Examining Hope and Meaning in Life among Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: The aim was to examine women’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of hope and the meaning of life.Materials and Methods: The study population consisted of 384 women aged 18–65 years living in Turkey. Participants were reached using the random snowball method and Google Forms. Data were collected using the Socio-demographic Information Form, The Meaning in Life Questionnaire, and Dispositional Hope Scale. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, number, and percentage), Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, Mann–Whitney U test were used. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.Results: 43.6% of the participants were aged between 18 and 26. A statistically significant, moderately positive correlation was found between the “presence of meaning” and “agency thinking” score (r=0.578, p<0.001). A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the “presence of meaning” and “dispositional hope” score (r=0.604, p<0.001). No statistically significant relationship was found between the “search for meaning” and “pathways thinking” scores (r = 0.035, p = 0.496). No statistically significant relationship was found between the “search for meaning” and “agency thinking” scores (r = 0.009, p = 0.855).Conclusion: It has been concluded that women’s mental health is at risk during the pandemic, that feelings of hope and meaning contribute to women’s psychological resilience, but that these psychological resources need to be supported. These findings form the basis for practices to improve women’s mental health and emphasise the importance of psychosocial support programmes for women in the postpandemic period.