Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region III – Central Luzon
Schools Division of Tarlac Province
PURA CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
(Formerly Estipona High School Annex)
Poblacion 1, Pura, Tarlac

STRESS COPING STRATEGIES OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL LEARNERS DURING

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AT PURA CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for Practical Research 1

A Research Presented to

Mr. Jonis Valdez

Millo, Joana Krizel S.

Dantes, Jessie P.
Almelon, Jefferson
11- Charity
 CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

The disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been felt worldwide across many
demographics, sectors, and institutions. College students, for example, have been affected by
school closures, shifts to online learning, and the elimination of social and networking
opportunities. Early studies suggest that the associated lack of routine and isolation have given
rise to increasing mental health problems among an already vulnerable population (Anderson,
2020; Hamza, Ewing, Heath, and Goldstein 2020). Low-income students were more likely to
experience stress and challenges with online learning., Browning et al. (2021) find that many
students felt a lack of motivation, anxiety, stress, and isolation. The Covid-19 pandemic caused
widespread issues in health, technology, and education. The government, both here and abroad,
has closed all educational institutions in order to control the spread of disease, which has directly
impacted students, educators, and academic institutions, resulting in abrupt shifts from the
physical classroom to virtual learning, which has disrupted many teachers and learners. (Chan-
dra, 2020).

More than half of students worldwide, and three-quarters in the U.S., said their mental
health has suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey of nearly 17,000
undergraduate students across 21 countries commissioned by the nonprofit arm of Chegg, a
controversial textbook rental and educational technology company.Chegg.org commissioned the
polling company Yonder to interview 16,839 undergraduates across the 21 countries last fall,
with sample sizes in the various countries ranging from 500 to about 1,000. Seventy-five percent
of American students surveyed said their mental health had suffered due to the pandemic, second
only to Brazil (76 percent) and similar to the percentage of Canadian students who said the same
(73 percent). Worldwide, across the nearly two dozen countries where students were surveyed,
56 percent of students said their mental health had suffered during the pandemic The coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic—and the social distancing measures that many countries
have implemented—have caused disruptions to daily routines. Research from the Healthy Minds
Network for Research on Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health has also found increases in
reported rates of depression among students during the pandemic. Sarah Ketchen Lipson, co-
principal investigator of the national Healthy Minds Study and assistant professor of health law,
policy and management at Boston University, said new data from fall 2020 released last week
involving about 33,000 students at 36 colleges and universities found that 47 percent of students
screened positive for clinically significant symptoms of depression or anxiety. And 83 percent
reported that their mental health had negatively impacted their academic performance in the last
month, in what Lipson described as "a major increase from what we have seen in the past."

According to Walker (2021), this virus has a profound influence on our school system.
The closure pushed the administrators to go online, traditional face-to-face classes to flexible
learning modalities, and learners were pushed to enlists themselves in these new learning
modalities. These shifts from face-to-face to flexible learning modes seem an extraordinary
obstacle added burden to the administrators, teachers, parents, and learners every day.
According to Branquinho, et al (2020) there are factors that standouts such as Biological Aspect
in the form of headaches and muscle pains; Psychological Aspect in the form of symptoms of
depression, anxiety, loneliness, longer screen time, and more substance use; and Social Aspect
that are inclined to increase of family conflicts and dis-agreements, loss of important life
moments, contacts, and social skills.

The psychological concerns that have accompanied the global spread of the coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) outbreak have quickly heightened the pandemic's public health burden
(Torales et al. 2020). According to new research examining the mental health implications of
COVID-19, the general public has a higher incidence of moderate-to-severe self-reported
depression and anxious symptomatology (Wang et al. 2020), indicating the pervasive effects of
uncertainty and health-related anxieties. However, more research beyond the population level is
needed to fully comprehend the individualized disturbance of lives and routines caused by
COVID-19 and its associated pathogens. Mental health problems can affect many areas of
students’ lives, reducing their quality of life, academic achievement, physical health, and
negatively impacting relationships with friends and family members. These issues can also have
long-term consequences for students, affecting their future employment, earning potential, and
overall health. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of Senior High School
learners during the disruptions particularly on their encountered stresses, their Gaps and
Challenges, and their coping mechanisms.
 We are complex beings living complex lives in which we are not always able to cope up
with the difficulties that we face. As a result, we are subject to feelings of tension and stress.
Anspaugh, Hamrick, and Rosato (2003) shared the view that stress came in several forms and
affected people of all ages and walks of life. This implies that stress is a part of life and has many
causes, and that the degree of stress in our lives is greatly dependent on factors such as the
physical health of the individual, the quality of interpersonal relationships, the number of
commitments and responsibilities we shoulder, the degree of others' dependence on and
expectations of us, the amount of support we receive from others, and the number of changes of
traumatic events we go through. This means that life itself is stress related, depending on the
individual's lifestyle and the level of cultural development.

In Pura Central High School, It has been observed by the researcher that there are
students who are suffering from some mental health issues especially now during pandemic so as
a researcher I want to know what are their coping strategies and how they cope up the stress and
challenges they undergo in times of pandemic. The research undertaken tries to understand the
coping strategies commonly adopted by Senior High School students. Coping strategies are of
different types: some promote positive psychological outcomes while others increase stress and
result in negative outcomes. Coping strategies are personal to an individual and are affected by
situational factors. This study examines the 3 different coping strategies-problem solving,
avoidance and seeking social support adopted by Senior high school during the pandemic.

Due to the pandemic there has been an increase in stress and a higher emotion oriented
coping. Family and social support helped to reduce avoidance oriented coping. Thus by seeking
social support, individuals can control negative emotions associated with stress and can engage
in activities that alleviate stress. Those individuals who are confident in coping resources and
have the ability to control the situation they adopt problem solving strategies which reduce the
main causes underlying stress. The study undertaken shows that during the pandemic the
students adopted higher avoidance coping strategy than problem solving and seeking social
support coping strategy.

Background of the Study

 Senior High School students are not exempted to this scenario. Oftentimes, most students
struggle in their academic preparation. Senior High S is a stressful time for many students as
they go through the process of adapting to new educational and social environments. However, it
is believed that certain factors may allow some students to succeed academically, such as stress
coping skills. Coping skills are factors that determine how a person responds to a task and how
well they succeed (Pajares, 2002). When an individual has a sense of control over the stressful
situation they are more likely to respond to the situation with confidence (Aspinwall & Taylor,
1992).

Senior High can be a very stressful period in the lives of most students; however, some
students cope with stress better than others. Many students who are able to handle stress well
have effective stress coping skills. When Senior High students are facing stressful life events,
they typically use many kinds of coping strategies to deal with them. They use various coping
strategies simultaneously, and strategies are also likely to change over time, depending on the
effectiveness of the applied strategy.

Earnest and Dwyer (2010, p. 3) define stress coping skills as “the ability to apply
strategies that minimize and manage the stress response.” There are different types of coping
styles, and the two major coping methods discussed are problem-focused coping and emotion-
focused coping (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1992).

Lenz (2010, p. 69) defines problem-focused coping as “individuals directly confronting

and managing the source of their stress. Individuals prefer to deal directly with the stress by
confronting, controlling, or managing stressful tasks.” Problem-focused coping is a form of
active coping (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1992). Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub (1989, p. 268) define
active coping as “the process of taking active steps to try to remove or circumvent the stressor or
to ameliorate its effects.”

Lazarus (1988) and his colleagues identified eight types of coping strategies which
include planful problem solving, seeking social support, confrontive coping, distancing, self-
control, escape-avoidance, accepting responsibility, and positive reappraisal. These eight (8)
ways of coping were further categorized as active coping strategies and passive coping strategies.
 Confrontive coping (taking action and confronting the problem), seeking social support
(seeking informational and emotional support), planful problem-solving (planning to solve the
problem), and positive reappraisal (creating a positive meaning and focus on personal growth)
constitute the active coping strategies. Meanwhile, distancing (expecting that the problem solves
itself - involves emotional detachment), self-controlling (making efforts to regulate feelings and
actions), accepting responsibility (accepting one's own role in the problem), and escape-
avoidance (trying to avoid the problem by wishful thinking and behavioral efforts) comprise the
passive coping mechanism.

Statement of The Problem

This study generally aimed to explore the stress and coping mechanisms of Senior High
School students in Pura Central High School during pandemic.

Specifically, it sought answers to the following:

1. What are the causes of stress Senior High School students in distance learning in terms
of;
1.1time management
2. What coping strategies do students use in managing stress?
3. To what extent are the coping strategies of students more problem-focused or emotion-
focused?
4. What are the implication of the study?

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework of the study use the IPO model or the Systems Approach.
INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT
 The conceptual paradigm of this study implies the IPO model or the System Approach, in
which the INPUT are the Senior High School that includes the causes of their stress, PROCESS
is the effect of their stress, and the OUTPUT is the stress and Coping strategies. The focused of this
study is the stress and coping mechanism of the Senior High School Students in Pura Central High
School.

Scope and Delimitation

This study wants to identify the stress and coping strategies of Senior High School in
Pura Central High School. The researcher decided to take five (5) respondents of Grade 11
students and Grade 12 students per section. Each of the participants will be contacted by the
researcher to ask permission in conducting an online survey. A set of closed-ended questions
about the stress and coping strategies of Senior High School will be answer through google
forms.

Significance of the study

The study aims to understand the coping strategies adopted by high school students and
will be a source of information for researchers and students.

Students. will have knowledge on how they will cope up the stress they are suffering and
make their mental health stable.

Teachers. The teachers can also gain significance in this study. They can educate
themselves and others on the different Coping strategies.

Parents. The parents will able to know how to be mindful of the triggers that your child
may encounter and teach your child how to handle these situations.
 Future Researchers. this study may serve as reference material for similar or related
studies that they might conduct.

Definition of Terms

MENTAL HEALTH. refers to cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being. It is all about
how people think, feel, and behave.

COVID 19. an acute respiratory illness in humans caused by a coronavirus, capable of producing
severe symptoms and in some cases death. It was originally identified in China in 2019 and
became pandemic in 2020.

DEPRESSION. is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel,
the way you think and how you act.

ANXIETY. a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or

something with an uncertain outcome.

HEALTH. state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence
of disease or infirmity.

STRESS. feeling of being overwhelmed or unable to cope with mental or emotional pressure.

EFFECTS. a change which is a result or consequence of an action or other cause.

COPING MECHANISM. In this study, this refers to the instrument use to counter the stress affecting
the respondents.