Research Title:

Lived Experience: The Difficulties and Coping Mechanisms of Senior High School Students in
Davao City National High School During Covid-19 Pandemic

Rationale:

Covid-19 pandemic has drastically affected the life of every individual both local and international.
Numerous changes were observed, positive, but mostly are negative. Among the most affected sector is
the field of education. According to Claudia Camacho-Zuniga (2021), Covid-19 pandemic and the enforced
restrictions have harshly affected educational sectors in 162 counties around the world.

There are various difficulties encountered by the students during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to
the research of Areeba Shaikh (2021), during the pandemic, Philippines has the most number of students
associated of gender with stress, educational status with depression and anxiety with stress. Other than
that, among the difficulties faced by most students is the financial crisis due to global economic collapse.

Additionally, according to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2021), Covid-19
pandemic has a profound impact not only on people’ health, but also on how they learn, work, and live.
The most impactful challenge created by the pandemic is how to adapt a system of education built around
physical school. During its peak, more than 188 countries, encompassing 91% of enrolled learners
worldwide closed their schools to try to contain the spread of the virus. This school closures have a very
real impact on all students particularly on the most vulnerable ones who are more likely to face additional
barriers: children and youth from low-income and single parents, immigrants, refugee, ethnic minority
and indigenous, with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and those with special needs.
They are at risk to falling further behind and becoming isolated with schools doors closed. These students
are likely to lose the most in terms of educational outcomes and the support provided by schools.

Moving on, coping mechanisms are the strategies people often use in the face of stress and/or
traumas to them manage painful or difficult emotions. Coping mechanisms can help people adjust to
stressful events while helping them maintain their emotional well-being. People use coping mechanisms
for stress management or to cope with anger, loneliness, anxiety or depression
(https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/coping-mechanism). Moreover, coping mechanisms are
vital for most students to overcome the difficulties posted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It has proven by
several studies to be effective to remain the positive outlook in oneself and keep moving forward
regardless the overwhelming situations. As to most students, having a coping mechanism is essential in
oneself as this serves as a “ breather “ for them in order to regain energy to combat life’s uncertain
circumstances.

Nonetheless, the researcher of this study wanted to have in-depth understanding and analysis about
the difficulties experienced by the senior high school students of Davao City National High School that
have negatively impacted them, and as well as determine which coping mechanisms are best and widely
used during the pandemic Through this, we shall also discover the most common coping
mechanisms/strategies employed by the students during the stressful situation caused by the Covid-19
virus which can give the readers significant insights about the various coping mechanisms that they can
also impart in their lives in times of life crisis. Also, the findings of this research will help on how the state
can mitigate certain interventions to better help the students.

Research Questions:

(1.) What are the difficulties experienced by the Senior High School students of Davao City National
High School during the Covid-19 pandemic?

(2.) How did the coping mechanisms of the Senior High School students of Davao City National High
have helped them to overcome the difficulties they experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Theoretical Lens:

The study is anchored to the Conversation of Resources Theory. The CoR theory (Hobfoll, 1988, 1989)
suggests that people experience stress when they feel the threat of resource loss, a real net loss of
resources, and/or a lack of gained resources after resource investment. There are two types of resources
examined by this theory. On the one hand, individuals' external resources are object resources (e.g., for
senior high school student, laptop for taking online courses, living expenses), social resources (e.g., family
help), and condition resources (e.g., stable internet and digital support offered by the school). On the
other hand, individuals' internal resource includes personal resources (e.g., self-efficacy and self-control
during distance learning) and energy resources (e.g., time and health; Chen et al.,2015;Hagger, 2015). The
CoR theory is relevant to better understand the impacts of Covid-19 on senior high school students'
well-being as they need to follow fully or partially online and modular classes they are forced to reduce
the social activities to the minimum level, and they should try to manage daily life in the new normal. As
the Covid-19 remains an international threat to both life and economies, resulting in widespread public
nervousness This continuing global pandemic concurrent with the changes in schoo

Applying the CoR theory to the current pandemic, Ojo et al. (2020) found that individual reaction and
subsequent response to the crisis varies. Some people can bounce back easily and shortly (Luthans et al.,
2006; Malik and Gorg, 2020) while some people will develop the symptoms such as depression or other
psychiatric disorders. Senior high school students who are able to optimize the resource gains, cope with
changes in daily life, and manage their emotions are more likely to perceive the crisis positively. This in
turn not only shows their current level of resilience but additionally enables them to develop their
resilience capability. Within this dynamic process, their resilience has served to reduce the stress (Vinkers
et al., 2020). In this, while students are balancing the resource gains (e.g., school support) and resource
loss (e.g., change-related stressors), they show different levels of resilience and which affect their
capability to maintain well-being.

Research Design:
 This study is designed as a qualitative research utilizing case study, aiming to have in-depth and
detailed information and analysis of the difficulties experienced by the Senior High School students of
Davao City National High School during the global lockdown as respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. This
will also distinguish their shared life problems encountered during the crisis and as well as their distinct
coping mechanisms that have highly impacted their survival.

Among the qualitative research methods, one-on-one interview will be hold through online set-up to
gather necessary information to fulfill the purpose of the study. Thus, the data will be contextualized, as
case are represented, for example, by individual, their communication and experience (Flyvberg, 2004).

Research Participants:

The participants of the research are students of grades 11 to 12 from the Senior High School
Department of Davao City National High School

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