ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly changed everyday life of social actors, which inferred mental health and well-being concerns. As students of health-related studies tend to adapt better to difficult circumstances, in this study, we explored the effect of the pandemic on sports science students' well-being during the summer of 2022. The research was conducted in Slovenia and Serbia. The sample comprised n = 350 students. The PERMA-Profiler, a 15-item self-reported questionnaire, was adapted to assess well-being across five elements: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Data were collected with a questionnaire through the summer of 2022 (from May to July) and analyzed in SPSS, AMOS 26.0. The results revealed normal functioning (M = 7.72, SD ± 1.38) for the overall well-being of the students. Although all dimensions indicated high scores, relationships (M = 7.95, SD ± 1.63), meaning (M = 7.76, SD ± 1.69), and engagement (M = 7.73, SD ± 1.36) rated the highest. Furthermore, the instrument was acceptable, as the confirmatory factor analysis showed adequate reliability based on Cronbach's alpha (15 items, α = 0.94) and strong internal correlations between the PERMA dimensions. This study contributes to the previously published research, emphasizing the positive responses and successful coping of sports science students in times of complex situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to extreme global consequences. In this paper, changes in the basic segments of students' everyday life and their subjective perception are investigated. The research was conducted in Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. The application of the mixed method was performed to provide breadth and depth of understanding of students' responses to lifestyle changes. The research was conducted in two phases: a quantitative, using an online survey (N = 1,053), from April 15th to April 28th 2020, and a qualitative, using semi-structured interviews (N = 30), from June 10th to July 27th 2020. Students showed similar responses to the measures, but it turned out that the response in that population was different when their gender and study program were taken into account. The results suggest that students of study programs that are not “health-related” were more sensitive to change in habits than students of “health-related” study programs, but generally changes are visible in sleep patterns (going to bed late and waking up 60 to 80 min earlier). At the same time, the time spent in front of screens increased, from M = 4.49 (SD = 2.72) hours to M= 8.27 (SD = 3.44) hours during Covid-19, not only due to the transition to e-learning, but also due to a “stay at home” measure. Furthermore, students were less physically active, there was a decrease in exercise by 20 min (SD = 86.52) and a decrease in walking (M = 54 min, SD = 103.62) per day, and what is positive is that they were able to maintain the recommended amount of physical activity. The research contributes to the understanding of social consequences of extraordinary measures in students as young, healthy and highly educated social actors, as well as deeper insight into everyday strategies they undertake to counter or adapt to the new situation.