Keywords
youth
group psychological support
online therapy
offline therapy
emotional distress
psychological well-being
resilience
technostress
digital stress
psychodiagnostics
formative experiment
How to Cite
Abstract
Personal crisis in adolescence and early adulthood, under conditions of wartime instability and digitalization, acquires a systemic character and is accompanied by increased emotional distress, identity fragmentation, and intensified technostress. The relevance of the study is determined by the need for an empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of different formats of psychological support, particularly the comparison of online and offline group interventions.
The aim of the study is to compare the short-term and long-term effectiveness of online and offline group psychological support for young people experiencing a personal crisis, based on indicators of crisis severity, emotional distress, resilience, subjective well-being, and digital stress.
The methodological framework is based on a formative experiment with three waves of measurement. The sample consisted of 90 participants with elevated levels of personal crisis, assigned to online, offline, and control groups. The intervention program included 10 group sessions and applied standardized psychodiagnostic instruments to assess emotional symptoms, psychological well-being, resilience, and technostress.
The results demonstrated statistically significant reductions in crisis severity, depression, anxiety, stress, emotional distress, and suicide risk in both experimental groups, along with increases in psychological well-being and resilience. At the follow-up stage, the online format showed a more pronounced reduction in personal crisis symptoms and a higher level of integration of self-regulation skills into everyday functioning. In both formats, a decrease in technostress and digital fatigue was observed.
The findings confirm the effectiveness of both online and offline group psychological support, while the remote format demonstrates additional advantages in terms of long-term stabilization and integration of therapeutic outcomes. The practical significance lies in the implementation of effective support models for youth in crisis contexts. Future research should focus on hybrid models and the optimization of program duration and intensity for different target groups.
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