Community Development Initiative Report: "Stress and Depression in Higher Education institutes of KP During Post-COVID Era: How to Cope With it" (2022)

 Community Development Initiative Report 

Stress and Depression in Higher Education Institutes of KP during Post-COVID Era: How to Cope With It (2022)

Introduction

"Stress and Depression in Higher Education institutes of KP During Post-COVID Era: How to Cope With it" was a two day webinar series by the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program, sponsored by US Department of state and IREX, that brought together aspiring young scholars and students of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Higher Institutes to discuss the actual problems they face regarding mental health. This interactive session highlighted the social and behavioral problems, poor performance and learning, and low self-esteem issues due to anxiety and depression that the students were facing during the Post-COVID era. It aimed to provide different suggestions and solutions regarding these specific mental health issues as how to cope up with them. It also raised awareness among youth regarding ongoing challenges and their possible solutions. The aim of this webinar is to bring awareness in the stake holders of education about the importance of mental health throughout the life of a student. Education system in our country provides little room for a healthy mind and is rather more of passive learning and overburdening the mind with continuous memorization of knowledge. Mostly students find it difficult to link the knowledge learnt in school relating to the practical life. In higher education institutions, students that come from such base, often find it difficult to pursue a career they really want without being under the pressure of social groups or being under the biases of their own mind in relation to the society. Thus, it was important, especially in Post-COVID situations, that we highlight the pressures on the student's mind and look for possible solutions.

Themes

Following were the selected themes for the webinar we carried out:

1. Exam Anxiety in Post-COVID era  (Day 1)
2. Social Pressure in Deciding the Career Paths  (Day 2)

Date, Time and Format

The team chose to conduct the session on 7th and 8th June, 2022 at around 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (Pakistan Standard Time) and the mode of communication was "Online" through Google Meet.

Organizers

Mr. Muhammad Furqan Khattak (Institute of Peace and Conflict), a Global UGRAD Pakistan Alumni, led the planning team and selected students as planning team members for the webinar through an open evaluation application through Google forms call and filtered about 11 suitable applicants with desired skills.

Below is a table of brief information about the planning team:

      Name                                         Department                                      Duty

Ms. Reikhmeena Babar           Institute of Peace and Conflict             Graphic Designing

Mr. Hidayat Ullah                   Institute of Peace and Conflict             Technical Assistance

Mr. Mehran Fida                   Institute of Peace and Conflict              Human Resource Management

Mr. Mehran-Ullah                   Department of International Relations      Technical Assistance

Mr. Ijlal Riffat                           Department of International Relations      Meeting Minutes / Reporting 

Mr. Hamza Niaz                   Department of International Relations      Moderator Day 1/Logistics

Ms. Eshma Talwasa           Department of International Relations       Moderator Day 2 

Ms. Areej Waqar                   Department of Psychology                       Logistics

Ms. Urooj Raza Khan           Department of Psychology                      Communication/Concept Note

Ms. Umm-e-Hani                   Department of Development Studies       Logistics

Ms. Fatima Feroz                   Department of Gender Studies               Communication/Final Report

After selecting the volunteers, a proper concept note was formed by Fatima and Urooj. Meetings were held intermittently to discuss the plan in library of Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), University of Peshawar (UoP) and under 18-20 days a Technical Committee was formed with Hidayat, Mehran Ullah and Hamza as members for handling the technical issues throughout the sessions. Reporting Committee was formed which included Fatima and Ijlal for note-making of meetings and reporting. Digital Committee included Reikhmeena for creative designs and posters. Communication Committee included Urooj, Eshma and Fatima for interacting with the speakers and communicating with them. Under the Logistics, Um-e-Hani, Mehran Fida and Areej were responsible for the resource management along with Hamza. With the dedication of the team the 2 day session was carried out successfully.

Introduction of Speakers

Day 1 Speakers

Ms. Nadia Ebrahim

Miss Nadia Ebrahim has completed her MA degree in Clinical Psychology with Gold Medal along with her diploma in the same field from University of Peshawar. She is currently lecturer at the Department of Psychology and in-charge of Psychology Clinic and Member of the Clinical Committee at Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar.

Ms. Rabia Fayyaz

Miss Rabia is a Clinical Psychologist with almost ten years of professional experience in practicing psychotherapy and counseling with patients including victims of gender based violence, domestic violence, trauma victims, survivor of disaster, people with physical disabilities, vulnerable street children and adolescents. She conducted capacity building trainings as Trainer on mental health and conflict management. She is currently serving as Lecturer in Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), University of Peshawar. She is an IVLP Alumni and attended program on "Peace and Tolerance". She has done an MPhil in Clinical Psychology, Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Psychology and is currently a PhD Scholar. 

Day 2 Speakers

Mr. M. Adil Khattak

Mr. M. Adil Khattak, Chief Executive Officer of Attock Refinery Limited since 2005 has been associated with The Attock Oil Group for the last 45 years. Mr. Khattak has extensive experience in engineering, maintenance, human resource management, project management and marketing. Mr. Khattak also holds the positions of Chief Executive Officer of Attock Gen Limited, Attock Hospital (Pvt.) Ltd. and National Cleaner Production Centre. He is Alternate Director of Attock Petroleum Limited and Director of Petroleum Institute of Pakistan. He is also a Member on the Boards of Governors of Lahore University of Management Sciences, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology and Sustainable Development Policy Institute. Mr. Khattak is President of Attock Sahara Foundation and an NGO which is working for the poor and needy people of Morgah along with its surrounding areas. Mr. Khattak holds a Master's degree in Engineering from Texas Tech University, USA and has attended many technical, financial and management programs in institutions of International Repute in Pakistan, USA, Europe and Japan.

Mr. Aamir Habib Khattak

Mr. Amir has done his BS Hons. in Psychology from the University of Sargodha. During his studies, he went to US as an Exchange student to study "Comparative Public Policy" from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst USA. Additionally, he holds a Masters degree in Political Science with Majors in Public Administration and International Organization. Currently, he is doing MS Clinical Psychology from the University of Lahore. He worked with British Council as a BCSO Ambassador. He had worked with SACH-struggle for change, SAHIL-against child sexual abuse & International Medical Corps as a Psychologist at various refugee camps. He has joined HRD Network under U.S.  Embassy/Mission in Pakistan as a Lincoln Corner/American Program Officer where he was managing 18 Lincoln Corners all over Pakistan located in different Universities and Public Libraries. He had implemented three PUAN projects; 2 on Career Counseling and 1 on practical implication of education, self-hygiene, and security for school Kids with Govt. of Punjab and KP. He has also worked with Emperor Marketing as an Organizational Psychologist. He is also working on his initiative at Voice of Mind and various consultancies with different firms along with Ministry of National Education and Republic of Turkey Governmental Educational Institute in Islamabad as a Career Counselor/Psychologist.

Ms. Mary Pervaiz

 

Miss Mary Pervaiz is the CEO of Thrive Services. She is a psychologist and Analyst at Express News of the show “Mind Matters”. She also holds the position of Vice President of Pakistan-US Alumni Network and has been a Corporate Consultant for companies like PEL, Zameen.com, Stewart Pakistan and Beacon House. 

Day 1

Participants

About 100 participants were selected for attending the session through an online form submission. Among the 100 filtered participants, about 85 individuals attended the session on 7th June, 2022. 

Starting of the Session

The session was started at 2:00 PM sharp by formally welcoming the participants and greeting the speakers. Mr. Hamza upon introducing himself as the moderator of the session started the introductory remarks about the session and its purpose. It aimed to address the mental health and career counselling issues faced by students of higher education and find out its coping mechanisms. 

Opening Remarks 

Mr. Donald G Maynard

(Public Affairs Officer, USCG, Peshawar)

Mr. Donald G. Maynard, who is Public Affairs Officer (US Consulate Peshawar), kickstarted the session and give his opening remarks. He thanked the team for highlighting such an important issue which normally people would neglect especially in this part of the world. He said that if a person has any medical issue then he seeks medical attention for it. Similar is for the mental health, but normally people ignore their mental health due to less importance given to it by society. 

According to a research in America, only 33% students were seeking mental health attention while in 72% students, motivation was lacking. Such problems exists elsewhere in the world. The online system has had some affects on the mental health of students and academics. Due to covid-19, 60% opportunities were restricted and quarantine made it worse. As the impacts of covid-19 situation are long lasting, we need to carefully formulate strategies for the treatment of mental health issues especially in students of higher education institutions and support each other in the coping mechanisms. 

Ms. Nadia Ebrahim

Upon the invitation of Mr. Hamza, Ms. Nadia Ebrahim started her presentation. Her strategy for presentation was speaking about the symptoms, causes and coping strategies for the students suffering from mental health issues. The presentation was started by defining anxiety as and excessive worry or concern about what will happen in the future. It means that one is being fearful of something to happen more than normal as she differentiated from normal anxiety to abnormal anxiety as positive and negative respectively. The statement thus provided us with the ratio of anxiety to the problem. If the anxiety is out of proportion to the problem or excessively increasing then, it is called as abnormal anxiety. Even if the problem is solved, the worry still lingers and affects many tasks being impedent. Similarly, in exams, the normal or positive anxiety is completely fine and goes away when the exams are over as the person thinks he/she gave their best they could. But in abnormal anxiety, the students usually suffer even after exams and that affect their performance throughout the sessions. 

Anxiety makes them unable to focus and while performing the paper, they feel if the questions are monsters and they would eat them up. The symptoms may include the nervousness, tensed and unsettled body language, overwhelming and uneasy attitude, helplessness, hopelessness, underwhelming attitude, low self-esteem in students. All of these causes poor performance in students. They feel that they are unworthy and are unable to put themselves in a good place. A constant feeling of guilt or shame lingers in them which prevents them from doing their best. Many other symptoms may include nausia, vomitting, less or more apetitie, changes in sleep patterns, tensed muscles and stiff shoulders. Due to negative cognition, students jump into conclusions and define their self-esteem through their grades. They either skip exams or find alternatives for it. Similarly if one is having a surprise test or a quiz, the person feels that if they fail once they are going to fail again. Some students also start using substances to relief themselves from anxiety. It is important to identify oneself with anxiety. 

The lack of preparation and previous failures, perfectionism and extra ordinary expectations from students by their parents or teachers lead to severe anxiety. The ideal goals vs. the practical goals often make students too stressed out over their future. Every person has different capacities which should be kept in mind while deciding for their future. Hence, everyone has different personality. In the covid-19 situation, the students who freshly got enrolled didn’t experience how the semester system works and most of them lacked the resources for online academic system. And those who were already enrolled  in senior semester had their mid-way learning badly affected as there was no teacher-student 1st hand interaction. The study environment at home is different than that in a proper academic building. There are a lot of distractions and different states of mind. The shift of questions from traditional basic to conceptual and open book, really brought frustration and anxiety in the students. But again when they got used to it, post covid-19 when the exams got back to being physically taken and tradition basic questions, students faced again a great mental health deal because it brought the same stress back. 

The coping mechanism may include sleeping as enough as 7-8 hours to feel completely fresh and ready for the day, preparation and taking notes of lectures since the day one of semester for exams, getting enough nutrition and good quality food, exercise should be included in the routine, use nemonics and tactics for utilizing the information in the exams, study in places similar to where exams would be taken, have a consistent pre-test routine, handle and solve problems or confusions by taking to the teachers, fight with the negative thoughts and feed positive quotes to mind. Slowly breathing in and out in the time of extreme stress is recommended along with contracting and relaxing the muscles simultaneously, having own watch and other stationary in exams, focus on the paper instead of others and seeking therapies would help students relief from anxiety. She suggested the students to visit a psychologist if the problem is increasing despite these coping mechanisms. 

Ms. Rabia Fayyaz

Ms. Rabia Fayyaz started her presentation and stated that anxiety is to anticipate about the future or create tension/concern about the future. Normal anxiety motivates us to work hard and improve but if the feeling of anxiety is extreme then it requires medical attention as it can become chronic illness. The symptoms of problematic anxiety may include a phobic behaviour or irrational fear of something about to happen, living in future, depression over the past and defining future by it. 

Chronic anxiety in students often comes to appearance before or after the exams and lasts for longer time. It also affects the exam and tests of the students by anticipating the future results. The uncertain situation is usually a sign of danger for students. Some students start using substances and in extreme cases take their own life. The excessive thoughts about “what if” is clearly the chronic anxiety and hence it is percieved as a threat that causes difficulty in taking any decision. The symptoms may also include butterflies in stomach and nausia. The autonomic nervous system activates automatically in such situation and the mind looks for a fight or flight reaction. Instead of dealing with the situation, the automatic nervous system is activated chronically. While in search for the fight or flight reaction, the person often freezes and is unable to decide in the long run. This also varies from individual to individual keeping in view the varying personalities of students. The stress continues without any relief and internal balance od the student is disturbed. It may also worsen the already exisiting diseases in the body of an individual. It may also lead to repetition of behavious as aggressive or using of narcotics. In students, the chronic anxiety is usually caused by incomplete study or preparation for exams. Inability for strategy making for studying and lack of organized plan for examination lead to overthinking about the outcomes of exams or tests. 

Exam anxiety during the post covid-19 era caused adaptability issues in students and they couldn’t fit in the online system, as well as the post covid shift to old system. As stated, it was variable among students due to personality differences but mostly students faced mental pressures and anxiety. The teaching methods and arrangement for classes was shifted all of a sudden to online and then back to in-person again. Thus, the perception of students changed and they quite questioned the existing education system and it’s inefficiency. The strategies to cope with these issues is simply by dividing the material for exams and studying it with a proper plan and organized way. Start studying as early as the semester begins and try to study in places similar to where the test will be taken. Establishing a persistent routine and solving problems by taking to the teachers would help a lot. Students should learn different relaxation techniques and imagine positive outcomes. Meditation can bring a huge relief to the stressing out mind. Instead of falling into perfectionism trap, students should do hardwork and believe in themselves and avoid seeing a failure as the end. Good nutrition and enough sleep combined with clearity in mind will help students overcome their anxiety.

Closing Remarks on Day 1

After having a brief question/answer session, moderator thanked the speakers for investing their time voluntarily into such an important yet neglected issue in the society. In the end, he thanked all the participants for attending the session till the end and hoped that they would have learned something fruitful from this session. He thanked all the participants for their questions and interactive remarks throughout the session. The session was ended at around 4:00 PM.  

Day 2

Participants

About 100 participants were selected for attending the session through an online form submission. Among the 100 filtered participants, about 80 individuals attended the session on 8th June, 2022. 

Start of the Session on Day 2

The session was started at 2:00 PM sharp by Eshma (moderator of the session) by welcoming all the participants and speakers. She spoke about the importance of realizing the adverse affects of covid-19 situation on the mental health of students in higher education. After brief introduction of the speakers, she invited them to speak on the theme.

Mr. M. Adil Khattak

The speaker thanked the organizers for inviting him to interact with young audience about the important issues. He said, If we talk about the facts which influence our decision in pursuing our career, one should start with concept first. Ideally speaking, it should be your own interest or your aptitude which could help you in deciding your career. Ofcourse it is easier said than done, because in the early stages we don’t even know what kind of aptitude or interest we have, so for that we should view our inner self and increase self awareness to atleast find out what kind of personality we have i-e- introvert/extrovert, as they influence our future career a lot. For example, introverts have not so good social skills so some professional marketing may not suit you. Another inportant factor would be the kind of values you have, for example, if you are more welfare oriented, you would have a different career than a person who is more into achieving their own goals. 

In some cases, even religion plays a part. I have seen guys who are othersie very good in these studies and their professional fields but they don’t like to work in banks because of interest issues which are forbidden by our religion. Also, the basic skills or talents one may have also help decide your career future like a person who has a more artistic type of personality and would be very good at painting etc, so that would be a different career part than a person who has better analytical skills and may follow another career according to his skills. It also has been noticed that even gender can make a difference in choosing a career like sometimes in brown families there are few careers available for girls. 

So instead of what you may be thinking of teaching or maybe medicine, girls can now go into many fields, it’s a wide choice of fields open for them. We have seen many successful girls/ladies working in business, engineering fields and various fields. Even currently we have a good example of a first female surgeon from Pakistan Army and that surgeon happens to be from Sawabi, KPK. So once you try to assess your own likes and dislikes of your own aptitude, the next thing which is important is that how much you are aware of the job oppurtunities around you. 

Going back to my early years, in those days you had very few career oppurtunities to choose from. I could either go for engineering or medicince or arm forces or manage to get to the civil services. Nowadays it’s a wide open field of choices. In 21st century we talk about the Food Industry Revolution, you may go for business studies, law or media, its not limited choices like back in the day. Another important point is to opt for higher education because higher education allows for more oppurtunities in a specific field which one might pursue and achieve official documentation for their skills so they can be hired for jobs with confidence. 

Parents, teachers and peer groups also influence our decisions about choosing the right career path. The best thing a youngster can do in time of choosing a path is get more exposure and information about different fields of interest and opt for the one that match with their own interests. Students should also get some experience before specialization in a certain field. Only then one can enjoy their future profession and be satisfied with their field. 

Mr. Aamir Habib Khattak

Mr. Aamir started his presentation with a remark that social factors are involved in selecting the career paths for students. The collectivist environment creates a collective decision for an individual and hence the right to freedom of choice of an individual is highly influenced by society and there is no individuality prevailed. Hence, social manipulation creates hurdles for individuals in setting up their future goals. He stated further, “It is a very stupid question to ask what is the scope of this field or that field.” He stated that the career depends upon the demand of the market.

 After the era of Pervaiz Musharraf, there was a boom in telecom industry, hence mostly people would prefer related fields to that. There is no clarity about the fields people select and its long term effect. For example, students study pre-medical and opt for BBA. He also discussed the physical limitation that students face e.g. access to a specific field of interest for students or financial issues in affording expenses and dues. So one should study the job market and demand for next few years and keep it in mind for choosing a field.  In current situation, Artificial Intellegence is the most demanded field in which a lot of development is being made. Similarly, environmental sciences for sustainability is also very important and increasingly being demanded globally. 

For specialization, similar careful strategy should be followed. Instead of blindly following a trending field like medical or engineering without having any interest in it, one should focus on developing soft skills that are usually counted in most job interviews and opportunities depend on networking. Grooming and personal development is also important for getting any job. Students should get the correct set of information regarding their field of interest. For example, one student had mistaken cyber security for psychosecurity and later on regretted choosing the field. Another important thing to be kept in mind is the personality of individual vs. the job or field they choose. For example, an introvert person should not opt for a teaching job due to daily presentations infront of a big audience of students. 

Students should also consider the social norms and limitations on certain job opportunities. For example, drugstore business in western countries is legally allowed while banned in Pakistan. One should avoid becoming another already existing personality and start grooming and improving their own personality. They should focus on developing skills that are required for their field of interest. For example, mathematics and sketching are two important skills.

Moreover, one should have an independent approach in their field of interest irrespective of society or pressure group. One should have a flexible attitude towards learning new things and handling the problems that come along. For specialization, students should understand that all the fields are interconnected and learn to relate their specialized field with practical life. For example, a BA student can easily enter a pharmacy under marketing strategies. In third world countries, students face limitations in access to education due to infrastructure, finances, lack of scholarships, transportation and costly institutions. Higher educational institutions should provide help of Alumni to the current students in terms of providing right information and guidance in selecting a specific f ield which they chose.

Ms. Mary Pervaiz

Ms. Mary started speaking on the transitional stages of youngsters in their early teenage and 20s. She connected the psychie of students with expectations of others. Mostly students define themselves by how much they please others. By others we mean their parents, peer groups, friends and teachers. If one give in to the expectations of others, student might enjoy the early income and boost of economic growth in their life that might even upgrade their lifestyle, but as the time passes by, people find their job frustrating and hence neglect their duties. Therefore, such attitudes affect the whole system of country if such students in eagerness reach to political positions. For example, a student having artistic nature would find medical frustrating and hence unable to fully understand it. And that in the long run will affect the society as whole because treatment of patients would be adversely affected due to inability of the student. 

The rights skills for the want or desire of an individual will ead to a satisfied life in future. She also discussed about the Social Cognitive Career Theory and asked students for a small activity to perform right away. She asked students to write 5-6 skills on a paper that they would be describing about themselves and after that write down 5-6 opportunities parallel to the skills that they would be getting upon polishing those skills further. She advised students to talk to themselves and listen to themselves simultanously and identify their shortcomings. Later, work on their short comings that resonate with their field of interest. She also disussed about the gender dimension in the limitation of opportunities relating it to her own experience as she worked throughout her life. She observed that men get more opportunities and access to job market as compared to women based on various factors. Men see women as subordinate to them and hence underestimate their abilities which is why it is seen as a threat to give women more or bigger opportunities because they think that women can’t work as efficient as men. 

Note of Thanks 

Mr. Muhammad Furqan Khattak

(Team Lead, CDI Project)

Mr. Muhammad Furqan Khattak, upon the invitation of Eshma, introduced himself as the US exchange program alumni leading the CDI project on Mental Health Awareness. He thanked all the honourable speakers and participants along with his planning team for successfully concluding the session. He also thanked US State Department, Global UGRAD and IREX for providing him with opportunity to carry out the project. He further said that without their support, it would not have been possible. Reinforcing the importance of mental health in youngsters, he looked forward to cooperation from the speakers in helping the students with their mental health issues and directing them to the concerning department.

End of Session on Day 2

The session was ended by Eshma thanking all the participants and speakers at around 4:00 PM. The session was attended by about 80 participants and followed by an interactive question/answer session. Eshma wished all the students with their future exams and a good mental health.

Certificate Distribution

About 85 participants received their certificates through email for recognizing their participation in the 2 days webinar. The team leader along with volunteer also received their certificates of appreciation and planning the session in person followed by a celebration ceremony. All the certificates were issued after the 2 days webinar completion with names of each individual written on it. 

Planning Team Closing Ceremony

After successful project completion, leader of the project Mr. Muhamamd Furqan Khattak invited the planning team members to a brief closing ceremony in a restaurant.  He appreciated the team work, commitment and professionalism of the team. Positive outcomes were discussed. Weaknesses in certain areas were also discussed for future learning and improvement. The planning team thanked Team Lead Muhammad Furqan, IREX, Global UGRAD and State Department for this opportunity. They also gave a brief speech on their experiences and each of them recounted their transformation and learning in this experience. After the refreshments, certificates were distributed among the planning team members and the project was officially closed.