Students’ quality of life before and during the Covid-19 pandemic: A comparative analysis using multidimensional inventory of students’ quality of life

Abstract

Objective: This article aims to describe and compare students’ quality of life (QOL) in Poland before and during the Covid-19 pandemic using a multidimensional inventory of students’ quality of life (MIS-QOL).

Research Design & Methods: The article shows the results of a study conducted among university students from Poland. The number of participants was N2019=184 and N2021=287. Within the exploratory approach, we analysed fourteen dimensions of the students’ QOL using various tools, including general descriptive statistics as well as Student’s t-test, correlation, and clustering analysis.

Findings: Evidence from previous research indicates that the Covid-19 pandemic impacted QOL also among university students. The article shows the most vulnerable areas of life possibly affected by the pandemic situation.

Implications & Recommendations: The research confirmed that the students’ QOL increased in terms of finance, relationships with partners, and volunteering and decreased in areas such as health, free time, and technology. Importantly, students were aware of the decrease only in the context of technology and perceived other dimensions in the same way as before the pandemic.

Contribution & Value Added: We distinguished the most suitable actions for keeping student’s quality of life at a high level. The results may be beneficiary for managers, universities, and students.

Keywords

quality of life, Covid-19, pandemic, technology, finance

Author Biography

Małgorzata Ćwiek

Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the Krakow University of Economics. Author of over thirty scientific articles. The main area of her research concerns broadly understood living conditions. These include, in particular, an examination of the level and diversity of income, based on empirical and theoretical distributions, income inequality, poverty, housing conditions, and quality of life.

Robert Szydło

Assistant Professor at the Department of Labor Resource Management at the Krakow University of Economics, MA in Management and Psychology. In his PhD thesis (defended in 2022), he discusses the issue of shaping the employability of graduates of economic universities in Poland. His scientific interests focus on the use of psychology in human resources management. He conducts research on competences, employee development, employability, and gamification. He has been involved in the activities of non-governmental organizations and scientific circles for years.

Małgorzata Tyrańska

Associate Professor at the Krakow University of Economics, habilitation in management science. Her research interests include employment restructuring, organizational structure improvement, job evaluation, competency profile assessment, and employee evaluation. Since 2015, she has been a member of the experts’ team for the evaluation of projects implemented as part of European programs.

Sylwia Wiśniewska

Assistant Professor at the Department of Labour Resources Management, Krakow University of Economics; PhD in economics in the discipline of management sciences. Research interests include employability, sustainable employability, competencies, and quality of life. She collaborates with business practices and non-governmental organisations as an expert.

Katarzyna Wójcik

Employee of the Department of Computational Systems at Krakow University of Economics; MSc from the Krakow University of Economics in the field of Computer Science and Econometrics. Her research interests include data mining, text mining, opinion mining, competencies analysis, quality of life analysis, and widely defined data analysis.

References

1. Abrams, M. (1973). Subjective social indicators. Social Trends, 4, 35-50.
2. ACHA (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on college student well-beeing. ACHA: Silcer Spring.
3. Aczel, A.D., & Sounderpandian, J. (2009). Complete business statistics (7th ed). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
4. Algamdi, M.M. (2021). Assessment of Post-COVID-19 Quality of Life Using the Quality of Life Index. Patient Prefer Adherence, 15, 2587-2596. https://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S340868
5. Al-Maroof, R., Salloum, S., Hassanien, A., & Shaalan, K. (2020). Fear from COVID-19 and technology adoption: the impact of Google Meet during Coronavirus pandemic. Interactive Learning Environments, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1830121
6. Areias, C., & Mendes, A. (2007). A tool to help students to develop programming skills. In Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies, CompSysTech 2007, Rousse, Bulgaria, June 14-15, 2007. https://doi.org/ 10.1145/1330598.1330692
7. Armocida, B., Formenti, B., Ussai, S., Palestra, F., & Missoni, E. (2020). The Italian health system and the COVID-19 challenge. The Lancet, 5(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30074-8
8. Arnett, J. (2000). Emerging Adulthood. A Theory of Development From the Late Teens Through the Twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469-480. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469
9. Arsovski, S., Putnik, G., Moljević, S., & Durović, D. (2016). Sustainable quality of life: Is it possible in transition economics. In 1st International Conference on Quality of Life. Retrieved from http://cqm.rs/2016/cd1/pdf/papers/focus_1/15.pdf on January 18, 2023.
10. Carlsen, H.B., Toubol, J., & Brincker, B. (2020). On solidarity and volunteering during the COVID-19 crisis in Denmark: the impact of social networks and social media groups on the distribution of support. European Societies, 23, 122-140.
11. Cheah, W.L., Law, L.S., Teh, K.H., Kam, S.L., Voon, G., Lim, H.Y., & Shashi Kumar, N.S. (2021). Quality of life among undergraduate university students during COVID-19 movement control order in Sarawak. Health Science Reports, 4(3), e362. https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.362
12. Coa, W. et al. (2020). The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry Research, 287, 112934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112934
13. Dhar, B.K., Ayittey, F.K., & Sarkar, S.M. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on Psychology among the University Students. Global Challenges, 4(11), 200038. https://doi.org/10.1002/gch2.202000038
14. Doliński, D. (2021). Optymizm czy trauma : młodzież w obliczu pandemii. In K. Skarżyńska (Ed.) Młodzi dorośli: identyfikacje, postawy, aktywizm i problemy życiowe (pp. 125-137). Warszawa: Instytut Problemów Współczesnej Cywilizacji im. Marka Dietricha, Wydawnictwo SGGW.
15. Figueiredo, M., Amendoeira, J., Rosa, M., Matos, R., Silva, M., & Gonzaga, L. (2021). Quality of life of students in polytechnic higher education at the Santarem and Leiria: the impact of COVID-19. The European Journal of Public Health, 31(Suppl 2), ckab120.036. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab120.036
16. Gallarde, J. (2013). Influence of Social Media on the Academic Performance of the Undergraduate Students of Kogi State University, Anyigba, Nigeria. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(12), 90-96.
17. Ghosal, A., Nandy, A., Das, A.K., Goswami, S., & Panday, M. (2020). A short review on different clustering techniques and their applications. Emerging Technology in Modelling and Graphics, 69-83.
18. Hall, S.S., & Zygmunt, E. (2021). “I Hate It Here”: Mental Health Changes of College Students Living With Parents During the COVID-19 Quarantine. Emerging Adulthood, 9(5), 449-461.
19. Hansel, T.C., Saltzman, L.Y., Melton, P.A., Clark, T.L., & Bordnick, P.S. (2022). COVID-19 behavioral health and quality of life. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 961. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05042-z
20. Hernandez-de-Menendes, M., Escobar Diaz, C.A., & Morales-Menendez, R. (2020). Educational experiences with Generation Z. International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing, 14, 847-859.
21. Holmes, E.A., O’Connor, R., Perry, V., Tracey, I., Wessely, S., Arseneault, L., Ballard, C., Christensen, H., Cohen Silver, R., Everall, I., Ford,T., John, A., Kabir, T., King, K., Madan, I., Michie, S., Przybylski, A.K., Shafran, R., Sweeney, A., Worthman, C.M., Yardley, L., Cowan, K., Cope, C., Hotopf, M., & Bullmore, E. (2020). Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for acti on for mental health science. Lancet Psychiatry, 7(6), 547-560. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1
22. Kazemi, S.S., & Panahi, R. (2019). Efficacy of an Interventional Program on Health- Related Quality of Life of Nursing Students: a Pre-Post Design Study. International Journal of Musculoskeletal Pain Prevention, 4(1), 122-126.
23. Kooli, C. (2021). COVID-19: Public health issues and ethical dilemmas. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 17, 100635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemep.2021.100635
24. Krause, J., Portolese, L., & Bonner, J. (2017). Student Perceptions of the Use of Multimedia for Online Course Communication. Online Learning, 21(3), 36-49.
25. Lau, J.T., Yang, X., Pang, E., Tsui, H.Y., Wong, E., & Wing, Y.K. (2005). SARS-related perceptions in Hong Kong. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 11(3), 417-424. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1103.040675
26. Leong Bin Abdullah, M., Mansor, N.S., Mohamad, M.A., & Teoh, S.H. (2021). Quality of life and associated factors among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 11(10), e048446. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-048446
27. Limone, P., & Toto, G.A. (2021). Psychological and Emotional Effects of Digital Technology on Children in COVID-19 Pandemic. Brain Sciences, 11(9), 1126. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11091126
28. Ma, Y.F., Li, W., Deng, H.B., Wang, L., Wang, Y., Wang, P.H., Bo, H.X., Cao, J., Wang, Y., Zhu, L.Y., Yang, Y., Cheung, T., Ng, C.H., Wu, X., & Xiang, Y.T. (2020). Prevalence of depression and its association with quality of life in clinically stable patients with COVID-19. Journal of Affective Disorders, 275, 145-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.06.033
29. Mao, G., Fernandes-Jesus, M., Ntontis, E., & Drury, J. (2021). What have we learned about COVID-19 volunteering in the UK?. A rapid review of the literature. BMC Pubic Health, 21, 1470. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11390-8
30. Mason, A., Mason, J., & Mason, K. (2021). Social media marketing gains importance after Covid-19. Cogent Business & Management, 8(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2020.1870797
31. McFann, K., Baxter, B.A., LaVergne, S.M., Stromberg, S., Berry, K., Tipton, M., Haberman, J., Ladd, J., Webb, T.L., Dunn, J.A., & Ryan, E.P. (2021). Quality of Life (QoL) Is Reduced in Those with Severe COVID-19 Disease, Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19, and Hospitalization in United States Adults from Northern Colorado. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(21), 11048. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111048
32. Meier, D.H., Thomasen, S.L., & Trunzer, J. (2022). The Financial Situation of Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. IZA: Bonn.
33. Mohsen, S., El-Masry, R., Ali, O. F., & Abdel-Hady, D. (2022). Quality of life during COVID-19 pandemic: a community-based study in Dakahlia governorate, Egypt. Global Health Research and Policy, 7(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41256-022-00246-2
34. Nur, N., Kibik, A., Kilic, E., & Sümer, H. (2017). Health-related Quality of Life and Associated Factors Among Undergraduate University Students. Oman Medical Journal, 2017, 32(4), 329-34.
35. Pajaziti, A. (2014). Transition Education and Quality of Life. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 11, 4737-4741.
36. Pickell, Z., Gu, K., & Williams, A. (2020). Virtual volunteers: the importance of restructuring medical volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical Humanities, 46, 537-540.
37. Pierce, M., Hope, H., Ford, T., Hatch, S., Hotopf, M., John, A., Kontopantelis, E., Webb, R., Wessely, S., McManus, S., & Abel, K.M. (2020). Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal probability sample survey of the UK population. The Lancet. Psychiatry, 7(10), 883-892. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30308-4
38. Prime, H., Wade, M., & Browne, D.T. (2020). Risk and resilience in family well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. American Psychologist, 75(5), 631-643. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000660
39. Rabe, N.S., Osman, M.M. Bachok, S., Farhanah, N., & Abdullah M.F. (2018). Perceptual Study on Conventional Quality of Life Indicators. Planning Malaysia Journal, 16(1), 303-313.
40. Raza, S.A., Qazi, W., Umer, B., & Khan, K.A. (2020). Influence of social networking sites on life satisfaction among university students: a mediating role of social benefit and social overload. Health Education, 120(2), 141-164. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-07-2019-0034
41. Revicki, D.A., Osoba, D., Fairclough, D., Barofsky, I., Berzon, R., Leidy, N.K., & Rothman, M. (2000). Recommendations on health-related quality of life research to support labeling and promotional claims in the United States. Quality of Life Research, 9(8), 887-900.
42. Ruževičius, J. (2014). Quality of Life and of Working Life: Conceptions and Research. In 17th Toulon-Verona International Conference “Excellence in Services” Conference Proceedings. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281372752_Quality_of_Life_and_of_Working_Life_Conceptions_and_Research on January 18, 2023.
43. Shawkat, A.J., Jwaid, A.H., & Awad G.M. (2019). Evaluating Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in Iraqi Adult and Pediatric Patients with Beta-Thalassemia Major Using Two Different Iron Chelation Therapies. Iraqi Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 28(1), 44-52.
44. Sim, K., & Chua, H.C. (2004) The psychological impact of SARS: a matter of heart and mind. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 170(5), 811-812. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.1032003
45. Skalski, S. (2021). Obawy studentów związane z pandemią koronawirusa SARS-CoV-2. Edukacja Terapia Opieka, 3, 110-128. https://doi.org/10.52934/eto.139
46. Son, C., Hegde, S., Smith, A., Wang, X., & Sasangohar, F. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in the United States: Interview Survey Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(9), 21279. https://doi.org/10.2196/21279
47. Tierney, S., & Mahtani, K.R. (2020). Volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic: What are the potential benefits to people’s well-being? Oxford COVID-19 Evidence Service. Retrieved from Volunteering-during-the-COVID-19-pandemic_-What-are-the-potential-benefits-to-people’s-well-being_.pdf (cebm.net) on January 18, 2023.
48. Trzcionka, A., Włodarczyk-Sielicka, M., Surmiak, P., Szymańska, A., Pohl, A., & Tanasiewicz, M. (2022). Quality of Life Assessment in Students from Polish Universities during the COVID-19 Pandemic According to WHO Quality of Life Questionnaire. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(13), 8117. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19138117
49. Vaishya, R., Javaid, M., Kahn, I., & Haleem, A. (2020). Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications for COVID-19 pandemic. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 14(4), 337-339.
50. Vaterkaus, J.M., Shaffer, T., & Pulsipher, L. (2021). College student interpersonal and institutional relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative exploratory study. The Social Science Journal, https://doi.org/10.1080/03623319.2021.1949553
51. Veronese, G., Mahamid, F., Bdier, D., & Pancake, R. (2021). Stress of COVID-19 and mental health outcomes in Palestine: the mediating role of well‑being and resilience. Health Psychology Report, 9(4), 398-410. https://doi.org/10.5114/hpr.2021.104490
52. Vishnu, S. et al. (2022). Digital competence of higher education learners in the context of COVID-19 triggered online learning. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 6(1), 100320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2022.100320
53. Wang, F., Kream, R.M., & Stefano, G.B. (2020). Long-Term Respiratory and Neurological Sequelae of COVID-19. Medical Science Monitor: International Medical Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 26, e928996. https://doi.org/10.12659/MSM.928996
54. Whielaw, S., Mamas, A., Topol, E., & Van Spall, H. (2020). Applications of digital technology in COVID-19 pandemic planning and response. The Lancet Digital Health, 2(8), 435-440.
55. Yang, Y., Liu, K., Li, S., & Shu, M. (2020). Social Media Activities, Emotion Regulation Strategies, and Their Interactions on People’s Mental Health in COVID-19 Pandemic. Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(23), 8931. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17238931
56. Yuki, K., Fujiogi, M., & Koutsogiannaki, S. (2020). COVID-19 pathophysiology: A review. Clinical Immunology, 215, 108427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clim.2020.108427