TITLE:
International Students’ Coping Strategies and Psychological Adaption during Early the COVID-19 Outbreak Period in China
AUTHORS:
Wen Chen
KEYWORDS:
COVID-2019, International Students, Coping Strategy, Psychological Wellbeing, Chinese Image
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.8 No.8,
August
11,
2020
ABSTRACT: This study aims to understand international students’ coping strategies
and psychological adaption during the early pandemic of 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19).
By using the convenience and purposive sampling strategy, we selected four
participants who were staying in mainland China at the outbreak of COVID-19.
They were asked to keep diaries for 3 weeks and attend an interview afterwards.
Analysis of participants’ diaries and interview transcriptions indicated that
international students’ source of information about COVID-19 was mainly from
English websites; their solutions in the special period were to stay at home;
they isolated themselves from the public, wore facial masks when going out,
received timely support from their educational institution and did many
self-relaxing exercises. Psychologically speaking, they felt panicked at the
beginning and gradually became calm; initiatives and measures implemented by
governments at all levels in China during the pandemic have won their high praise and China’s image has become better,
more trustworthy and reliable. These findings provide valuable insights about international students and educational institutions around the world as
COVID-19 is continuing; they also add more evidence for positive psychology; that
is, individuals’ positive feelings largely depend on the environment where they
live, such as their teachers, universities, and the society.