Coping Strategies and COVID-19 Prevalence Among University Students Learning in the Online and Blended Mode

The study assessed whether students who contracted COVID-19 and did not fall ill differed in coping strategies. The study comprised 111 participants, including 55.9% who were infected and 44.1% who were not. It consisted of online (49.5%) and blended mode learners (50.5%) aged 19 to 31. We used the Brief COPE Inventory to assess ways of coping with stress. Among online students, 65.5% fell ill, while less than half of blended mode learners got sick. Students who contracted COVID-19 were more likely to use maladaptive coping strategies, and respondents who did not become ill were more likely to use adaptive strategies.

REFERENCES:

• Alsolais, A., Alquwez, N., Alotaibi, K. A., Alqarni, A. S., Almalki, M., Alsolami, F., Almazan, J., & Cruz, J. P. (2021). Risk perceptions, fear, depression, anxiety, stress and coping among Saudi nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Mental Health (Abingdon, England), 30(2), 194-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2021.1922636
• August, R., & Dapkewicz, A. (2020). Benefit finding in the COVID-19 Pandemic: College students’ positive coping strategies. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 5(2), 73-86. https://doi.org/10.47602/jpsp.v5i2.245
• Arnett, J. J. (2007). Emerging adulthood: What is it, and what is it good for? Child Development Perspectives, 1(2), 68-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2007.00016.x
• Babicka-Wirkus, A., Wirkus, Ł., Stasiak, K., & Kozłowski, P. (2021). University students’ strategies of coping with stress during the coronavirus pandemic: Data from Poland. PLoS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255041
• 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. DOI: 10.1080/15325024.2020.1769300
• Broadbent, J. (2017). Comparing online and blended learner’s self-regulated learning strategies and academic performance. Internet and Higher Education, 33, 24-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2017.01.004
• Burke, R. M., Midgley, C. M., Dratch, A., Fenstersheib, M., Haupt, T., & Holshue, M. (2020). Active monitoring of persons exposed to patients with confirmed COVID-19 - United States, January-February 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(9), 245-246. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6909e1externalicon
• Cohen, P., Kasen, S., Chen, H., Hartmark, C., & Gordon, K. (2003). Variations in patterns of developmental transmissions in the emerging adulthood period. Developmental Psychology, 39(4), 657-669. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.39.4.657
• Douglass, C. B. (2007). From duty to desire: Emerging adulthood in Europe and its consequences. Child Development Perspectives, 1(2), 101-108. DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-860
• Dziuban, C., Hartman, J., Judge, F., Moskal, P., & Steven, S. (2006). Blended learning enters mainstream. In C. J. Bonk & C. R. Graham (Eds.), The Handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives, local designs (pp. 195-208). Pfeiffer.
• Eil, D., & Rao, J. M. (2011). The good news-bad news effect: Asymmetric processing of objective information about yourself. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 3(2), 114-138.
• Franks, B., Bangerter, A., Bauer, M. W., Hall, M., & Noort, M. C. (2017). Beyond “Monologicality”? Exploring Conspiracist Worldviews. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 861. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00861
• Garrison, D. R., & Kanuka, H. (2004). Blended learning: Uncovering its transformative potential in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 7(2), 95-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2004.02.001
• Gorman, S. E., & Gorman, J. M. (2017). Denying to the grave: why we ignore the facts that will save us. Oxford University Press.
• Graham, C. R. (2006). Blended learning systems: Definitions, current trends, and future directions. In C. J. Bonk & C. R. Graham (Eds.), The handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives, local designs (pp. 3-21). Pfeiffer.
• Graham, C. R. (2013). Emerging practice and research in blended learning. In M. J. Moore (Ed.), Handbook of Distance Education (pp. 333-350). Routledge.
• Iovine, J. (2021). Academic - the COVID-19 agenda: the liberal’s plot to win the white house. Images Si Inc.
• Jolley, D., & Paterson, J. L. (2020). Pylons ablaze: Examining the role of 5G COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and support for violence. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58(3), 628-640.
• Juczyński, Z., & Ogińska-Bulik, N. (2012). Inventory for measuring coping with stress - mini COPE. In Z. Juczyński & N. Ogińska-Bulik (Eds.), Tools for measuring stress and coping with stress (pp. 45-58). Psychological Testing Centre of the Polish Psychological Association.
• Kaczmarek, B. L. J., & Gaś, Z. B. (2021). The power of self-deception: psychological reaction to the covid-19 threat. Acta Neuropsychologica, 19(3), 319-328.
• Kostolanyova, K., Jurickova, R., Simonova, I., & Poulova, P. (2015). Flexible hybrid learning: Comparative study. In S. Cheung, L. Kwok, H. Yang, J. Fong, & R. Kwan (Eds.), Hybrid Learning: Innovation in Educational Practices (pp. 70-81). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20621-9_6
• Kwek, S.-K., Chew, W.-M., Ong, K.-C., Ng, A. W.-K., Lee, L. S.-U., Kaw, G., & Leow, M. K.-S. (2006). Quality of life and psychological status in survivors of severe acute respiratory syndrome at 3 months postdischarge. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 60(5), 513-519. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2005.08.020
• Lee, J. (2020). Mental health effects of school closures during COVID-19. The Lancet: Child & Adolescent Health, 4(6), 421. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30109-7
• Loda, T., Löffler, T., Erschens, R., Zipfel, S., & Herrmann-Werne, A. (2020). Medical education in times of COVID-19: German students’ expectations - A cross-sectional study. PLoS One, 15(11), e0241660. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241660
• Markiewicz, K. (2021). Mounting restlessness: changes in attitudes to the covid-19 threat. Acta Neuropsychologica, 19(3), 307-318. DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0015.0531
• Morgan, M. (2020). The two pandemics—covid and lies. BMJ, 371, m4516. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4516
• Roy, D., Tripathy, S., Kar, S., Sharma, N., Verma, S., & Kaushal, V. (2020). Study of knowledge, attitude, anxiety & perceived mental healthcare need in Indian population during COVID-19 pandemic. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 51, 102083-102087. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102083
• Savitsky, B., Findling, Y., Ereli, A., & Hendel, T. (2020). Anxiety and coping strategies among nursing students during the covid-19 pandemic. Nurse Education in Practice, 46, 102809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2020.102809
• Shulman, S., & Nurmi, J.-E. (2010). Understanding emerging adulthood from a goal-setting perspective. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Perspective: Special Issue: The Role of Goals in Navigating Individual Lives During Emerging Adulthood, 130, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.277
• van Prooijen, J.-W., & Douglas, K. M. (2017). Conspiracy theories as part of history: The role of societal crisis situations. Memory Studies, 10(3), 323-333. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698017701615
• Vedantam, Sh., & Mesler, B. (2021). Useful delusions: The power and paradox of the self-deceiving brain. Norton & Company.
• Weinstein, N. D. (1980). Unrealistic optimism about future life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 806-820.
• Wu, K. K., Chan, S. K., & Ma, T. M. (2005). Posttraumatic stress after SARS. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 11(8), 1297-1300. DOI: 10.3201/eid1108.041083
• Yang, C., Chen, A., & Chen, Y. (2021). College students’ stress and health in the COVID-19 Pandemic: The role of academic workload, separation from school, and fears of contagion. PLoS One, 16(2), e0246676. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246676
• Ye, Z., Yang, X., Zeng, C., Wang, Y., Shen, Z., Li, X., & Lin, D. (2020). Resilience, social support, and coping as mediators between COVID-19-related stressful experiences and Acute Stress Disorder among college students in China. Applied Psychology. Health and Well-Being: Special Issue: Health and Well-Being in the Early Stages of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Insights from Applied Psychology, 12(4), 1074-1094. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12211