Support through Social Media and Online Class Participation to Enhance Psychological Resilience

Muhammad Zaheer Asghar, Seema Arif, Elena Barbera, Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen and Ercan Kocayoruk
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Muhammad Zaheer Asghar: Department of Education, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Seema Arif: Department of Education, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54770, Pakistan
Elena Barbera: Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 08018 Barcelona, Spain
Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen: Department of Education, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Ercan Kocayoruk: Faculty of Education, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale 17100, Turkey

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 22, 1-19

Abstract: Social support was an important factor in minimizing the effect of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. This research aimed to study the role of online class participation and social media usage to link the social support available from family and friends to psychological resilience among pre-service special education teachers against the negative psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. A survey was conducted with 377 pre-service special needs education (SNE) teachers enrolled at universities in Pakistan. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied using Smart-PLS 3.2.8. Results revealed that social media and online class participation played a mediating role between social support and psychological resilience in the pre-service special needs education (SNE) teachers studied. Teacher education institutions can devise strategies to develop social media platforms for student socialization during an emergency to help build resilience against the negative psychological effects of social isolation. Future studies could be conducted to adapt instructions and curricula to social media environments for education in an emergency.

Keywords: COVID-19 lockdown; social media; social support; online class participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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