Pandemic and Typhoon: Positive Impacts of a Double Disaster on Mental Health of Female Students in the Philippines

Abstract

Humanitarian emergencies pose a great challenge to how all sectors perform their functions in society. In several countries, these emergencies combined the pandemic and other man-made and natural disasters: “double disaster”, which affected the health, safety, and well-being of both individuals and communities. Students are a particularly vulnerable population for mental health problems considering the challenges with their transitions to adulthood. Using narrative analysis, this study explored the impacts of a double disaster on the mental health of students and how they cope up with these emergencies. The results showed that the occurrence of natural disasters during the lockdowns from pandemic brought stress to students in adjusting to distance education, completing academic requirements, and accessing technology for online learning. Participants expressed their anxieties about the spread of the virus in the community, particularly in the disaster evacuation centers with less strictly observed social distancing, insufficient hygiene and sanitation facilities, and lack of basic needs. Participants described their learnings and coping strategies that included helping one another, following the government protocols, finding additional sources of income, using energy for important purposes only, and leaning on faith. The findings of this study would be instrumental in formulating policies and strategic measures that best complement the needs of community members during a double disaster, particularly in addressing the mental health impacts of humanitarian emergencies.

Higher Education Students’ Challenges on Flexible Online Learning Implementation in the Rural Areas: A Philippine Case

“…They feel sick whenever they had many activities to do, have slow internet, and are without someone to ask (Rotas & Cahapay, 2020). Cueto and Agaton (2021) noted that stress and anxiety are the expected health effects whenever students suffer difficulties. In addition to the adverse health effects of disrupted sleep cycles, increasing internet use can influence students' physical and mental health.…”

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“…Accordingly, there is some potential for solving the problem in the cooperation of teachers and students. Heavy and extremely time-consuming activities can be replaced by more interesting and enjoyable ones [74]. At the same time, the potential is created for the re-organization of educational content with the help of modern technological capabilities [75; 76], taking into account the existing support in the student environment, which can be implemented in teamwork [78], [79] that is the direction for further research.…”

Correlating the Psychological and Spiritual Well-Being of Junior High School Students in Selected Catholic Schools in Central Philippines

“…When the demographic variables are considered, Cueto and Agaton (2021) revealed in their study that the female students find more strength in their faith, which is why they possess higher spiritual well-being compared to men (Coppola et al, 2021;Yahaya et al, 2012). Ahmadphoori and Motaghi (2020) concluded that spiritual health is an important aspect in female adolescents, and the role of the family in adolescents' mental health is considered crucial too.…”