University students coping with COVID-19 challenges: Do they need help?

Abstract

Objective: This study examined students’ perceived levels of coping and need for help, and the relationship with their risks and protective factors during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. Participants: A sample of 4,710 university students responded anonymously to an online questionnaire. Methods: The risk and protective factors assessed were: specific COVID-related functional difficulties, levels of social support, and trust in the university authorities and the government in handling the crisis. Results: The most frequent COVID-19 related difficulties were: worry for the health of family members (64.4%) and difficulties with online learning (63.2%). Almost half of the students (47.3%) reported that they needed at least a little help. Hierarchical regression analyses for coping and need for help showed that COVID-related difficulties predicted lower levels of perceived coping and a higher need for help. Conclusions: Universities need to build specific services for students to provide concrete support throughout this continuous health crisis.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• functional difficulties
• coping
• need for help
• university students

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of Israel and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the Hebrew University School of Social Work and Social Welfare.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.