Adaptive coping strategies and mechanisms used by students to combat pandemic stress

The present study aims to investigate the adaptive coping strategies and mechanisms of students-future teachers in combating the stress caused by the pandemic. The subjects of the investigation were 58 master students, from the Faculty of Letters, University of Craiova, who are also studying to become teachers. The tool we used was an opinion questionnaire, through which we investigated the opinion of the subjects on the stated issue and we inventoried the ways they used to manage stress. We aimed to identify the most frequent emotional reactions of the students to the effects generated by the measures and restrictions imposed during the pandemic period, which the students critically analyzed, from the perspective of the caused shortcomings, but also the offered opportunities. We also investigated the students' opinion about the specifics of the teaching activity, carried out online, compared to the one face to face. The results obtained from the application of the instrument confirmed the research hypotheses.