Consecuencias psicológicas de la pandemia COVID-19: estrés en madres por la educación virtual

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze the stress in mothers due to the virtual education of their children because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study is based on the epistemological approach of Positive Psychology, which has stood out from other models for approaching the mental health panorama through the positive vision in the structure of the human being, without leaving aside the crises that are solved by the development and strengthening of internal resources. Three themes of analysis were established, the effects of stress on mothers, the personal resources they possess, and their external coping resources. The sample was composed of five mothers who experienced stress during their children's virtual schooling, residents of the province of El Oro, two of them in the city of Pasaje and three in the canton of Huaquillas, all with children under 12 years of age who attended their education online during the pandemic. The approach of this study is qualitative with a phenomenological-hermeneutic design, with a non-probabilistic-homogeneous sample, and according to the progress of the data collection, the saturation of the categories was reached with five participants. At the beginning of the data collection, the first approach was made with each of the participants, obtaining a favorable response of their participation through informed consent, subsequently, a semi-structured interview was used to collect information based on the interview guide prepared by the researchers, in addition to the Sentence Completion technique that allows exploring the subjectivity of the participants in relation to the phrases proposed, finally, an in-depth open interview was used, in conjunction with qualitative observation to delve into the details and personal characteristics of the participants. According to the rigorous search for theoretical resources, based on both pioneering and current authors, results were obtained that show that the effect of stress on mothers has caused them to develop physical and psychological symptoms and complications in their role as teachers at home, As for personal resources, categories such as resilience, emotional intelligence, attachments, self-efficacy, sense of coherence and hope were identified in the participants, it was also found that factors such as family support and economic solvency alleviated the impact of stress; on the other hand, the use of technologies applied to education has demanded that mothers adapt to these devices, reflecting this as a risk factor for stress. As a conclusion of the study, virtual schooling has been a challenge for mothers who adopted the role of teachers during the pandemic, leading them to experience physical and mental health conditions due to stress, however, having internal resources and protective elements provide containment against stress.