Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 on the Morale of Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Students in Saudi Arabia Technical Colleges: Lessons Learned and Future Implications

Abstract

Literature studies indicate that student morale has been affected during the Covid-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of people worldwide, and hard-of-hearing students may be particularly vulnerable. Researchers have well explained the relationship between stress, depression and anxiety between university students and COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, many
students had to follow their theoretical and practical courses remotely, using many programs and technologies, something that was not planned before. In addition, the containment measures applied by several countries during this period disrupted the school calendar and the normal course of university studies. Staying home for a long time period was not easy and caused students to ask many questions about their future studies. Most of the thoughts were negative, resulting in pessimistic feelings. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among hard-of-hearing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this work, we attempted to answer some questions by studying the application of two different tests to understand closely the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the moral status of deaf technical students in Saudi Arabia colleges. The goal is to extract the necessary lessons, tips and information that will protect this type of students in the future. Depression was slightly higher than anxiety and stress levels. The prevalence of depression was 56.2% for severe levels, while anxiety and stress levels had relatively lower severe cases of 45.2% and 49.3%, respectively. The study highlights the need to pay attention to the mental health of hard-of-hearing students during the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide appropriate support to manage their mental health.