Date of Graduation
12-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Adult and Lifelong Learning (EdD)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Counseling, Leadership, and Research Methods
Advisor/Mentor
Kacirek, Kit
Committee Member
Grover, Kenda S.
Second Committee Member
Maddox, James F.
Keywords
Adult eductation; COVID; Custodial fathers; Pandemic; Parenting; Self-directed learning
Abstract
The COVID pandemic was a time of unprecedented need for self-directed learning due to a conflagration of factors. These included the rapid global spread of the virus, leading to over 1.8 million deaths worldwide in 2020 alone according to the World Health Organization. In addition, traditional authorities such as the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control, along with individual health practitioners and institutions, failed to calm the panic due to a lack of agreement about recommended protections and treatments.
Simultaneously, due to COVID’s strain on the healthcare system, people were urged to refrain from visiting their doctors except in extreme circumstances. This limited their access to what is typically the most trusted resource for making healthcare decisions. This was particularly troubling for parents, whose primary concern is protecting their children. In the face of the uncertainty and fear, online self-directed learning became a widely used strategy for gaining information about how to prevent and treat COVID.
Although self-directed learning has been greatly facilitated by the advent of the World Wide Web beginning in 1993, it has also become a virtual minefield of contradictory information and opinions masquerading as facts. Combined with the politicization of COVID, and its high emotional context, COVID-related online self-directed learning deserves specialized study so that it can be improved for future public health crises.
Parents in particular represent a population for whom better online learning support is needed. Not only do parents feel strong concern for making the right decisions for their children’s health, but their decisions significantly impact overall public health in the case of a transmissible disease that spreads easily in schools and among families. Custodial fathers were selected as the population of study in order to address a gap in the literature, and one which deserves greater focus due to its significant growth in the United States since the 1970s (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023).
Citation
Bradley, S. (2024). Online Self-Directed Learning About COVID by Custodial Fathers in the U.S.. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/5598
