Examining the implications of COVID19 on Mental Health Across Different Walks of Life Through the Lens of Literature Review

In the late 2019 and early 2020s, a new variant of SaRs-CoV, now known as Corona virus or COVID-19, debuted internationally. Within a short time, the virus spread on such a scale that it resulted in drastic measures, like worldwide lockdown and strict social distancing, to fight against COVID-19. This study aims to explore the effects of COVID-19 and such protective measures on individuals from different population groups, ages, and walks of life. The literature review method was employed for this study where search words such as ‘aged people’, ‘children’, ‘COVID-19’, ‘families’, ‘healthcare workers’, ‘mental health’, ‘psychological’, ‘social’ and ‘students.’ were used. The findings of this study suggest that the psychological, emotional, and social complications of COVID-19 are not easily or quickly visible as the physical ones. After months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health effects are starting to emerge and pose a serious threat to the well-being of those concerned and the broader society. Likewise, these mental health effects will not vanish as easily and are estimated to stay behind long after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Anxiety, depression, compulsive-obsessive behaviour, hoarding behaviour, panic, stigmatization, and stress are some of the most common identified themes across different population groups. The need for mental health awareness and intervention strategies is ever so important now. Certain recommendations are also suggested in this paper.

Nature and Determinants of Educators’ Attitudes toward Teaching Special Needs Learners in a School of Skills

This study explored the nature and determinants of educators’ attitudes toward teaching learners with special needs in a rural school of skills that was formerly an ordinary mainstream school. The study adopted a qualitative Grounded Theory approach located within the framework of the constructivist epistemology. Eleven educators (n=11) who were teaching both technical and academic subjects at the school of skills participated in the study. The semi-structured interview was employed as the sole data collection instrument and the coding principles underlying the Constructivist Grounded Theory were used to analyse data. The findings of the study revealed that educators had a positive attitude toward teaching special needs education at the selected school and highlighted the novel factors determining the educators’ attitudes such as both internal and external factors that motivated this positive attitude. The coping strategies identified by the educators replicated those reported in previous research. Palliative and direct coping actions, as well as an integration of these two were also reportedly employed by some participants. It was concluded that the group-based differentiation of the determinants of attitudes may be useful to influence educators’ attitudes at other special needs schools, or those undergoing a similar transitional process.