COPING STRATEGIES AMONG INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS DURING COVID 19 IN SWEDEN

Robert Menge, Catherine Suubi Kayonga

Abstract


The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic created disruptions in all people's daily lives. This deadly pandemic tremendously affected the social, economic, and physical systems. International students were a vulnerable population whose adjustment and adaptation processes in Sweden were interrupted. Therefore, we carried out to ascertain the international students' coping strategies during COVID-19. The study thus explores the coping strategies that international students utilise to deal with changes experienced during COVID-19 in Sweden. Theoretically, the study was based on resilience, the social ecology of resilience, and the strength-based perspective of social work. These theories assume that international students have innate skills and capabilities and resources from their external environments that they utilise to bounce back from stressors related to COVID-19. A cross-sectional exploratory research design was utilised for the study, and purposive, convenient and snowball-sampling techniques were used to choose study participants. Data was collected using qualitative in-depth interviews and was analysed using thematic analysis. The finding revealed that international students relied on environmental protective factors such as family, peers, religion, sports, and authentic information. They also used innate individual traits such as innovation, talents, concentration skills in academics, and the ability to multi-task to overcome their distress. In conclusion, even though COVID-19 worsened the pre-existing challenges to the well-being of international students in Sweden, they overcame some of their problems and blossomed even in difficult times.

 

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Keywords


coronavirus disease, COVID-19, international students, coping strategies

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v7i5.1288

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