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. 2021 Nov 14;18(22):11962.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182211962.

Support through Social Media and Online Class Participation to Enhance Psychological Resilience

Muhammad Zaheer Asghar  1   2   3 , Seema Arif  3 , Elena Barbera  4 , Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen  1 , Ercan Kocayoruk  5
Affiliations

Support through Social Media and Online Class Participation to Enhance Psychological Resilience

Muhammad Zaheer Asghar et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Social support was an important factor in minimizing the effect of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. This research aimed to study the role of online class participation and social media usage to link the social support available from family and friends to psychological resilience among pre-service special education teachers against the negative psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. A survey was conducted with 377 pre-service special needs education (SNE) teachers enrolled at universities in Pakistan. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied using Smart-PLS 3.2.8. Results revealed that social media and online class participation played a mediating role between social support and psychological resilience in the pre-service special needs education (SNE) teachers studied. Teacher education institutions can devise strategies to develop social media platforms for student socialization during an emergency to help build resilience against the negative psychological effects of social isolation. Future studies could be conducted to adapt instructions and curricula to social media environments for education in an emergency.

Keywords: COVID-19 lockdown; online class participation; social media; social support.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual framework.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cross-validity redundancy analysis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Path analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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