Abstract:

The situation of COVID-19 has negatively affected the balance of private and working life of every individual, resulting in decreased emotional well-being. In times of emotional tension, peer support plays an important role. In this context, the article focuses on empathy which encompasses an emotional response with a desire to help each other, and sympathy. Empathy can be as characterized by recognising and understanding other people’s emotions include understand others and show active interest in their problems. Based on the research of the scientific literature conducted within the framework of this study, a questionnaire was created to describe empathy, which includes three statements: “If necessary, I can provide support and advice to others”, “I accurately perceive the emotions of others” and “It's hard for me to look at other people suffering”. Empirical part of this study includes analysis of the results from the survey carried out in Lithuania, Latvia, Spain, Italy and Turkey within Erasmus+ Strategic partnership project "From Emotional Management to Emotional Resilience" (EMER). Results analysed by place of residence, employment, education and level of stress. The survey results show that 75.5% of respondents almost always can provide support and advice to others. It should be noted that the survey data show that people in cities (86%) can much more often provide support and advice to others than in regions (rural and small towns - 68.9%). In total 59.8% of respondents accurately perceive the emotions of others, 61.1% - enjoy helping to solve other people problems.

Keywords:

Empathy, emotions, emotional intelligence, stress.