Emotional exhaustion in Peruvian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID 19 pandemic has caused the teaching-learning modality to go from being face-to-face to being virtual, which has forced students to adapt to this new scenario, however, despite the fact that this modality has favorable aspects, it also it has had implications in the socio-emotional aspect. Therefore, the present research aimed to describe the emotional exhaustion in Peruvian students from a private university during the COVID-19 pandemic. The approach was quantitative, the design was non-experimental, and the type was descriptive, transectional. The sample consisted of 265 students, to whom the Emotional Tiredness Scale was applied, an instrument with required levels of validity and reliability. The results found indicate that the students presented high levels of emotional exhaustion (39.4%) and it was determined that some sociodemographic variables such as sex and age were significantly associated with this condition (p<0.05). It was concluded that it is necessary for the University's Psychology area to detect students with high levels of emotional exhaustion in a timely manner so that they receive treatment and can improve their academic performance and quality of life. On the other hand, students should be encouraged to develop coping strategies for stressful situations, typical of academic life and the context of pandemic.