“Den sociala tillvaron är som bortblåst”. En kvalitativ studie om studenters psykiska hälsa med distansundervisning och restriktioner

Abstract

The main purpose with this study was to explore how students' mental health have been affected by the year of the pandemic. Furthermore, this study has focused on how the students have felt regarding the distance education and the restrictions that the government have decided about to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The material is constituted by eight interviews with students from different universities in Sweden. The constituted material is analyzed with a qualitative and thematic method. The analysis is made by using different kinds of theoretical frameworks and other concepts. The theoretical framework is coping, Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the transactional needs theory. The study has shown that the pandemic has affected the mental health and the feelings of our respondents, in some ways to the better and in some ways to the worse. The students’ reactions to the different kinds of stresses have been various and in the end crucial for their wellbeing. The conclusion is that the students have succeeded through meaningful strategies and routines to maintain a predominantly good mental health.