The impact of the corona pandemic on psychological distress in bereaved students

Abstract

Governmental guidelines such as the closing of public amenities and restricting the amount of visitors at home due to COVID-19 have led higher education students to feel more lonely, lacking social support, and show increased levels of psychological distress. A specific subgroup of higher education students who might be particularly vulnerable to the consequences of the pandemic are bereaved students. COVID measures such as the inability to attend funeral services physically could hinder bereaved getting support needed for the process of their grief and increase psychological distress. The current study aimed to research possible factors that could influence psychological distress levels in bereaved students who lost somebody in the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to research how the form of funeral attendance could influence psychological distress through meaningfulness attached to the funeral service. Further, it was hypothesised that loneliness could lead to higher levels of psychological distress in bereaved students and that this effect was moderated by the usage of avoidant coping styles. Through an online survey, students were asked to fill out several questionnaires. Results showed no significant main effect for loneliness on psychological distress and no moderating effect for avoidant coping between loneliness and psychological distress. While there was a significant effect of form of funeral attendance on meaningfulness and a significant effect of form of funeral attendance on psychological distress, meaningfulness did not mediate the relationship between form of funeral attendance and psychological distress. In the discussion implications and possible subjects for future studies are discussed.