Psychosocial factors associated with grief following COVID-19 in Peruvian university students

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact in Peru and worldwide. Peruvian university students faced a context full of threats and losses that could potentially have significantly affected their well-being. The intensity of distress experienced in the face of the death of loved ones is strongly associated with future mental health difficulties, thus becoming an indicator of risk. This study aims to understand the complex experiences of loss in university students during the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in Peru. Its main objective is to identify the role of various factors, such as stressors, coping strategies, grief ritual practices, and rational and irrational beliefs about death, in the distress experienced by students at a private university in Lima, Peru. The research was conducted with the participation of 932 university students, 59.7 % of whom identified themselves as female and 40.3 % as male, with a mean age of 21.5 years (SD = 4.32). Participants responded to an online questionnaire designed specifically for this study. To assess bereavement-related distress, the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG). Given the uniqueness of the pandemic context, ad hoc instruments were created to measure coping with loss, identify contextual stressors, understand the practice of grief rituals, and explore rational and irrational beliefs related to death. The results of the research were revealing. 56.8 % of the sample reported having lost a loved one during the pandemic, and within this group, 60 % experienced multiple losses. Twelve percent of the students reported the loss of their father or primary male caregiver, while 4.3 % reported losing their mother or primary female caregiver. In addition, 63.2 % indicated that their families suffered financially due to loss of work or income, and 28.3 % mentioned the loss of their own job or income. Other notable losses included the interruption of important personal and academic projects due to the pandemic, a challenge faced by 77.1 % of participants. This disruption had consequences beyond academics, affecting students' personal and professional development and creating a complex web of interconnected losses. To determine the predictive variables in relation to bereavement, stepwise linear regression analyses were performed, resulting in an adjusted R^2 of 0.49, revealing a large effect model. This analysis showed that grief distress is predicted by factors such as student gender, loss of a parent, irrational beliefs about grief, intensity of perceived stressors, and use of avoidance or overflow coping strategies, as well as cognitive re-evaluation. In summary, this study provides an in-depth view of how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected university students in Peru, especially in terms of loss and grief. The findings highlight the importance of addressing these experiences collectively within the university community. It is crucial that initiatives are developed that not only provide emotional support, but also address the economic and academic dimensions of the losses experienced. The university community must be alert to the risk situations identified in this study and work together to implement measures that facilitate a healthy and collective grieving process. The creation of supportive spaces can help students process their losses and rebuild their emotional and academic well-being.