The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown coping strategies on the psychosocial well-being and academic performance of Makerere university students
Abstract
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization in early 2020,
different research has been designed to understand how psychosocial well-being and academic
performance can be impacted by the lockdown coping strategies during the pandemic. This study
focused on the coping strategies developed by the government in response to curbing the spread
of the virus. This study aimed to identify if there was a relation between the COVID-19 lockdown
coping strategies adopted by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic and the psychosocial
well-being of the students as well as its influence on their academic performance. The sample
consisted of 132 third-year students of Industrial and Organizational Psychology between 18 and
35 years old (18-25 years (80.3%), 26-35 years (19.7%) whom a structured questionnaire
containing; biodata, a COVID-19 lockdown coping strategies scale, a psychosocial well-being
scale, and an academic performance scale. The data had descriptive and inferential statistics which
were analyzed using analysis Pearson correlation coefficient (r)
The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 was used in the research. The
findings showed that there was no relationship between the COVID-19 lockdown coping strategies
and psychosocial well-being among the students of Makerere University, (r=.095, p=.281). They
however showed that there is a significant relationship between the COVID-19 lockdown coping
strategies and academic performance among university students (r=.167, p=.056). And also, results
showed that there was a significant relationship between psychosocial well-being and academic
performance among university students. (r=.181*, p=.037)