Adult Education: A Sustainable Model for the Reduction of Psychosocial and Educational Risks Caused by COVID-19

Abstract

Education for health and sustainability has to be understood from a new perspective beyond the traditional conceptual limits. Thus, following the lines of the 2030 sustainable development goals, we examine how permanent education and adult education can become a fundamental element for the achievement of said objectives, serving as a neutraliser of psychosocial risk factors. In other words, a quality education throughout life becomes a dynamic factor for the development of lifestyle habits and healthy aging, purposes that during the pandemic and the state of alarm have been altered by confinement, closure of educational centres, and methodological changes. The objective of the study is to analyse whether the maintenance of educational activity has influenced the psychological state of people, reducing, neutralising, or increasing the psychosocial risk factors linked to confinement and the evolution of COVID-19. For this, an observational study was developed, taking as a case the Universidad Popular Dos Hermanas (Seville, Spain), with a sample of 384 learners over the age of 16 years. The variables considered were sociodemographic means and technical tools, assessment of the institution, teacher assessment, and psychosocial variables related to possible effects caused by the context. The data were collected through a self-developed questionnaire. Descriptive analyses and bivariate correlations were carried out. Methodological diversity and positive correlations were shown in terms of the institution’s function, teaching assessment, maintenance of activity, and reduction of psychopathological risks.