ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1579781
This article is part of the Research TopicIntercultural Communication and International StudentsView all 10 articles
A Path to Resilience and Social Integration: Motivations of International Student Volunteers During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Wuhan
Provisionally accepted
- 1Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- 2Sharjah Education Academy -SEA, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- 3United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic emerged globally, resulting in the shutdown of schools and universities. The January 2020 lockdown in Wuhan, China, profoundly impacted residents' daily lives, particularly international students who faced restrictions within their campuses and dormitories. This qualitative study aimed to investigate the motivations of international student volunteers during Wuhan's COVID-19 lockdown and identify how this voluntary activity fostered resilience and social integration among them.The study adopts a qualitative approach using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 14 international PhD students at a university in China who volunteered during the three-month Wuhan lockdown. Data saturation was achieved through purposeful sampling. Data were transcribed, and thematic analysis was applied, with coding using NVivo 14.Results: After applying thematic analysis, three key themes were identified: (a) motivation for volunteering, (b) resilience through volunteering, and (c) social integration and community bonding through volunteering. These themes were explored in relation to the psychological needs defined in Self-Determination Theory Discussion: Our findings further indicate that coping via volunteering not only enhanced psychological resilience but also significantly facilitated social connections among culturally diverse groups. These findings highlight the importance of understanding volunteer motivations and experiences, providing valuable insights for universities and policymakers to develop strategies that enhance student support and community resilience during a crisis.
Keywords: volunteering, motivations, resilience, Social integration, COVID-19 lockdown
Received: 19 Feb 2025; Accepted: 19 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Malakouti, Abdallah and Alkaabi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Asma Khaleel Abdallah, Sharjah Education Academy -SEA, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
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