Grief and Stress During and Beyond Pandemic: A Follow-up Study on Bereaved College Students

By : Ananya Nag, Susmita Halder

Page No: 213-221

Abstract
The uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic caused many psychological impairments like intense anxiety, feelings of helplessness, grief of losing loved ones, stress, fear of death and had adverse long-term impacts on the individuals. One of the demographics highly affected are the college students. This study aims to understand the course of grief and stress of college students who have faced bereavement during the pandemic by comparing their perception of stress and prevalence of grief after a period of 18 months. The study was collected in two phases with a gap of 18 months. The first phase of the study was conducted in April 2022 (during the pandemic) where the Pandemic Grief Scale and COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire were administered to 210 participants. The second phase of the study was held in December 2023, post pandemic where a follow-up was conducted on 80 participants using the Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (PG-13 Diagnostic Tool) and Perceived Stress Scale. The results depicts a significant positive correlation between pandemic grief and covid-related stress among college students during phase 1 of the study and a significant positive correlation between prolonged grief and perceived stress in phase 2 of the study post pandemic. It was also revealed that significant participants (n=21 out of 80) that were selected for the follow-up have shown signs of prolonged grieving and perceived stress post 18 months of bereavement. The participants with symptoms of prolonged grief have reported higher levels of perceived stress, suggesting that significant number of people from the non-clinical population might suffer from prolonged grief and stress that often go overlooked. The results indicate the need to provide supportive interventions aimed at promoting Counselling and psycho-social support.

Authors:
Ananya Nag : Post-graduate Student Department of Psychology, St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata. 
Dr. Susmita Halder : Professor, Department of Psychology, St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/JPR.2024.19.02.2