The spread of COVID-19, which happens easily in a campus setting, raises critical questions about what educational institutions can and should do. The raised issues are remarkably varied and call for all those involved in running institutions to approach these concerns thoughtfully and quickly, given the speed with which the virus is spreading,…

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that has affected every student and faculty member. During COVID-19, most universities were physically closed and teaching moved to online platforms. On August 29, 2005, the citizens of New Orleans, Louisiana, experienced a natural disaster called Hurricane Katrina. During Hurricane Katrina, students and faculty were…

The paper revisits the outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy and particularly in Lombardy region, the first and initially most severely affected area among western countries. First, we provide an overview of the impact of the pandemic in the country and in the region, mentioning the turning points and the main effects on the national and local economy.…

As a collective, we reflect on how COVID-19 has impacted Indigenous students at a personal, institutional and national level in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific.

In this contribution to the Special Issue of Studies in Higher Education, I describe developments during the COVID-19 pandemic in Dutch higher education along three lines. First, the context is outlined in chronological order. It concerns the evolution of the pandemic in the Netherlands, complemented by the general situation at my own university…

Purpose: This paper aims to share how it was possible to change the way business was conducted in a short period in order to continue the academic semester and seek alternatives to manage the day-to-day university affairs in the midst of a pandemic crisis at a higher education setting. As a result, the authors' experiences have created new norms…

Recent research in illness has stressed the importance of constructive processes as determinants for coping and appraisal with illnesses. The goal of this study was to construct a lexicon of cognitive and behavioral responses people employ to cope with illness. Undergraduate college students (N=105) were given two illness scenarios describing the…

Healthy Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) seropositive undergraduates (n=57) completed personality inventory, provided blood samples, and were randomly assigned to write/talk about stressful events, or to write about trivial events. Those assigned to verbal/stressful condition had significantly lower EBV antibody titers (suggesting better cellular immune…

Most researchers recognize a moderate but reliable relationship between stress and illness. One personality variable that might increase susceptibility to symptoms of strain and physical illness is hopelessness, while one variable that was initially proposed as a mediator of the relationship between stress and illness is hardiness, a personality…

Examines the relation of coping to adherence among 57 hemodialysis patients. As predicted, coping efforts involving planful problem solving were associated with more favorable adherence when used in response to stressors involving a relatively controllable aspect of the hemodialysis context. For less controllable stressors, coping efforts…

Data from 604 depressed patients in The Medical Outcomes Study showed improvements in measures of functioning and well-being associated with patients who were employed, drank less alcohol, had active coping styles and higher levels of social support, who had active and less avoidant coping styles, who were physically active, and who had fewer…

Surveyed first year doctoral students (N=33) regarding life events. Found that the majority of the students experienced a major crisis and were highly susceptible to emotional or physical illness. Proposes a system that may help first year students cope. (Author)

Discusses progeria (or Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome), a rare childhood disorder that invariably results in death during adolescence. Describes the major medical aspects of progeria, and discusses the psychosocial implications of the disorder with particular emphasis on grief-triggered reactions. Presents an overview of psychosocial intervention…

Examined the stress and illness paradigm by considering influences of social interest and coping styles on three measures of health status: overall health, somatic symptoms, and energy level. Subjects (N=109) included office workers, nurses, and graduate students. Found social interest and daily hassles explained significant amounts of variance on…

A handbook of health issues for college students is presented. Prevention is the keynote, stressing the importance of staying healthy and recovering quickly. Information is organized in a question-and-answer format. The 12 chapters are as follows: nutrition: food as fuel (e.g. acne and diet and daily caloric requirements); exercise: fine-tuning…