Research Note—Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Educational Experiences: Perspectives of Undergraduate Social Work Students

ABSTRACT

Disruptions caused by the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) during the spring 2020 semester has magnified the need to understand student experiences during pandemics, especially as research on social work students’ experiences during pandemics is limited. Forty-two undergraduate social work students at a large public state university in Pennsylvania participated in this quantitative research study. Academics, work/life balance, and financial burden emerged as top stressors. Friends, family, pets, professors and academic staff, and faith and spirituality were the main sources of support for students. With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, the findings of this study offer pertinent lessons for baccalaureate social work professors, students, and programs on pandemic-related stress, stress responses, and support systems that have not been explored in previous studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Due to the prohibitive number of variables in this study, the authors have only shown those variables reported in Table 1. A full reporting of all results is available by contacting the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hadih A. Deedat

Hadih A. Deedat, PhD, MSW, MPH, is an assistant professor in the Undergraduate Social Work Department at West Chester University. Susan R. Wysor Nguema, PhD, MSW, is an associate professor in the Undergraduate Social Work Department at West Chester University. Brie E. Radis, DSW, MSS, MLSP, LCSW, is an associate professor in the Undergraduate Social Work Department at West Chester University. Colleen Keeler, MSW, LSW, was recently a graduate student at the Graduate Social Work Department, West Chester University.