Page 162 - Ana Mlekuž in Igor Ž. Žagar, ur. • Raziskovanje v vzgoji in izobraževanju: Izobraževanje učiteljic in učiteljev za raziskovalno učenje in poučevanje. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut, 2024. Digitalna knjižnica, Dissertationes 48

raziskovanje v vzgoji in izobraževanju: izobraževanje učiteljic in učiteljev ...
protective factors, namely emotional self-efficacy and practicing mind-
fulness. Firstly, we are interested in how COVID-19 anxiety and mental
well-being changed during the first lockdown in Slovenia and second-
ly, whether emotional self-efficacy and practicing mindfulness play a pro-
tective role in maintaining one's mental well-being and lowering specific
COVID-19 anxiety.
The nation-wide lockdown due to the pandemic at the time of the
study provided opportunities to analyse possible protective factors for bet-
ter psychological responses during the specific time of increased stress re-
lated to the pandemic and lockdown. The findings are especially impor-
tant in light of the reoccurring lockdowns and their severe consequences
for mental health, which is also reflected in higher suicide rates (O’Connor
et al., 2020). The current study offers insights into supporting mechanisms
that can be used in future challenges related to mental health during the
COVID-19 pandemic, and other possible crises.
Mental well-being is a positive aspect (feeling good and functioning
well) of mental health (Tennant et al., 2007), and can be used as an indica-
tor of mental health. Conversely, anxiety is an indicator of poorer mental
health and lower mental well-being. The regulation of both mental well-be-
ing and anxiety is challenged in times of extreme stress. Cross-sectional
data has been used to document decreases in mental well-being during the
COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Mazza et al., 2020, Wang et al., 2021). For in-
stance, in adult samples from the USA, 55% of participants reported lower
mental well-being during the pandemic, compared to before the pandemic
(Otu et al., 2020). Furthermore, Wang et al. (2021) reported participants ex-
periencing physical symptoms resembling COVID-19 to be associated with
lower mental health. This seems to suggest that COVID-19 is perceived as a
threat and that affects adverse mental health outcomes. There are also sev-
eral longitudinal studies showing decreases in well-being corresponding
to the onset of COVID-19. There is longitudinal evidence for a decrease in
well-being compared to pre-COVID-19 from China (Wang et al., 2020a),
France (Pellerin & Raufaste, 2020), Spain (González-Sanguino et al., 2020),
the UK (O’Connor et al., 2020) and Israel (Kimhi et al., 2020). Some studies
have also followed mental health status through lockdowns. For instance,
in China, Wang et al. (2020b), reported that the levels of stress, anxiety
and depression initially found were maintained through the weeks of lock-
down. Mental health levels were maintained in Spain, at least for the first
two weeks of lockdown, followed by a decrease in anxiety, depression and

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