Intolerance of Uncertainty Experienced by Faculty of Education Students in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Strategies to Cope With Uncertainty

Introduction

A new type of coronavirus (2019-nCov/COVID-19) that emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and then spread across the world within a short time has created great concerns for health and has made the implementation of some changes necessary. The first public statement regarding the detection of the first case in Turkey was made on 11 March 2020 (Ministry of Health, 2020), and, two days later, it was announced that certain measures were being taken across the country against the spread of the virus. It was explained in this announcement that public employees would not be able to go abroad, sporting events had been postponed, and those coming from abroad would be kept under quarantine; it was also explained that face-to-face education was stopped for two weeks in primary, middle, and high schools and for three weeks in universities (Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, 2020). However, because the pandemic continued to spread rapidly and restrictions were imposed on people of certain ages in this process, the Council of Higher Education (CoHE, 2020a) issued a new statement announcing that the spring term education process would be continued only in the form of distance education, open education, and digital education. However, this explanation did not provide clear information about how applied courses would be conducted or how and in what way students would participate in the distance learning process. In the process, it was stated that university students were given the right to freeze or postpone enrollment due to problems in the infrastructure or students’ lack of access to courses and technological shortcomings (CoHE, 2020b). Although there was no clear explanation about the faculties that would offer applied courses or how the courses in the relevant departments of those faculties would be conducted, it was announced that the deficiencies of the students in the practicum in courses carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Education in education faculties would be compensated for via lessons, assignments, and preparation of files (CoHE, 2020c).

Agendas change rapidly with regard to education and there are uncertainties associated with it, which negatively impacts individuals with low tolerance to uncertainty. Situations of uncertainty prevent individuals from acting and cause stress and anxiety; unexpected events are felt by individuals as negative situations, and uncertainty becomes quite unbearable for some individuals (Buhr & Dugas, 2002). In addition, prolonged uncertainty causes anxiety and fear in individuals and prevents the individual from being able to think positively (Satici et al., 2020). The COVID-19 outbreak not only physically affects human health; it has also been stated that it can lead to an increase in the stress of individuals and an increase in psychological problems such as depression, fear, or anxiety (Pakpour & Griffiths, 2020). Therefore, it is thought that research to be carried out on the determination and prevention of such possible situations that the outbreak may cause is important. In this context, it has been deemed necessary to understand the state of intolerance of uncertainty and to determine the levels of individuals’ intolerance of uncertainty.