Perception of academic stress on exposure of online learning during Covid-19 among nursing students

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 disease is causing a slew of public health responses around the world. Closures of schools, colleges, and universities are among the most severe social (physical) barriers utilized to restrict the spread of this deadly disease. Aim of the study: the aim of this survey- cross sectional study was to assess the level of Perceived of academic stress on exposure of online learning during Covid-19 among nursing students across in India.  Research Methodology: A Google Form distributed via a WhatsApp group and mail, by convenient sampling technique those who were interested to provide their consent filled out the Google Form. A total of 405 nursing students who were enrolled in GNM, B.Sc.(N), PB. BSc (N), and MSc (N) program participated in this study. Tool used in this study are as (a) demographic profile of the participating nursing students and (b) self structured Perceived academic stress scale (20 items) was used to assess the level of online perceived academic stress.  Results and interpretations: Majority of participants were between the ages of 21 and 25, 81.7% were female, 360 (88.9%) were single, 272 (67.2%) were enrolled in a BSc nursing program, and 152 (37.5%) were in the first year of the program. Additionally, 329 (81.2%) participants were from private institutes, and 206 (50.9%) participants lived in urban areas and 257 (63.5%) majority of the participants from Madhya Pradesh state. Of those surveyed, majority 184 (45.4%) said they were satisfied with their home learning environment. On the other hand, 84 (20.7%) participants were satisfied with their online learning environments for meeting their academic requirements, while 265 (65.5%) people were dissatisfied with online learning environments to complete their requirements.  239 (59% of the total) reported moderate levels of stress, 88 (21.7%) reported mild levels, and 78 (19.3%) reported severe levels, with mean and standard deviation values of 135 and 73.65, respectively.  There was a significant association between perceived online academic stress and the number of online classes exposed per day (c² = 20.733, df= 6 with p = 0.002) and the duration of exposure of online classes per day (c² =20.734, df= 6 & p= 0.002). Conclusion: This research highlights that online perceived academic stress had a significant association with students’ exposure of online classes and duration of exposure / day and academic performance in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.