Volume 32, Issue 1 (3-2025)
RJMS 2025, 32(1): 1-18 |
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Associate Professor Department of Psychology, Isfahan(Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran. , hamidatashpour@gmail.com
Abstract: (190 Views)
Background & Aims: Conducting qualitative research based on parents' lived experiences can help modify the educational approach towards children during critical viral crises such as the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to understand the lived experiences of parents with elementary school children regarding their children's upbringing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to develop and validate an educational package based on it. Social networks and virtual space can significantly assist children in learning, gaining literacy, doing homework, creating motivation, and joining global scientific networks. However, this is not the whole story. Just as the internet can be liberating and enhance efficiency, it also has a high and swift capacity for causing harm. The findings of the research indicate that there is a direct relationship between how parents use social networks and how their children use them, especially in the first, second, and third grades of elementary school, since the children themselves have not yet entered the virtual space independently. Observational learning theory considers an individual's behavior to be the result of observing others' behavior, paying special attention to the role of parents as the child's first models. The cognitive perspective, which views any behavior as the result of interpreting information that the individual receives from the external environment, believes that a child learns to assign meaning to life events for the first time within the family environment and from parents. Consequently, by utilizing these factors in designing an educational package based on the parents' lived experiences of their children's educational issues, it is possible to prevent many behavioral abnormalities of students during the COVID-19 conditions and create the groundwork for directing the energy of parents and their children towards their flourishing. On the other hand, a critical review of conducted research showed that most studies concerning educational problems, academic performance, etc., have addressed the perspectives of teachers and students, and there is scarce research that has scientifically and practically examined the understanding of parents' lived experiences on this matter. Furthermore, a review of research conducted within the country regarding an educational package based on parents' lived experiences of their children's educational issues confirms the lack of comprehensive and extensive applied studies in this field. Therefore, investigating this topic will be important. However, relying on foreign studies in this area will not be very useful; rather, there is a fundamental need for regional and national investigations.
Methods: The present study was a qualitative phenomenological type. The participants in this research included all mothers with elementary school students during the corona era of Yazd city (year 1401-1400) who experienced the virtual classroom teaching method. In this research, after the end of the interview with data saturation and to be sure, including one more case, 10 participants were present in the interview, all of them were women and were identified as mothers of at least one child under 15 years of age. The specialized validation of the educational package based on the perception of parents' lived experience of their children's educational issues during the Corona era included 7 experts in the field of education and training and virtual education experts who had experience in the field of qualitative research.
Results: The themes obtained based on the field interviews of the parents' lived experience of educational issues are: empathy and management of adverse conditions, feelings of drowning (exhaustion) of parents, performing group activities, adhering to the rules of classroom discipline, not paying attention to students' cognitive characteristics, non-violent conversation, fun and happiness from daily activities and creating a balance between parents' work problems and learner's (children's) needs.
Conclusion: In general, it can be said that strengthening public awareness of the benefits of using virtual space activities and the consequences as well as the effects of destructive factors of education activities through virtual space and strengthening public participation in the fields of media education. It can reduce the harmful effects of viral crises. Furthermore, in the virtual space, there are scarce opportunities for forming teams and delegating learning activities, especially for doing homework and advancing projects. Under circumstances where, due to the state of emergency, students are prohibited from being physically together, their enthusiasm for collaborating on academic activities with their classmates remotely is greater than at other times. However, students miss out on learning and playing with their peers, which can itself lead to a decline in learning social skills. Given the limitation of human interactions, face-to-face communication is not possible, and interpersonal relationships are reduced. In a way, students' teamwork and the emotional relationships between students and teachers have also deteriorated, as the transmission of feeling and energy in education has diminished. The suspension of interactions, the quality of learning, and insufficient motivation are issues that have created physical and psychological consequences for children. Additionally, evidence from parents' lived experiences of parenting issues showed that due to families' lack of preparedness for virtual education, unconventional parental behaviors towards students have increased. Indeed, some interviewees stated that arguments and punishment of children occurred within the family, and some families became frustrated with their children's academic decline. Therefore, the results of the present study are consistent with the results of studies such as Chung et al. (2020) and Spinelli et al. (2020), which showed that the impact of quarantine on children's behavioral and emotional problems, as reported by parents, led to increased stress for both parents and children. Parents reported more problems, which resulted in harsher parental treatment of children at home.
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Clinical Psychiatry