown.
Reference
Mental healthcare act, 2017 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5932926/
Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on mental health of children and adolescents: A narrative review with recommendations https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7444649/
www.india.gov.in/topics/education/secondary-higher-secondary-education
www.india.gov.in/topics/education/higher-education
www.data.unicef.org/covid-19-and-children/
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