Stress and Coping Experiences of Turkish University Students During COVID-19: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The present qualitative study aims to reveal the lived experiences of 20 Turkish university students (10 male, 10 female) regarding their stress factors and how they coped with challenges faced during the first 3 months of the lockdown period amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants, aged between 19 and 24, were recruited from different state and private universities employing convenience and snowball sampling methods. Grounded in a descriptive phenomenological approach, inductive content analysis (ICS) was employed. The data were collected via in-depth interviews in May 2020, and analyzed by using Nvivo. The findings showed that the experiences of the participants gathered around five main themes namely, general impact on daily life, impact on various life domains, coping strategies, contributions, and post-pandemic future. Participants reported their concerns regarding disruptions in daily life and routines caused by precautionary measures, and their expectations as to post-pandemic life as well. Various adaptive also maladaptive coping strategies were adopted. Notably, participants appraised the pandemic process as an improving experience attributing this to having more spare time for themselves and an increase in their self-awareness. Findings are discussed in light of the available literature.