Page 29 - IJSA, Vol. 6, No 1, 2023

International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2023
рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa

educates students and cadets, so the research we According to the researchers (Michalek et al., 2022), the
conducted there gave us the opportunity to study a experience of war and displacement can have profound
sample of students in various forms of their education. effects on children’s affective development and mental
UzhNU is located in western Ukraine, in the city of health. However, the mechanisms underlying these
Uzhhorod with a population of 115,449 people as of effects remain unknown.
January 1, 2022 (Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, 2022b). Gilreath et al. (2022) studied stressors that can affect the
We chose this city and this university for several reasons. academic performance and well-being of youth in
Uzhhorod, like Kharkiv, is a regional center with the wartime conditions. These risk factors include mental,
presence of university youth. However, it is much emotional, and behavioral problems. Suicidal tendencies,
smaller. The city was not surrounded or occupied by substance use and abuse may manifest in the short and
Russian troops as part of the territory in the Kharkiv long term.
region. It was also the least exposed to rocket and air The problem of increased substance use and abuse in
attack during the war. It also received many internally wartime has become a topical issue, particularly among
displaced persons, including young people. UzhNU is a nonprofessional military personnel, leading to an
typical and rather large university in Ukraine, with increase in psychiatric hospitalizations (Haydabrus et al.,
students in 20 faculties. 2022).
In this way, we have been able to study the problem of We note this because it is important to consider that the
the effects of war on the psychological well-being of adult civilian population of Ukraine was mobilized for
young students under different conditions: among defense and combat operations. In addition, many of the
students in or near a combat zone, among students and students, like their fathers, have decided to take an active
cadets in various forms of education in a relatively non- part in the defense of their country. They temporarily
combatant area with a large number of internally interrupted their studies by taking academic leave.
displaced persons, and among refugee students in EU Being in a war zone has negative psychological effects
countries. on civilians and military personnel. Rozanov et al. (2019)
In recent years, a number of studies have been conducted found that both military and civilian populations suffer
on the psychological problems of refugees who have from a similar set of disorders and psychological
been forced to leave their homes and have been displaced consequences caused by extreme trauma, including
to other countries because of hostilities in their PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction, somatization with
homeland. chronic pain, dissociation, psychosocial dysfunction, and
The problems of Syrian refugees in Turkey (Oppedal et suicidal behavior.
al., 2018), Lebanon (Abu-Amsha & Armstrong, 2018), It should be noted that the problem of Russian military
and Germany (von Haumeder et al., 2019) have been aggression against the population of Ukraine attracted the
studied. They were found to have psychological attention of the general scientific community only after
problems such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic the large-scale invasion in February 2022. However, this
stress disorder (PTSD). military aggression began in 2014 with the seizure of
Social support, resilience, and mental health in low- Ukrainian territory, particularly the Donbass region and
intensity warfare were explored among a sample of the Crimean peninsula. Moreover, it has continued all
Palestinian university students living in the Gaza Strip this time.
(Veronese et al., 2022). Among these students, During this time, we have had the opportunity to conduct
researchers found an increase in mental disorders in the a number of psychological studies with military
form of anxiety, depression, and acute stress. personnel, cadets, and students. This allowed us to study
The role of spirituality and resilience in overcoming the dynamics of mental health of this category of people
difficulties and adapting was studied with Yemeni during military operations in Ukraine, which have been
refugee students in Saudi Arabia. Garoon et al. (2022) exacerbated in recent years by the emerging pandemic of
identified five basic coping and adaptation techniques coronavirus infection (Melnyk & Stadnik, 2018; Melnyk
used by students to improve their lives. Two techniques et al., 2019; 2020), as well as to continue its study in the
involved spiritual practices, and three techniques could new realities of military operations.
be classified as social and psychological – optimism, These studies correlate with the results of preliminary
building new relationships, and the role of family studies of Ukrainian refugee and internally displaced
support. students that began in 2022 (Kurapov et al., 2022;
An international study by Marchi et al. (2022) explored Stadnik et al., 2022). The negative impact of the war in
the problems of refugees and migrants in Europe. They Ukraine on the mental health of student youth is based on
found the presence of psychological stress leading to them.
mental health problems. We believe that the trends identified in this study will be
Scientists regularly conducted research on the impact of characteristic of refugee students regardless of their
war on people in various aspects of population migration country of study. Peculiarities of students’ psychological
(Mesa-Vieira et al., 2022), their mental health, etc. well-being and social adaptation will depend on their
The scale of Russian aggression against Ukraine was proximity to and involvement in the combat zone.
unprecedented since World War II, resulting in the Taking into account the identified peculiarities of
largest mass displacement of people from their homeland psychological state and social adaptation of cadets and
in modern history (Patel & Erickson, 2022). students in war conditions, practicing psychologists

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