The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health and wellbeing of post-secondary students. Resilience has been found to serve as a protective factor against mental distress among students during the pandemic. Despite the plethora of research that exists on post-secondary students during this crisis, most studies exploring students health and resilience are quantitative and lack diversity. To date, the lived experiences of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and resilience among graduate students representing diversity in age, gender, ethnicity, parental status, university, degree, and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic remain unknown. As a part of a larger study, the purpose of this qualitative paper was to understand the lived experiences of resilience and HRQOL among a diverse sample of graduate students approximately 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada. A total of 14 students participated in semi-structured interviews exploring HRQOL domains, factors that supported/undermined participants resilience, challenges/barriers to being resilient, and participants inner strength. Thematic analysis revealed 5 themes: (1) cultural influences on resilience; (2) the role of privilege/power in shaping resilience; (3) how life stage and past experiences support resilience; (4) how the COVID-19 pandemic has undermined the resilience of equity-deserving groups; and (5) the role of disability/chronic pain. This work presents a unique dichotomy between how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of some graduate students, while simultaneously creating opportunities for others to thrive. Findings from this work underscore the importance of creating inclusive and accessible educational spaces to support graduate students resilience and HRQOL currently, and in times of crisis.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes multiple forms of harm inflicted on an intimate partner. Experiences of IPV impact mental and physical health, social relationships, and parenting and resilience may play an important role in how women overcome these detrimental effects. There is little research on how resilience relates to mothers experience of IPV. We explored the role of resilience in the context of mothers who have experienced IPV in rural settings via semi-structured interviews with six women and 12 service providers. The relationship between resilience and motherhood was a common theme across all narratives. From this theme emerged three subthemes: 1) breaking the cycle of abuse; 2) giving children the best life; and 3) to stay or to leave: deciding for the kids. Findings underscore the importance of supporting rural women who experience violence in cultivating their resilience and consideration of policy changes which support trauma- and violence-informed care.

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health of individuals globally. However, less is known about the characteristics that contributed to some people having mental health problems during the pandemic, while others did not. Mental health problems can be understood on a continuum, ranging from acute (e.g., depression following a stressful event) to severe (e.g., chronic conditions that disrupt everyday functioning). Therefore, the purpose of this article was to generate profiles of adults who were more or less at risk for the development of mental health problems, in general, during the first 16-months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada. Data were collected via online surveys at two time points: April-July 2020 and July-August 2021; 2,188 adults (Mage = 43.15 years; SD = 8.82) participated. Surveys included a demographic questionnaire and four previously validated tools to measure participants mental health, subjective wellbeing, physical activity and sedentary behaviour, and sleep. A decision tree was generated at each time point for those with mental health problems, and those with no mental health problems. Results showed that subjective wellbeing was the biggest contributor to mental health status. Characteristics associated with no mental health problems among adults included having good wellbeing, being a good sleeper (quantity, quality, and patterns of sleep), and being over the age of 42. Characteristics associated with mental health problems included having poor wellbeing and being a poor sleeper. Findings revealed that specific characteristics interacted to contribute to adults mental health status during the first 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that wellbeing was the biggest contributor to mental health, researchers should focus on targeting adults wellbeing to improve their mental health during future health crises.