Exploring the social and emotional representations used by students from the University of the Basque Country to face the first outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Issue 2 (13th February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Idoiaga Mondragon, Nahia; Berasategi Sancho, Naiara; Eiguren Munitis, Amaia; Dosil Santamaria, Maria
• Is Part Of: Health education research. Volume 36:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 159
• Page End: 169
• Publication Date: 2021-02-13
• Subjects: Health education -- Periodicals; Health education -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 613.071
• DOI: 10.1093/her/cyab006
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-1153

Abstract

Abstract: In 2020, COVID-19, a new emerging infectious disease (EID), was spread throughout the world, including Europe. Spain, in particular, witnessed a significant outbreak of the pandemic. In consequence, all classes were cancelled and the Government declared a state of emergency, ordering the lockdown of the entire population from March to May. The aim of this research is to explore the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the representations of young university students from the University of the Basque Country and their emotional response when the crisis started. A free-association exercise was completed by 503 students from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (Northern Spain). To analyze the content, the Reinert method was used with the Iramuteq software for lexical analysis. The results showed that students placed COVID-19 at a distance from the self, pointing out issues related to social response and disinformation, while showing concerns for self-related issues that are linked to negative emotions, academic consequences, and potentially close victims. The students' concerns were categorized at four main levels: the communicative-informative level, health-emotional level, community-social level, and academic level. All of this has created overwhelming feelings of nervousness, along with anger and emotional fatigue. These results indicate the necessity for universities to work from a holistic standpoint, not only in terms of responding to academic needs but also from psychological, communicative, social, health, and well-being perspectives.