Page 164 - 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 ...
since it is a mental attitude that allows non-reactivity in the present mo-
ment, no matter the content of one’s experience (Lindsay & Creswell, 2017).
Several studies have also longitudinally investigated the protective
factors for well-being and related constructs during the lockdown. For in-
stance, Pellerin and Raufaste (2020) investigated week to week changes
in several dimensions of well-being. They also examined the role of sev-
eral protective factors, including self-efficacy, hope, gratitude, acceptance,
and wisdom, and reported their beneficial role in well-being. Among oth-
er things, they also reported the positive effects of self-efficacy on psycho-
logical and inner well-being through a reduction in the negative effect of
health threat. As relevant to our theme, acceptance was also beneficial for
emotional and inner well-being. In a two-wave longitudinal study during
the lockdown, Prinzing et al. (2020) found that resilience (associated with
emotional self-efficacy) had beneficial effects for coping with the stress im-
posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

1.2 Current study
Considering the unique time of the COVID-19 pandemic and its link to
psychological functioning, the aim of our study was to examine week to
week changes in positive and negative aspects of psychological function-
ing, COVID-19 anxiety and mental well-being, during the first lockdown
in Slovenia. The present study is the first to analyse psychological func-
tioning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia using a longitudinal
design. Our basic assumption was that the threat of the COVID-19 dis-
ease and very sudden and severe restrictions, as well as the necessary rap-
id lifestyle changes (e.g., working from home, social isolation, the closure
of organised leisure activities, shops, restaurants, and social events), meant
that mental well-being would be at its lowest point at the beginning of the
lockdown and would slowly increase through the weeks of lockdown; the
opposite would be true for COVID-19 anxiety - it would be at its highest
point at the beginning of the lockdown and would slowly decrease over
the following weeks of lockdown. We are also interested in whether this
week-to-week change is affected by emotional self-efficacy and practicing
mindfulness. We hypothesise that emotional self-efficacy and practicing
mindfulness predict higher initial levels of mental well-being, as well as
lower initial levels of COVID-19 anxiety, and more stable trajectories dur-
ing the lockdown.

164