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School Students' Concerns and Support after One Year of COVID-19 in Austria: A Qualitative Study Using Content Analysis.

ABSTRACT: Adolescents suffer severely from the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using qualitative content analysis, this study examined open-ended responses to a survey on the mental health of school students in Austria in February 2021. A representative sample (n = 214) was drawn from a total survey sample of 3052 adolescents aged 14-20. The analysis revealed several areas of concern, including school-related concerns, concerns about restrictions, self-related concerns, and interpersonal problems. School-related concerns associated with distance learning were mentioned most frequently. Compared with research conducted at the beginning of the pandemic, it appeared that concerns about educational and professional futures increased. The analysis also indicated young people's most important sources of support, such as social contacts, recreational activities, attitudes and abilities, distraction, and escape. Of concern is the proportion of young people citing maladaptive coping strategies and the reluctance to seek professional support. Ideas for practice-oriented measures were developed from the study results, such as embedding youth-led peer interventions in traditional mental health services.

SUBMITTER: Jesser A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9315779 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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School Students' Concerns and Support after One Year of COVID-19 in Austria: A Qualitative Study Using Content Analysis.

Jesser Andrea A Schaffler Yvonne Y Gächter Afsaneh A Dale Rachel R Humer Elke E Pieh Christoph C

Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) 20220718 7

Adolescents suffer severely from the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using qualitative content analysis, this study examined open-ended responses to a survey on the mental health of school students in Austria in February 2021. A representative sample (<i>n</i> = 214) was drawn from a total survey sample of 3052 adolescents aged 14-20. The analysis revealed several areas of concern, including school-related concerns, concerns about restrictions, self-related concerns, and int ...[more]

PMID: 35885859

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Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in enormous changes in everyday life and numerous burdens for adolescents. This pilot study focused on how young people look to the future in the face of these burdens. Responses to two open-ended questions on concerns and hopes for the future that were part of a larger online survey on the mental health of school students in Austria were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Subsequently, differences in the experiences of boys and girls, young people with and without a migration background and psychologically stressed and non-stressed young people were examined by applying a mixed-methods approach. Data collection took place from 3 February to 28 February 2021. From a total survey sample of 3052 adolescents aged 14-20, a representative sample according to gender and migration background (N = 500) was drawn. Qualitative content analysis revealed several areas of concern about the future, including school-related concerns, concerns about the further development of the pandemic and the associated restrictions, concerns related to a lack of locus of control, health-related concerns and concerns about social relationships. The analysis also indicated young people's greatest hopes for the future, such as hopes related to further pandemic development, hopes regarding major life goals, school, social relationships and health. Young people's experiences differ according to gender, migration background and the extent of psychological distress. This study contributes to research on the psychological well-being of adolescents during the pandemic and provides important insights into the subjective experience of young people. It aims to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the concerns and hopes for the future of young people in a time marked by various challenges. The results of the study should be used to develop ideas for measures, such as the expansion of school psychological services and low-threshold support services for students, such as school social work and counseling.

Project description:BackgroundDoctors' health is of importance for the quality and development of health care and to doctors themselves. As doctors are hesitant to seek medical treatment, peer support services, with an alleged lower threshold for seeking help, is provided in many countries. Peer support services may be the first place to which doctors turn when they search for support and advice relating to their own health and private or professional well-being. This paper explores how doctors perceive the peer support service and how it can meet their needs.Materials and methodsTwelve doctors were interviewed a year after attending a peer support service which is accessible to all doctors in Norway. The qualitative, semi-structured interviews took place by on-line video meetings or over the phone (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) during 2020 and were audiotaped. Analysis was data-driven, and systematic text condensation was used as strategy for the qualitative analysis. The empirical material was further interpreted with the use of theories of organizational culture by Edgar Schein.ResultsThe doctors sought peer support due to a range of different needs including both occupational and personal challenges. They attended peer support to engage in dialogue with a fellow doctor outside of the workplace, some were in search of a combination of dialogue and mental health care. The doctors wanted peer support to have a different quality from that of a regular doctor/patient appointment. The doctors expressed they needed and got psychological safety and an open conversation in a flexible and informal setting. Some of these qualities are related to the formal structure of the service, whereas others are based on the way the service is practised.ConclusionsPeer support seems to provide psychological safety through its flexible, informal, and confidential characteristics. The service thus offers doctors in need of support a valued and suitable space that is clearly distinct from a doctor/patient relationship. The doctors' needs are met to a high extent by the peer-support service, through such conditions that the doctors experience as beneficial.

Project description:BackgroundThe engagement of schools in malaria control is an emerging strategy. Little is known about the involvement of students in the development of malaria messages. This study evaluated the message content of primary school students' malaria poems.MethodsA qualitative content analysis was conducted to explore malaria messages conveyed in poems produced by students. Twenty poems were purposively selected from twenty schools across rural villages in five districts of the Jimma Zone. Data were analyzed using Atlas.ti version 7.1.4 software. The message contents were quantified in terms of frequency, and including metaphors, presented using central themes, categories, and supportive quotations.ResultsA total of 602 malarial contents were generated, and organized into 21 categories under five central themes. 1) Malaria-related knowledge (causation and modes of transmission, mosquito breeding and biting behavior, signs and symptoms, care for insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), and prevention methods), 2) Perceived threats from malaria, 3)The effectiveness of prevention methods (i.e., related to the adaption of ITNs, environmental cleaning, indoor residual spray (IRS), treatment for fever, and drug adherence practices), 4) Misconceptions, beliefs, and malpractices regarding the cause of malaria and drug use) and 5) Direct calls to the adopt ITN, IRS, clean surroundings, treatment, and drug use. The most commonly conveyed message contents were about the severity of malaria, distinguishable signs and symptoms, calls for community participation for malaria elimination, knowledge of preventive methods, and effectiveness of ITN use. Metaphoric expressions (war and death) were used to convey messages about the severity and the need to manage the prognosis of malaria through the active ITN use, which itself was metaphorically represented as 'a trap' to mosquitoes.ConclusionsThe poetic analysis indicated that the students developed and disseminated rich malarial messages, especially on malarial knowledge, and perceptions, beliefs, norms and practices of the local community to prevent and control malaria. Therefore, primary school students can be a source of information and would effectively communicate knowledge, perceptions, and promote malaria related practices, particularly in rural settings.

Project description:This study investigated whether school closures and health-related uncertainties in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic posed risk factors for adolescents' mental health and whether perceived social support by parents, teachers, and friends functioned as protective factors. In particular, we argued that perceived social support would buffer negative associations between educational and health concerns and mental health. Based on a person-centered approach, we first examined resilience profiles. These profiles reflect configurations regarding the levels of these risk and protective factors and levels of mental health. Second, we analyzed whether these risk and protective factors predicted adolescents' mental health differently by using a variable-centered approach. The sample consisted of 1'562 adolescents (Mage = 16.18, SD = 1.48, range = 14-20 years; 72% females) in lower and higher secondary education from three regions: German-speaking part of Switzerland, N = 486; Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, N = 760; and Northern Italy N = 316. Results from the person-centered approach revealed three latent profiles characterized by low (19%), average (47%), or high resilience (34%). Lower resilience was associated with higher educational concerns, lower perceived social support, and lower mental health, while high resilience was characterized by lower concerns, higher support, and higher mental health. Importantly, educational concerns varied more between profiles than health concerns, and perceived teacher and family support varied more than perceived friend support. Corroborating these findings, the variable-centered approach (i.e., a path analysis) revealed that educational concerns were a stronger predictor than health concerns and pointed to a higher relative importance of perceived family support for adolescents' mental health relative to perceived teacher and friend support. Taken together, the findings suggest that adolescents' educational concerns and perceived family support, respectively, were stronger risk and protective factors for their mental health during school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, adolescents from regions being more exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic, namely, Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and Northern Italy, were more likely classified in the low or the average rather than in the high resilience profile compared to students from the region with lower exposure, that is, the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

Dataset Information

School Students' Concerns and Support after One Year of COVID-19 in Austria: A Qualitative Study Using Content Analysis.

Publications

School Students' Concerns and Support after One Year of COVID-19 in Austria: A Qualitative Study Using Content Analysis.

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