Adoption of coping strategies by Ukrainian civilians in the first fifteen days after the outbreak of military conflict in 2022

Abstract

The military conflict in Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022, has given rise to problem of developing coherent and effective strategies to address the psychological health and psychosocial support of the civilian population. The purpose of this study is to identify topical coping strategies that were used by civilians of northern Ukraine during the first 15 days in the zone of military conflict. Methods and materials. This study focuses on the interdisciplinary and integrative approaches. The materials that have been used to conduct this study are posts and comments to them, which contain linguistic markers of coping behavior (coping) and which have been posted during the period from 24.02.2022 to 10.03.2022 in the Ukrainian sector of the social network Facebook on the pages of the groups “Boyarka and community news”. Results. In order to study the dynamics and evolution of the priority use of certain coping strategies by civilians affected by the military conflict, the period during which the study was conducted was divided into time intervals of 5 days. The results of the study indicate the flexibility of the approach to the choice of coping strategies by the Ukrainian civilians during the first 15 days after the beginning of military conflict. During the first five days non-adaptive emotionally focused coping strategies become in high demand. These strategies are focused on psychological recovery and the resumption of logical thinking through venting negative emotions. On days 6-10 of military conflict the civilians turn to problem-oriented, collective in nature coping strategies, which are aimed to eliminate or minimize the effects of a stressful situation through consolidation. On days 11-15 after the beginning of military conflict coping strategies aimed at creating a positive emotional state become predominant. These coping strategies mitigate negative emotional responses and induce positive feelings of benevolence and solidarity. Conclusion. Under the conditions of the military conflict in Ukraine, emotionally-oriented coping strategies become more in demand than problemoriented ones.