Submit an article
Open Access 23 June 2025

Digital well-being of Ukrainians experiencing full-scale war: A cross-sectional study

Maryna Dvornyk-Kozachinska
Mykola Sliusarevskyi
https://doi.org/10.61727/sssppj/1.2025.16
Pages: 16-24
Received 16.02.2025
Revised 29.04.2025
Accepted 23.06.2025

Abstract

While the rapid digital transformation in Ukraine allows the development of numerous online services, the focus on digital well-being to preserve citizens’ health and life due to the excessive exposition of numerous tragic events in digital space stays mostly uncovered. The purpose of the work was to measure the significant peculiarities of digital well-being manifestation among different sections of sociodemographic characteristics, healthy lifestyle outlook, and wartime experiences of Ukrainians. An online survey and non-parametric analysis of variance were conducted, with a sample of 6,042 cases. The study revealed that younger respondents, women, and those involved in humanitarian and educational spheres demonstrated higher sensitivity to digital boundaries and emotional saturation of online content. Individuals who experienced forced migration or lived under occupation reported lower indicators of overall digital well-being, particularly in the domains of focus and purpose. Conversely, those engaged in health-related and volunteer activities exhibited higher levels of digital purpose and meaningful connection, highlighting the protective effect of active civic engagement during the war. The results suggested that targeted support for vulnerable groups and integration of digital hygiene into public health policy are crucial for fostering resilience in the digital space. The features of the manifestation of digital well-being components (overall well-being, boundary, communication, focus, connection, purpose) were configurated according to the following parameters: socio-demographic indicators (gender, age, education level, employment field, residence, living conditions, income level); attitudes towards healthy lifestyle (stage of greatest difficulty, combination of practices, degree of adherence); specific experiences during a full-scale invasion (forced migration, combat experience, providing medical care, human rights activities, living under occupation, experiencing shelling, experiencing flooding). The practical value of the study is seen in the perspective of developing a digital well-being promotion strategy on a national level

digital engagement psychological security socioeconomic status healthy lifestyle Russian-Ukrainian war war experiences

References

  1. Büchi, M. (2024). Digital well-being theory and research. New Media & Society, 26(1), 172-189. doi: 10.1177/14614448211056851.
  2. Burr, C., Taddeo, M., & Floridi, L. (2020). The ethics of digital well-being: A thematic review. Science and Engineering Ethics, 26(4), 2313-2343. doi: 10.1007/s11948-020-00175-8.
  3. Cavallini, M.C., Tirelli, V., & Derba, F. (2023). Virtual exposure to war in Ukraine: Thoughts and emotions of Italian adolescents with emotional difficulties. Journal of Clinical & Developmental Psychology, 5(1-3), 40-52.
  4. Damant, J., Knapp, M., Freddolino, P., & Lombard, D. (2016). Effects of digital engagement on the quality of life of older people. Health and Social Care in the Community, 25(6), 1679-1703. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12335.
  5. Declaration of Helsinki. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declarationof-helsinki/.
  6. Dvornyk, M., Lazorenko, B., Larina, T., Hromova, H., Pohorilska, N., Savinov, V., & Hundertailo, Y. (2024). Healthy lifestyle of Ukrainians during the war: Primary analysis of survey data. Psychological Prospects Journal, 43, 80102. doi: 10.29038/2227-1376-2024-43-dvo.
  7. Dvornyk, M.S. (2019). Smartphone applications usage in conditions of population’s psychotraumatization. Information Technologies and Learning Tools, 73(5), 236-248. doi: 10.33407/itlt.v73i5.2760.
  8. Greco, F., & Polli, A. (2021). Security perception and people well-being. Social Indicators Research, 153, 741-758. doi: 10.1007/s11205-020-02341-8.
  9. Katerynych, P. (2024). Digital escapism: How war influences online streaming habits among Ukrainian youth. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.29051.32806.
  10. Khvorostianov, N. (2023). “Is everyone alive?”: Smartphone use by Ukrainian refugee children. New Media & Society, 27(1), 246-262. doi: 10.1177/1461444823117365.
  11. Lindström, N.B., Razmerita, L., Prokopenko, S., & Popovich, N. (2024). Building digital resilience in major shocks: How Ukrainian organizations enact digital transformation in times of war. In Proceedings of the 57th Hawaii international conference on system sciences (pp. 6813-6822). Honolulu: HICSS. doi: 10125/107202.
  12. Lu, X., Yao, Y., & Jin, Y. (2022). Digital exclusion and functional dependence in older people: Findings from five longitudinal cohort studies. EClinicalMedicine, 54, article number 101708. doi: 10.1016/j. eclinm.2022.101708.
  13. Namani, E., & Bagherian Kakhki, M. (2019). Mediating role of psychological security in the relationship between optimism and self-compassion with psychological well-being in veterans’ spouses. Iranian Journal of War and Public Health, 11(2), 101-108. doi: 10.29252/ijwph.11.2.108.
  14. Nguyen, M.H., Büchi, M., & Geber, S. (2024). Everyday disconnection experiences: Exploring people’s understanding of digital well-being and management of digital media use. New Media & Society, 26(6), 3657-3678. doi: 10.1177/14614448221105428.
  15. Persaud, R.B. (2022). Human security. In A. Collins (Ed.), Contemporary security studies (pp. 139-153). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/hepl/9780198804109.003.0010.
  16. Reva, M., & Titova, T. (2024). Peculiarities of post-traumatic growth of combatants with different attitudes towards the future. Psychology and Personality, 14(1), 129-140. doi: 10.33989/2226-4078.2024.1.298774.
  17. Sentient Digital & Mind over Tech. (2021). Digital wellbeing self assessment tool. Retrieved from https://bit. ly/4glhL70.
  18. Smits, M., Kim, C.M., van Goor, H., & Ludden, G.D. (2022). From digital health to digital well-being: Systematic scoping review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(4), article number e33787. doi: 10.2196/33787.
  19. So, W.W.Y., Woo, B.P.Y., Wong, C., & Yip, P.S.F. (2023). Gender differences in the relationships between meaning in life, mental health status and digital media use during Covid-19. BMC Public Health, 23(1), article number 1770. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16672-x.
  20. Svensson, R., Johnson, B., & Olsson, A. (2022). Does gender matter? The association between different digital media activities and adolescent well-being. BMC Public Health, 22(1), article number 273. doi: 10.1186/s12889022-12670-7.
  21. Thompson, R.R., Jones, N.M., Holman, E.A., & Silver, R.C. (2019). Media exposure to mass violence events can fuel a cycle of distress. Science Advances, 5(4), article number eaav3502. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aav3502.
  22. Tilikina, N., Pesha, I., & Andriuchenko, T. (2024). Needs and problems of war veterans and defendants in Ukraine under the conditions of marital state. Humanities Studios: Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, 12(2), 161-175. doi: 10.31548/hspedagog15(2).2024.161-175.
  23. Vermote, B., Waterschoot, J., Morbée, S., Van der Kaap-Deeder, J., Schrooyen, C., Soenens, B., Ryan, R., & Vansteenkiste, M. (2022). Do psychological needs play a role in times of uncertainty? Associations with well-being during the Covid-19 crisis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 23(1), 257-283. doi: 10.1007/s10902-02100398-x.
  24. Zakirova, S.G. (2023). The practice of digitization of social communication in the conditions of martial law in Ukraine. In Social communications in the conditions of globalization processes: State, trends, perspectives: International scientific conference proceedings (p. 14-17). Ternopil: Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University.
  25. Wilcox, L., Shelby, R., Veeraraghavan, R., Haimson, O.L., Erickson, G.C., Turken, M., & Gulotta, R. (2023). Infrastructuring care: How trans and non-binary people meet health and well-being needs through technology. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-17). New York: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3544548.3581040.

Suggested citation

Dvornyk-Kozachinska, M., & Sliusarevskyi, M. (2025). Digital well-being of Ukrainians experiencing full-scale war: A cross-sectional study. Scientific Studios on Social and Political Psychology, 31(1), 16-24. https://doi.org/10.61727/sssppj/1.2025.16

Type to search...

Press Enter to search or ESC to close