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Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study
This qualitative study explored the impact of COVID-19 self-isolation and social restriction measures on university students, through the perspectives of both students and the staff supporting them. The study comprised 11 focus groups (students) and 26 individual interviews (staff) at a higher educa...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535702/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682418 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010675 |
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author | Knight, Holly Carlisle, Sophie O’Connor, Mórna Briggs, Lydia Fothergill, Lauren Al-Oraibi, Amani Yildirim, Mehmet Morling, Joanne R. Corner, Jessica Ball, Jonathan Denning, Chris Vedhara, Kavita Blake, Holly |
author_facet | Knight, Holly Carlisle, Sophie O’Connor, Mórna Briggs, Lydia Fothergill, Lauren Al-Oraibi, Amani Yildirim, Mehmet Morling, Joanne R. Corner, Jessica Ball, Jonathan Denning, Chris Vedhara, Kavita Blake, Holly |
author_sort | Knight, Holly |
collection | PubMed |
description | This qualitative study explored the impact of COVID-19 self-isolation and social restriction measures on university students, through the perspectives of both students and the staff supporting them. The study comprised 11 focus groups (students) and 26 individual interviews (staff) at a higher education institution in England during a period of national lockdown (January–March 2021). Participants were university students (n = 52) with self-isolation experiences and university staff (n = 26) with student-facing support roles. Focus group and interview data were combined and analysed using an inductive thematic approach. Four themes emerged: ‘Adaptation during the pandemic’, ‘Practical, environmental, and emotional challenges of self-isolating’, ‘Social factors and their impact on COVID-19 testing and self-isolation adherence’, and ‘Supporting self-isolation’. Students and staff struggled with the imposed restrictions and shift to online education. Students found it difficult to adapt to new expectations for university life and reported missing out on professional and social experiences. Students and staff noted concerns about the impact of online teaching on educational outcomes. Students endorsed varied emotional responses to self-isolation; some felt unaffected whilst others experienced lowered mood and loneliness. Students were motivated by pro-social attitudes; campaigns targeting these factors may encourage continued engagement in protective behaviours. Staff struggled to manage their increased workloads delivering support for self-isolating students. Universities must consider the support needs of students during self-isolation and prepare for the long-term impacts of the pandemic on student wellbeing and educational attainment. Greater support should be provided for staff during transitional periods, with ongoing monitoring of workforce stress levels warranted. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8535702 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-85357022021-10-23 Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study Knight, Holly Carlisle, Sophie O’Connor, Mórna Briggs, Lydia Fothergill, Lauren Al-Oraibi, Amani Yildirim, Mehmet Morling, Joanne R. Corner, Jessica Ball, Jonathan Denning, Chris Vedhara, Kavita Blake, Holly Int J Environ Res Public Health Article This qualitative study explored the impact of COVID-19 self-isolation and social restriction measures on university students, through the perspectives of both students and the staff supporting them. The study comprised 11 focus groups (students) and 26 individual interviews (staff) at a higher education institution in England during a period of national lockdown (January–March 2021). Participants were university students (n = 52) with self-isolation experiences and university staff (n = 26) with student-facing support roles. Focus group and interview data were combined and analysed using an inductive thematic approach. Four themes emerged: ‘Adaptation during the pandemic’, ‘Practical, environmental, and emotional challenges of self-isolating’, ‘Social factors and their impact on COVID-19 testing and self-isolation adherence’, and ‘Supporting self-isolation’. Students and staff struggled with the imposed restrictions and shift to online education. Students found it difficult to adapt to new expectations for university life and reported missing out on professional and social experiences. Students and staff noted concerns about the impact of online teaching on educational outcomes. Students endorsed varied emotional responses to self-isolation; some felt unaffected whilst others experienced lowered mood and loneliness. Students were motivated by pro-social attitudes; campaigns targeting these factors may encourage continued engagement in protective behaviours. Staff struggled to manage their increased workloads delivering support for self-isolating students. Universities must consider the support needs of students during self-isolation and prepare for the long-term impacts of the pandemic on student wellbeing and educational attainment. Greater support should be provided for staff during transitional periods, with ongoing monitoring of workforce stress levels warranted. MDPI 2021-10-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8535702/ /pubmed/34682418 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010675 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Knight, Holly Carlisle, Sophie O’Connor, Mórna Briggs, Lydia Fothergill, Lauren Al-Oraibi, Amani Yildirim, Mehmet Morling, Joanne R. Corner, Jessica Ball, Jonathan Denning, Chris Vedhara, Kavita Blake, Holly Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study |
title | Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study |
title_full | Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study |
title_fullStr | Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study |
title_full_unstemmed | Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study |
title_short | Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study |
title_sort | impacts of the covid-19 pandemic and self-isolation on students and staff in higher education: a qualitative study |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535702/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682418 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010675 |
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