Psychological Well-Being Of Russian Students Under Conditions Of Self-Insulation Mode

Teachers

A large percentage of teachers who did not have previous experience of teaching in remote format experience difficulties associated with both the presentation of material to students and the control of academic work performed by students. It has been established that teachers over 50 do not have sufficient knowledge about distance learning technologies and do not see the benefits of using them (Sheludko, 2015; Tatarinov, 2019). Often there is one of two opposites in meaning situations. Teachers either let the educational process go by gravity, simply providing students with lecture notes and then testing, or literally overwhelm students with independent work, not realizing how long it takes to complete.

1.2. Students

In this situation, students' lifestyle has changed dramatically. They have to adapt to the influence of two related factors:

• self-isolation regime, which prevents the satisfaction of significant needs for social contacts, the usual organization of leisure and physical activity (Chertovikova, 2018; Sapozhnikova et al., 2019);

• the transition to a distance learning format, which entailed a sharp change in the structure of the teaching load, an increase in the amount of independent work that needs to be done while sitting at the computer.

A significant number of students (in some universities 50% or more) are nonresident and live in hostels. The measures taken by universities to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection include, among others, the resettlement of students from dormitories. The need to move to another place of residence, often not suitable for educational activities, is an additional stress factor for such students.

Students' attitude to the distance learning format in comparison with the traditional

Two questions were directed at revealing the students' attitude to the distance learning format: “How, in general, do you feel about the new (distance) learning format in comparison with the traditional?” and “Can you say that with a new way of life you have more free time than before?” Initially, we assumed that the transition to a distance learning format, the absence of the need to spend time on the road, would be factors due to which students have more free time. However, the results of the survey suggest that in most cases this is not so: 54.8% of respondents say that the amount of free time has not increased. The form of this question contained the ability to write your own answer. This opportunity was used by 6% of respondents. Here are their typical statements:

• Yeah, of course, a ton of homework and a beveled back at the computer;

• Much more time began to go to study, mainly because of obscure material that you have to deal with yourself;

• There was no free time at all, because all materials now have to deal with itself; some teachers don’t get in touch at all;

• “No, of course, have you seen your homework at all?” There you do one task for 4 hours, and 3-4 of them every day. This means that on average it takes 12 hours every day. This is crazy to go. But at home, there are duties and going to bed almost every day because of homework at one in the morning, or even later, is not very cool ...

However, there are other answers in which students also complain about problems associated with a change in the structure of personal time:

• There is nothing to be occupied with, so there is no sense in this time;

• Yes, there is more time, but I'm not happy about that;

• Time has appeared, but it’s difficult to learn how to use it, because the uncomfortable mode of regular training under pressure literally reforged all the rhythms for this year ...

Figure 01 shows the distribution of answers to the question about the attitude of students to the distance learning format. Given the above data, it is not difficult to guess that most of them would return to the traditional format.

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The greatest interest is caused by those 44% of students who at the moment cannot definitely say which training format they like more, because they find their pros and cons in each of them. The given distribution of answers can, in a sense, be regarded as evidence that the distance format is supported by a significant number of students: 53% of respondents say that this format of training has certain advantages. If we assume that all the above disadvantages of distance learning will be eliminated, then the number of its supporters will increase many times over.

It is important to note that the amount of free time and attitude to the distance learning format are closely related. So, among those who note an increase in the amount of free time, there are 4.3 times more supporters of the remote format than among those who have no more free time (15.9% versus 3.6%). In turn, the ratio of those who prefer the traditional format in the two subgroups is the opposite, although so pronounced (34.6% versus 57.9%).

The psychological consequences of self-isolation

The distribution of answers of the study participants to the question of how the self-isolation regime was reflected in their psychological state is shown in Figure 02 .

As can be seen from the figure, almost half of the respondents (46%) noted a deterioration in their psychological well-being under the influence of the self-isolation regime. When answering this question, many of them are not limited to the choice of the appropriate option, but give emotional comments. For example:

• The psychological state is extremely depressed;

• I became very nervous, I do not get enough sleep, I freak out and indignant a lot;

• Panic attacks appeared;

• Due to many tasks and system malfunctions, I had nervous breakdowns;

• In the mode of self-isolation and in distance learning, I feel disgusting, nervous breakdowns and tantrums happen stably ...

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It can be noted that in most such statements, shortcomings in the distance learning format rather than self-isolation as such are noted. The most common - a large amount of homework has to be done on the computer. Thus, it can be assumed that these two different, but closely related events: self-isolation and transfer to remote learning format in the minds of students are not differentiated and are perceived as an integral whole in the context of the current situation. This is confirmed by the consistency of the assessments that students give to the distance learning format and the influence of the self-isolation regime on their psychological state (see Figure 3 ).

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The statistical significance of the differences in relation to distance learning in students who are differently experiencing a regime of self-isolation, according to the Pearson ${\chi }^2$ criterion, has the highest level - $p<0.001$. As can be seen from the figure, among students who feel comfortable in self-isolation mode, the percentage of those who are positive about distance learning is several times larger than among those who feel uncomfortable in self-isolation. The opposite is also true: among those who feel uncomfortable in self-isolation, the percentage of students who unequivocally prefer traditional education is 7 times higher than among those for whom self-isolation is comfortable.

Factors affecting the psychological well-being of students in conditions of self-isolation and distance learning format

In the course of the survey, we also asked students to evaluate on a 5-point scale the influence of individual factors acting on them during the regime of self-isolation and distance learning. These factors included the following:

• the need for a long joint stay in the same room with other people;

• limiting the number of social contacts “in real life”;

• decrease in physical activity;

• inability to engage in usual leisure outside the home - to attend circles, sections, etc.;

• need to spend a long time at the computer.

Initially, we assumed that the most negative impact on students is exerted by those factors that can be called social, that is, a long joint time with the same people on the one hand and the limitation of the number of social contacts on the other. However, the results of the survey show something else: the most negative impact on the psychological state of students is exerted by factors that we conventionally called physical — the restriction of physical activity and the need to work a lot at the computer (see Table 01 ).

As can be seen from the table, the average value of each of the factors is below 3. This says that all of them can be designated as factors that negatively affect the psychological well-being of students. However, the degree of this effect is significantly different for different factors. So the need for a long joint stay in the same room with other people is negative for only a third of students, while the effect of a decrease in physical activity is negatively assessed by 2/3 of the respondents.

By the strength of the negative impact, the considered factors can be divided into 3 groups. The first group - factors that have the most negative impact (decreased physical activity and the need to spend a lot of time at the computer). Factors that have a moderate negative impact (inability to organize leisure activities outside the home and limiting the number of social contacts). Only one factor can be assigned to the third group of conditionally neutral factors - a long stay in the same room with other people.