MONTESSORI DE SAN ILDEFONSO, INC.

Quijano St., San Juan, San Ildefonso, Bulacan

Contact No. 0931-044-2955 Email Add: mdsi.2002@gmail.com School ID No. 400920
Government Recognition Nos.: Preschool, E. 103, s.2002; Grade School, E. 091, s.2003; JHS, E.003, s.2004;
SHSP, 810, s. 2016

Effects of Coping Mechanisms Employed by Informal Sector Workers in San

Ildefonso, Bulacan to their Job Status During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Submitted by:
Alvaro, Pamella Grace A.
Joson, Kriscel N.
Julian, Rachell-Ann D, C.
Marquez, Abby Jobel M.
Moreno, John Dannielle
Santos, Joshua V.
12-Leadership
ABM

Submitted to:
Ms. Maricar Jane A. Zubiri
Subject Teacher, Practical Research 2

A research study submitted to the faculty of the Senior High School Department,
Montessori de San Ildefonso, Inc., San Juan, San Ildefonso, Bulacan, Philippines in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Applied subject, Practical Research 2,
1st Semester, S.Y. 2020-2021.

DECEMBER 2020
 APPROVAL SHEET
This research study entitled “Effect of Coping Mechanisms Employed by Informal

Sector Workers in San Ildefonso Bulacan to their Job Status During the Covid-19

Pandemic”, by the following researchers namely Alvaro, Pamella Grace A., Joson,

Kriscel N., Julian, Rachell-Ann D, C., Marquez, Abby Jobel M., Moreno, John Dannielle,

and Santos, Joshua V., in partial fulfillment of the requirements in the Applied Subject,

Practical Research 2, this 1st semester, School Year 2020-2021, is hereby approved and

accepted.

MS. MARICAR JANE A. ZUBIRI

Chair, Examining Committee

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Member, Examining Committee Member, Examining Committee

MR. JAENOLDSAN E. MONTALBO

Academic Coordinator, Senior High School Department

PRISCILLA V. SAN PEDRO, EdD

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 Principal
Chapter 1: Introduction

Background of the Study

The outbreak of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 has greatly affected

billions of people worldwide in various ways—people infected succumbed to

death, billions of people became vulnerable to the disease, schools and

commercial buildings were closed, and a great number of workers were affected

resulting to more problems inside their homes. According to the International

Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations that aims

primarily to advance social justice and promote decent work, the economic crisis

created by the pandemic has resulted to almost 1.6 billion informal economy

workers worldwide who suffered a massive damage to their capacity to earn a

living due to lockdown measures and/or because their work is part of the hardest-

hit sectors. Guy Ryder, Director-General of ILO, stated, “For millions of workers,

no income means no food, no security and no future. [...] As the pandemic and the

jobs crisis evolve, the need to protect the most vulnerable becomes even more

urgent.” With this, the ILO has called for urgent, targeted and flexible measures to

support workers and businesses alike focusing on the smaller enterprises or those

in the informal economy and others who are equally vulnerable to the threat of the

pandemic.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that the average

percentage distribution of workers in the Philippines from year 2008-2017 is 44%

for the formal economy while the other 56% consists of the informal economy. As

reflected, more than half of the workforce is consisted of the informal sector:

these are the street vendors, solo micro entrepreneurs, transport workers,

construction workers who are not tied to big developers, home-based workers,

migrant workers, and landless rural poor among others. According to the

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the unemployment rate has risen to 17.7%

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accounting to 7.3 million unemployed Filipinos in the labor force as of April

2020. The average number of hours workers complete per week also fell to 35.0 in

April 2020 which is a drop from 41.8 hours per week in April 2019. With these

sectors being critically hit since the virus outbreak in the country, the informal

economy has seemingly become visible.

The government has enforced measures such as the Social Amelioration

Program or the distribution of cash assistance for the poor as part of the

Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (RA 11469). However, numerous problems also

rose from this program and as the pandemic continue to affect the world, more

and more individuals also continue to battle for their families’ everyday living. It

is undeniable that as people experience a wide range of adversities during this

pandemic, they also face increased psychological distress. Some of them have

already resorted to begging for money in the streets, others started to commit theft

and robbery, while others committed suicide.

On the other hand, there are also individuals whose jobs and small

businesses have started or continued to thrive despite of the current world

situation. Proofs of this are the testimonies showed in the news interviews with

small-scale business owners who mostly use social media as their platforms. This

shows that despite of the many negative events caused by calamities like the

pandemic, there will still be people who will strive to stay afloat or even rise

above. But how do stories like these transpire?

Having seen the two sides of the effects of the pandemic to individuals in

the working force, the proponents of the study would like to shed light and

understanding on the experiences of the individuals whose jobs were affected by

the pandemic specifically on the effects of the coping mechanisms that they

employ to themselves as part of the informal sector workforce.

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 Statement of the Problem

This study aims to understand the effects of coping mechanisms employed by

informal sector workers to their job status during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, it aims to answer the following questions:

 What is the demographic profile of the participants in terms of the following:

o Age

o Gender

o Marital Status

o Social Status

o Employment Status

 What are the work-related stressors perceived by the participants?

 What is the perceived stress rate of the participants in their life for the past month

(during the pandemic)?

 On which of the following coping categories do the coping mechanisms of the

participants fall?

o Problem-Focused coping

o Emotion-Focused coping

o Adaptive Coping

o Maladaptive Coping

 How do the coping mechanisms employed by the participants affect their success

or failure in their work endeavors during the COVID-19 pandemic?

o Positively

o Negatively

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 Scope and Limitation

The researchers will conduct this study that focuses on how the informal sector

workers cope up from the challenges in their job due to the pandemic. The research is

limited to 50 employees and entrepreneurs’ in San Ildefonso, Bulacan as the respondents.

The data in this study will be collected by providing a questionnaire to the respondents.

The study will be conducted during the semester.

Significance of the Study

This research can be helpful to the following personalities:

The informal sector workers – This study will help and give them prior knowledge on

how to face or manage the painful of difficult emotions, stress, and trauma because of

affected on their jobs this pandemic.

The government – It will help them to pay attention and give support to everyone,

especially to the people who experience great shock due to pandemic such as to the

business world and laborers to rise the state of the country’s economy.

The people – The study will not only give knowledge for a certain people but also to all

people, that everyone can adapt in this situation and everyone can face the new normal.

The researchers – This will serve as a great learning and value to the researchers as they

seek for the answer themselves which can be use sooner or later.

The future researchers - The study conducted can contribute information or knowledge

to the future researcher of the same or related topic. Also, it can be a Review of Related

Literature for their study.

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 Research Hypothesis

The researchers initially assume that the coping mechanism employed by an

individual may affect their disposition in certain situations. People who employ coping

mechanisms that fall under problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and

adaptive coping experience positive dispositions in their situations and improve their job

status. Consequently, people who employ maladaptive coping mechanisms experience

negative dispositions in their situations and fail to improve their job status or experience

reduced job opportunities.

Theoretical Framework

The coping theory (Lazarus, 2000), describes the processes by which individuals

frame and respond to disruptive events in their environment, such as the employees and

entrepreneurs or business owners that were affected by the pandemic. Lazarus and

Folkman (1986) states that ‘psychological stress refers to a relationship with the

environment a person appraises as significant for his or her well-being and in which the

demands tax or exceed available coping resources.’ This definition involves appraisal and

coping as the process which are central mediators with the person-environment

transaction. Appraisal is the evaluative process that determines why and to what extent

the events between a person and the environment is stressful. Coping, on the other hand,

is ‘the process through which the individual manages the demands of a person-

environment relationship that are appraised as stressful and the emotions they generate’

(Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). Coping mechanism, additionally, is a way to deal with the

stress caused by life. In attempting to explain stress as more of a dynamic process,

Richard Lazarus developed the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping (TTSC)

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(Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), which presents stress as a product of a

transaction between a person (including multiple systems: cognitive, physiological,

affective, psychological, and neurological) and his or her complex environment. The

Transactional Model of Stress and Coping Theory is a framework which emphasizes

appraisal to evaluate harm, threat and challenges, which results in the process of coping

with stressful events. The level of stress experienced in the form of thoughts, feelings,

emotions and behaviors, as a result of external stressors, depends on appraisals of the

situation which involves a judgment about whether internal or external demands exceed

resources and ability to cope when demands exceed resources.

Conceptual Framework

Figure 1: Paradigm of the Study

In this study, the independent variable which is the pandemic directly affects the

dependent variables namely: informal sector worker, coping mechanisms, and job status. The

dependent variable, coping mechanism, employed by the informal sector workers which can be

either positive or maladaptive is correlational to the to the worker’s job status. This means that if

a worker employs positive coping mechanism then he is likely to improve his job status. On the

other hand, if a worker employs negative coping mechanism then he is likely to experience

reduced job opportunities. The effect is also the same to these variables vice versa.