Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic, social, emotional, and behavioral changes in university students

During the early COVID-19 pandemic, the educational system suffered significant setbacks. Because face-to-face communication opportunities were limited, a modern approach through a distance system was adopted. Most studies have examined the impact of pandemics on the activities and lives of workers, few scholars observe how students cope with the changes. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of pandemics on higher education students by considering academic, social, emotional, and behavioral changes. More than 10 questions were used in this paper to represent four categories related to students' lives. The study included 1,227 students from five continents: Asia, Europe, America, Africa, and Oceania. The study showed that students have no difficulty learning the available technology to help them with their studies. In addition, they are socially active in different networks, maintain positive emotions and personal hygiene. demonstrating an understanding of the pandemic situation and concern for public safety. The data showed that the shift to online learning did not affect students' attitudes toward education in general. Although the use of social media has increased, students' communication habits have remained unchanged

Professional Self-Realization as a Factor in the Psychological Well-Being of Specialists of Caring Professions

Research Objective: the article discusses the mutual influence of professional self-realization and the psychological well-being of specialists of caring professions. Methodology: correlation and comparative analysis in different professional groups of specialists. The study involved 465 volunteers with work experience of 3 to 40 years: teachers, doctors, medical personnel, psychologists of state and private enterprises. Several standardized self-reports were used to collect data: Ryffâ's Scales of Psychological Well-being, Professional Burnout Questionnaire, Kokun's Professional Self-Fulfilment Questionnaire, Gura's Workplace Satisfaction Self-assessment Survey, Tkalych's Work-Life Balance additional scale. The use of the open questions allowed clarifying some phenomenological manifestations of professional self-realization among specialists of caring professions, as well as to clarifying the external and internal determinants of self-realization. The authors tested the hypotheses about the influence of several factors on the level of psychological well-being: belonging to a certain professional group, the degree of self-realization, as well as age, gender, and length of service. The results of the study present the structure of well-being and features of self-realization in different professional groups. We proved that professional self-realization is a significant factor in the formation of individual components of psychological well-being: self-acceptance and competence. However, in some cases, high scores for professional self-realization may be associated with burnout and the desire to leave the job. The conclusions contain recommendations on organizational agency and direct psychological interventions that ensure the psychological well-being of specialists of caring professions