Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 20;19(8):e0309171. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309171. eCollection 2024.
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health and wellbeing of post-secondary students. Resilience has been found to serve as a protective factor against mental distress among students during the pandemic. Despite the plethora of research that exists on post-secondary students during this crisis, most studies exploring students' health and resilience are quantitative and lack diversity. To date, the lived experiences of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and resilience among graduate students representing diversity in age, gender, ethnicity, parental status, university, degree, and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic remain unknown. As a part of a larger study, the purpose of this qualitative paper was to understand the lived experiences of resilience and HRQOL among a diverse sample of graduate students approximately 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada. A total of 14 students participated in semi-structured interviews exploring HRQOL domains, factors that supported/undermined participants' resilience, challenges/barriers to being resilient, and participants' inner strength. Thematic analysis revealed 5 themes: (1) cultural influences on resilience; (2) the role of privilege/power in shaping resilience; (3) how life stage and past experiences support resilience; (4) how the COVID-19 pandemic has undermined the resilience of equity-deserving groups; and (5) the role of disability/chronic pain. This work presents a unique dichotomy between how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of some graduate students, while simultaneously creating opportunities for others to thrive. Findings from this work underscore the importance of creating inclusive and accessible educational spaces to support graduate students' resilience and HRQOL currently, and in times of crisis.
COVID-19 大流行对大学生的心理健康和福祉产生了负面影响。研究发现，韧性是学生在大流行期间免受精神困扰的保护因素。尽管在这场危机中存在大量针对大学生的研究，但大多数研究都是定量的，缺乏多样性。迄今为止，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，代表年龄、性别、族裔、父母状况、大学、学位和学院多样性的研究生的健康和韧性的生活体验，以及他们的健康相关生活质量（HRQOL）的生活体验仍不得而知。作为一项更大研究的一部分，本定性论文的目的是了解加拿大安大略省 COVID-19 大流行大约 18 个月后，来自不同群体的研究生的韧性和 HRQOL 的生活体验。共有 14 名学生参加了半结构化访谈，探讨了 HRQOL 领域、支持/削弱参与者韧性的因素、对韧性的挑战/障碍以及参与者的内在力量。主题分析揭示了 5 个主题：（1）文化对韧性的影响；（2）特权/权力在塑造韧性方面的作用；（3）生活阶段和过去经历如何支持韧性；（4）COVID-19 大流行如何破坏权益群体的韧性；以及（5）残疾/慢性疼痛的作用。这项工作展示了 COVID-19 大流行如何扰乱一些研究生的生活，同时又为其他人创造了茁壮成长的机会之间的独特二分法。这项工作的结果强调了目前以及在危机时期，创造包容和无障碍的教育空间以支持研究生的韧性和 HRQOL 的重要性。
