The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the functioning of universities worldwide. In Poland, the transfer to online teaching was announced without prior warning, which radically changed students’ daily functioning (Teixeira et al. 2021, Browning et al. 2021, Ch Son 2020). This situation clearly showed the students’ helplessness and difficulties with coping with this new, stressful situation, highlighted in many previous studies (Beiter at al. 2015, Hunt 2010, American College Healt Association 2000, Pariat et al. 2014). A sudden and far-reaching change in daily functioning caused anxiety, depression, and stress in this group. Thus, from a pedagogical and psychological point of view, it is pertinent to examine the students’ strategies of coping with stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The aim of the presentation is to present a study on Polish students’ strategies of coping with stress during the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 disease pandemic. 

In response to the pandemic, most countries have implemented severe restrictions in societal functioning which comprise many spheres of life: social, economic, cultural, and educational. They led to limited interpersonal contacts, changes in the mode of education (online teaching), and reduced economic activity. The consequence of the latter has been an economic recession, which further led to worsened conditions on the job market (increased unemployment). These factors significantly impact students, since they intensify concerns over future employment. Previous pandemics have negatively impacted young people’s material conditions, which had long-term consequences for their physical and mental health as well as academic achievement.

The theoretical framework of current study is Lazarus and Folkman's  psychological  stress and coping theory (1984). According to them, stress is specific relation between the person and the environment, 'that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being' (Lazarus and Folkman 1984, p.19).  In case of students, it is important to see how they cope with stressuful and unusual pandemic situation as it shows what strategies they choose and how they will cope with other stressful situanions in their futher adult life.This is also importnat form the pedagogical perspective, as we can help student who are strugling to cope with the stress in a constructive way to provide them with more appropriate solutions.

The aims of the study were: 1) identifying the students’ dominant strategies of coping with stress in the pandemic situation, 2) assessing the influence of sociodemographic factors on the dominant coping strategies, and 3) diagnosing differences in the students’ coping strategies depending on their need for social support and its expected sources. The Mini-COPE inventory in a Polish adaptation by Juczyński and Ogińska-Bulik (2009) was used in the current study. The Polish version of the Mini-COPE comprises 28 items, which form 14 coping strategies. It is used to measure typical reactions in situations of intense stress. The inventory was supplemented with two other semi-open questions. The first concerned the type of support the students expected during the pandemic. The available answers were: psychological, emotional, financial, organizational support, no support needed, and other (to be filled out by the students if necessary). The second supplemental question concerned the sources from which the students expected support during the pandemic. In this case, the students could select the closest appropriate answer from among: family, friends, the university, the government, and other (to be filled out by the students if necessary). In early spring of 2020, soon after online teaching was instituted, the questionnaire was distributed to students of four randomly chosen Polish universities. Those students who filled out the online questionnaire were also asked to share it with their acquaintances from other universities. Using the snowball sampling method, data from 17 Polish institutions was obtained: universities, technical universities, medical universities, and higher vocational schools. This allowed for measuring coping strategies during the pandemic among students from various universities in various regions of Poland. The study took place in April-May 2020. Five hundred and seventy-seven complete questionnaires were collected.

The statistical analysis showed that during the coronavirus pandemic, Polish students most often used the coping strategies of: acceptance, planning, and seeking emo- tional support. Such factors as age, gender, and place of residence influenced the choice of specific strategies of coping with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results also showed that the youngest students had the lowest coping skills. The results allow for con- cluding that the students’ maladaptive strategies of coping with stress, especially during the pandemic, may result in long-term consequences for their psychophysiological health and academic achievements. Thus, based on the current results and on the participatory model of intervention, a support program for students is proposed which would involve psychologi- cal, organizational, and instrumental support.

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