Self-Compassion and Spirituality Practices: Students Dealing with the Covid-19 Context

The crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic has motivated investigation on the ways people deal with unexpected and stressful moments. This work seeks to analyze meditation-focused spirituality practices and levels of self-compassion of undergraduate students during the Covid-19 pandemic. It aims at understanding how such constructs may positively affect the way university students have faced this crisis. A survey was carried out with 650 undergraduate students, applying a questionnaire. Questions asked about sociodemographic profile and well-being and meditation practices, in addition to the Self-Compassion Scale, validated in Brazil by Souza and Hutz (2016). Results point to greater vulnerability of students during the pandemic and indicate the importance of spirituality practices, such as meditation, in facing the context of social isolation. Results also suggest that a more regularity of self-care and wellness practices is associated with higher self-compassion among respondents. This study provides theoretical and managerial contributions by examining the role of spirituality and self-compassion practices as strategies for coping with very stressful contexts, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.