Cognitive and Emotional Responses of Participants in the Educational Process under Crisis Situations and Security Challenges: Risk Factors and Health-Preserving Strategies

Abstract

Purpose: to identify the features of the cognitive-emotional response and educational/professional activity of subjects of the educational process in crisis situations and to determine the directions of preventive and corrective work to preserve their physical and mental health. Changing the regime of educational activity in crisis situations and security challenges affects the professional health of teachers. Studying the emotional-psychological and physical components of the professional health of subjects of educational activity is important for developing preventive and prophylactic actions to ensure their emotional well-being and preserve mental health. Materials and methods. An analytical study was conducted to determine the cognitive emotional response to crisis situations and security challenges using the “Attitude to mental and physical health in crisis situations and security challenges” survey questionnaire. The questionnaire is an author’s development, the structure of which consists of three content blocks: I. Cognitive-emotional response to the situation. II. Features of professional activity/training in crisis situations and security challenges. III. Teachers’ needs and areas of work on information and preventive work in crisis situations. The study was attended by students at Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University (n=79 in 2022, n=83 in 2025) and teachers of secondary education institutions of the Zhytomyr region (n=74 in 2022, n=67 in 2025). Statistical processing of the study results was carried out using methods of quantitative analysis and descriptive statistics. In particular, frequency distributions of responses (n), percentages (%), and average values (M) were determined to assess the severity of individual indicators of cognitive-emotional response and professional activity of respondents. The analysis of the results was carried out separately for each block of the developed questionnaire with further generalization of the indicators. The results obtained allowed us to generalize trends within each studied group. Results. The essence of professional health of pedagogical workers was characterized as a set of a number of components, namely: intellectual (the state of the cognitive sphere, which actualizes motives, knowledge, skills regarding health preservation), physical (the state of organs and systems of the body, the basis of which is morphological and functional reserves that provide adaptive reactions); mental (the state of the mental and emotional sphere, the basis of which is general mental comfort, which provides an adequate behavioral response); spiritual (a set of characteristics of the spiritual world of the individual, the need to master the system of universal spiritual values, motivational and value attitude to the components of the spiritual heritage), social (the nature of relationships with society, the basis of which are the values and motives of the individual’s behavior, the level of development of the economic, political, social, spiritual spheres of life) health. The factors of anxiety states of subjects of the educational process have been identified: psychological: “emotional swings” (sharp changes in mood without a specific reason), a constant state of anxiety, fear for one’s own life and the lives of family members, limited access to psychological help, a feeling of vulnerability and insecurity, chronic stress, depression; informational: oversaturation with information, often unverified for reliability (a large number of anonymous telegram channels, insufficient level of information hygiene, fakes, manipulations, IPSO/PSYOP); organizational: lack of shelters or their inadequate condition, ignorance of the algorithm of actions in crisis security situations; humanitarian: prolonged absence of communication, electricity, the Internet, technical and drinking water, social isolation; physiological: disruption of the duration and quality of sleep, exacerbation of chronic diseases, unavailability of means of satisfying basic needs (hot food, heat, etc.). It was found that the common ways of emotional reaction of the studied subjects are: anxiety, worry, worry, confusion. Among the behavioral symptoms recorded were passivity of actions, resignation with the situation and weak activity in implementing previously defined plans. Instead, in modern conditions, there is a rethinking and acceptance of the situation, increased activity in the direction of selfeducation, self-development, and implementation of life plans. Conclusions. The directions of preventive and corrective work to preserve the physical and psychological health of participants in the educational process are determined: diagnostics of the physical and psychological state; monitoring of requests and needs related to the organization of the educational process; providing advisory assistance on rules, methods of health preservation, prevention and means of protection, improving psychological state; psychological and pedagogical support (health maintenance programs, trainings, advanced training courses).