The Effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Mindfulness of Women Academics: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

COVID-19, which turned into a global pandemic, has spread worldwide in a short time and adversely affected individuals and countries economically, socially, and psychologically; academics are not an exception to this situation. Academics are one of the groups that feel the situation most clearly in this period. This study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mindfulness of women academics. The study employed the phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods, to understand the experiences of women academics more deeply. The study group of the research consisted of 11 women academics who were selected using the criterion sampling method to achieve the maximum diversity in working in state and private universities with different titles. Due to the difficulties caused by the pandemic in conducting face-to-face meetings, the data were collected through semi-structured online interviews that lasted almost 45-50 minutes. The study's main question was "What are the family, work, and personal life experiences of women academics from a mindfulness perspective during the COVID-19 pandemic?" Phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. According to findings, two main points emerged about the structure and essence of the phenomenon: Cognitive and emotional, and they were divided into sub-dimensions as pre- COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 periods.