Tamara M. Stojanović

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress on healthcare professionals worldwide. Since resilience and mentalizing capacity play very important preventive roles when it comes to mental health, the main goal of this study was to determine whether the capacity for mentalizing and resilience could explain the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted in Serbia on a sample of 406 healthcare workers (141 doctors and 265 nurses) aged 19 to 65 (M = 40.11, SD = 9.41). The participants’ mental health status was evaluated using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale—DASS-42. The Reflective Functioning Questionnaire was used to evaluate the capacity for mentalizing. Resilience was assessed using the Brief Resilience Scale. The results of the correlation analysis showed that there were negative correlations between resilience and all three dimensions of mental health status: depression, anxiety, and stress. Hypermentalizing was negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, and stress, while hypomentalizing was positively correlated. Hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that both resilience and hypermentalizing were significant negative predictors of depression, anxiety, and stress, and that hypomentalizing was a significant positive predictor of depression, anxiety, and stress. Furthermore, socioeconomic status was a significant negative predictor of depression, anxiety, and stress. Marital status, number of children, and work environment were not statistically significant predictors of any of the three dimensions of mental health status among the healthcare workers in this study. There is an urgent need to establish and implement strategies to foster resilience and enhance the capacity for mentalizing among healthcare workers in order to minimize the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.

The paper discusses the importance of using ICT in the context of education and art. A special emphasis is placed on teaching and fine arts. The paper points to the specific features of ICT as a source of widened opportunities for expression, communication, and perception in teaching and art, as well as to it being a support in the engagement and motivation of all participants in the educational or creative process. Furthermore, it points to the necessity of the development of teachers’ professional and digital competencies for us to harmonise the teaching process with modern social life and thus essentially improve the quality of educa- tional work. It also deals with new tools, programs, and the use of technologies in the process of creating art. The advantages of using ICT in terms of domains and opportunities in the process of learning are highlighted, as well as the potential that they have to transform the process of education or artistic creation. Fine arts are the sphere ICT has improved and could improve even more. ICT has been used by architects and designers to facilitate the process of creating and promoting their skills. The manner in which fine arts are taught nowadays is largely different from that of the past. While students once had to rely entirely on their teacher, textbooks, and encyclopedias, today’s students have more resources made available by ICT, such as databases about artists’ lives and works or high-quality images that can be enlarged and thoroughly examined, all of which may enhance their own creativity and perception.

Summary: The paper points out the needs and possibilities of adopting national and global values in school. The psychological point of view on values and the phases of learning about them is emphasized, as well as on theories that shed light on the process of learning and realizing values. Special emphasis in the work is placed on didactic systems that contribute to quality teaching and that greatly facilitate the work of teachers in the realization of the adoption of national and global values.