Life landscapes of the ukrainian civilians in the space of the war

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose is to identify widespread life landscapes with their value-sense and vector configuration in the context of war.

Methods. The method used is the conceptualization of war-experience in 169 Ukrainian civilians’ narratives with a descriptive, interpretative analysis, and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) conducted. The clarification of values, communication, professional activity, plans regarding future allowed to determine common landscapes.

Results. The three main types of life landscapes were defined: the landscape of service with the dominant context of volunteering, selfless help to the army (27,8%), the existential landscape with the dominant context of suffering, surviving (24,3 %) and the landscape of care with the dominant context of saving family, partnership (23,7 %). The less common is the landscape of self-development with the context of personal growth and the societal landscape with economic and political contexts. The existential landscape is the most common among young respondents; the landscape of care – among the group of early maturity; the landscape of service – among the group of middle and late maturity. Gender differences are as follows: in women, the landscapes of service, care, and existential are almost equally represented; in men, the landscape of service is the most popular; next, come the existential and societal landscapes. Dimensions of activity-passivity and narrowness-broadness were found out to be the most significant in multiple correspondence analysis.

Conclusions. The study offers an explanation of war experience through the prism of personal life landscapes. The determination of widespread landscapes with age and gender characteristics enables the targeted development of social and psychological support for victims.