The Mental State of a Maritime Student during the Pandemic

The coronavirus (Covid-19) spread rapidly all over the world. The current

situation imposes massive pressure on the government of each country, the public,

healthcare, and medical providers. The pandemic has brought not the only danger of

death from the epidemiologic contagion but also an intolerable psychological burden to

the people specifically workers, parents, and students. The widespread pandemic had a

substantial impact on the transportation sector, including the maritime industry and

students of maritime; strict isolation measures; social distancing; and limited crowds

affected and delayed the academic performance and academic year of a student.

According to UNESCO "half of the world's pupils and students continue to be affected by the

total or partial closure of schools and universities," which means more than 800 million young

people around the world. With the closure of school premises, all face-to-face lessons were

canceled to immediately transition from face-to-face classes into completely online

classes. The instant switch to fully e-learning classes had been stressful for many

instructors, parents, and students who are used to face-to-face classes. As (Khan &

Abdou, 2020) stated the shift from traditional classroom settings to e-learning instruction

had given the students an emotional and psychological burden, especially for those who

are of low socioeconomic status whom the students cannot afford to purchase gadgets

and other electronic devices, and have poor internet connectivity or lack of internet

literacy that needed for online learning.

Mental health problems affect many characteristics of a student’s life, reducing

their quality of life, academic achievement, physical health, and satisfaction with the

college experience, and negatively impacting relationships with friends and family
members. According to (Batt et al., 2021) students were identified as groups who

experience different levels of stress, anxiety, and depression affecting their academic

performances. Previous research showed that during the outbreak, individuals experience

negative emotional responses, such as anxiety and depression symptoms; Hence, stressful

events and public health emergencies such as the widespread of COVID-19 had an

adverse environmental factor that can have more psychological effects on students which

can be expressed as fear, worry, altered quality of sleep, and finally altered quality of life.

Recent research among Chinese college students revealed that 24.9% experienced anxiety

because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Maritime students’ mental health has only recently started to gain attention.

Hence, this study it focuses on two common mental health problems: depression and

anxiety. Depression is characterized by depressed mood and anhedonia, for instance, loss

of interest or pleasure in daily activities and hobbies. Anxiety is characterized by

“excessive worries (apprehensive expectation) about a number of events or activities”.

Depression and anxiety are closely related: they often co-occur, they have overlapping

symptoms, and what triggers them is that they might have a shared genetic vulnerability.

Hence, in the present study, they are considered jointly mental health problems (Gretch,

Kitada & Paukstat, 2022).

Therefore, it is vital to assess maritime students’ mental health status during the

pandemic or even so, to make a drastic intervention on the government’s part through

higher educational institutions.

References

Baumann, C., Rousseau, H., Tarquinio, C. et al. (2021). Effect of the COVID-19

outbreak and lockdown on mental health among post-secondary students in the Grand Est

region of France: results of the PIMS-CoV19 study. Health Qual Life Outcomes 19, 265.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-021-01903-9

Galacia, P. (2021). The impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on mental health among

Marine Engineering students in Region VI, Philippines. Faculty of Maritime, University

of Antique, Main Campus Lotilla St., Sibalom, Antique 5713, Philippines.

https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/MTR/article/view/250097

Khan, M. S. H., & Abdou, B. (2020). Flipped classroom: How Institutions of Higher

Education (HEIs) of Bangladesh could move forward during Covid-19 pandemic.

Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3615400