Social media and self-resilience during pandemics: experiences from youth volunteers in Rwanda
Abstract The current study intends to investigate how social media may have played a considerable role in the youth volunteers’ self-resilience during the hard times of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Huye district of Rwanda. This study adopted a qualitative approach. Data were collected through 21 int...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Discover Social Science and Health |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s44155-025-00223-3 |
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| author | Bimenyimana Pierre Celestin Ronald Mayora Synnes Rutembesa Eugene Paul Bukuluki |
| author_facet | Bimenyimana Pierre Celestin Ronald Mayora Synnes Rutembesa Eugene Paul Bukuluki |
| author_sort | Bimenyimana Pierre Celestin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The current study intends to investigate how social media may have played a considerable role in the youth volunteers’ self-resilience during the hard times of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Huye district of Rwanda. This study adopted a qualitative approach. Data were collected through 21 interviews with youth volunteers, local leaders, leaders from the central government, and opinion leaders among citizens of the Huye district in Rwanda selected on a network and purposive sampling bases. The data analysis followed a narrative thematic analysis inspired by four elements of self-resilience by Jurgens and Helsloot. The findings revealed that social media were instrumental in information gathering, information dissemination, facilitating collaborative problem-solving, and coping with new situations, such as how people managed to handle their daily initiatives without meeting physically. Nevertheless, there is an acknowledgment that social media can also, at times, act as a distraction rather than a beneficial tool in the context of a pandemic. The study brings insight into how social media can be effective in social work community interventions, especially working with young people. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2891bd8f595d4e4089cfbf47904c111d |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2731-0469 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Springer |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Discover Social Science and Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-2891bd8f595d4e4089cfbf47904c111d2025-08-20T03:09:20ZengSpringerDiscover Social Science and Health2731-04692025-05-015111610.1007/s44155-025-00223-3Social media and self-resilience during pandemics: experiences from youth volunteers in RwandaBimenyimana Pierre Celestin0Ronald Mayora Synnes1Rutembesa Eugene2Paul Bukuluki3University of RwandaUniversity of AgderUniversity of RwandaMakerere UniversityAbstract The current study intends to investigate how social media may have played a considerable role in the youth volunteers’ self-resilience during the hard times of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Huye district of Rwanda. This study adopted a qualitative approach. Data were collected through 21 interviews with youth volunteers, local leaders, leaders from the central government, and opinion leaders among citizens of the Huye district in Rwanda selected on a network and purposive sampling bases. The data analysis followed a narrative thematic analysis inspired by four elements of self-resilience by Jurgens and Helsloot. The findings revealed that social media were instrumental in information gathering, information dissemination, facilitating collaborative problem-solving, and coping with new situations, such as how people managed to handle their daily initiatives without meeting physically. Nevertheless, there is an acknowledgment that social media can also, at times, act as a distraction rather than a beneficial tool in the context of a pandemic. The study brings insight into how social media can be effective in social work community interventions, especially working with young people.https://doi.org/10.1007/s44155-025-00223-3Social mediaYouth volunteersSelf-resiliencePandemicsRwanda |
| spellingShingle | Bimenyimana Pierre Celestin Ronald Mayora Synnes Rutembesa Eugene Paul Bukuluki Social media and self-resilience during pandemics: experiences from youth volunteers in Rwanda Discover Social Science and Health Social media Youth volunteers Self-resilience Pandemics Rwanda |
| title | Social media and self-resilience during pandemics: experiences from youth volunteers in Rwanda |
| title_full | Social media and self-resilience during pandemics: experiences from youth volunteers in Rwanda |
| title_fullStr | Social media and self-resilience during pandemics: experiences from youth volunteers in Rwanda |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social media and self-resilience during pandemics: experiences from youth volunteers in Rwanda |
| title_short | Social media and self-resilience during pandemics: experiences from youth volunteers in Rwanda |
| title_sort | social media and self resilience during pandemics experiences from youth volunteers in rwanda |
| topic | Social media Youth volunteers Self-resilience Pandemics Rwanda |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/s44155-025-00223-3 |
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