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Folia Geographica 2023, 65/2, pp. 78–102

SELF-REPORTED HEALTH OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN SLOVAKIA DURING THE END PHASE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND ITS IMPACT ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE

František MURGAŠ A, Anna TIRPÁKOVÁ B, František PETROVIČ C*

Received: September 9, 2023 | Revised: December 15, 2023 | Accepted: December 20, 2023

Paper No. 23-65/2-684

A Technical University of Liberec, Liberec, Department of Geography, Czech Republic
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1328-2292
frantisek.murgas@tul.cz

B Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Department of Mathematics, Nitra, Slovakia
Tomas Bata University, Faculty of Humanities, Zlín, Czechia
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4432-3528
atirpakova@ukf.sk

C* Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Nitra, Slovakia
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2364-3610
fpetrovic@ukf.sk (corresponding author)



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FULL TEXT

Abstract
In the paper, we focused on the self-reported health of university students and its relationship to the quality of their life. Self-reported health is part of the growing interest in non-medical understanding of health. Two objectives and three research hypotheses are established. The first goal is to find out what the self-reported health of university students in Slovakia is during the period in the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before starting the measurement, the following research hypotheses were formulated: H1: Respondents will evaluate health on a scale of 0-10 with values of 8 and higher and H2: Differences in self-reported health evaluation of male and female students will be low. The second goal is to determine the impact of self-reported health on students‘ quality of life and which of the proposed variables are predictors of self-reported health. In connection with the second goal, the third research hypothesis H3 is formulated: The impact of self-reported health on the quality of life of students measured by the correlation coefficient reaches a value of 0.30 – 0.69, i.e. mean value. Self-reported health, quality of life and other variables are measured on a scale of 0-10. The Shapiro-Wilk test and the non-parametric Wilcoxon one-sample test are used in the measurements. The result is knowledge of high values of self-reported health of men and women, hypothesis H1 was fulfilled. The correlation between health and quality of life is higher than 0.3, self-reported health of men and women is a predictor of their quality of life. Hypothesis H3 was fulfilled.

Key words
Quality of life, self-reported health, non-medical understanding of health of university students, COVID-19 pandemic.

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