Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: May 28, 2021
Date Accepted: Feb 5, 2022
Date Submitted to PubMed: Feb 16, 2022
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Influence of forced online distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic on the perceived stress of postsecondary students: Cross-sectional study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The COVID-19 induced closure of postsecondary educational institutions brought many changes in almost all areas of study, with study mostly taking place online and at a distance. One of the most often reported side effects of forced online distant education is the impact on students' mental health.
Objective:
The aim of the study was to assess the perceived stress of Slovenian students to identify the online study related factors affecting and/or acting as a covariate during the COVID-19 induced lockdown.
Methods:
Data collection was conducted through a self-reported survey as part of a large cross-sectional study based on data collected from postsecondary students from a number of higher educational institutions. A random sample consisted of 4,455 individuals. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), Satisfaction with Online Study Scale (SAT-5) and Feelings Toward Study Obligations Scale (FETSOS) were used to assess the constructs and the relations observed within the study.
Results:
The results indicate that more than half of the respondents reported high levels of stress. The difference in means of reported levels of perceived stress between genders are statistically significant (F (N = 4,454, df =2) = 56.719, p < .001). Overall, the results suggest a decline in motivation to study (M = 5.37; SD = 1.86), the quality of internet and mobile connections (M = 5.32; SD = 1.76) and presence of distractors in the study space (M = 4.97; SD = 1.81), to be three main factors related to the students’ negative emotions associated with timeliness, performance, and quality of study obligations. Furthermore, the results show that level of satisfaction with online study influences stress in such a way that the higher the satisfaction, the lower the stress. Moreover, the more positive feelings connected with timeliness, performance, and quality of study obligations the students felt, the more satisfaction they reported with online study, and thus indirectly lower stress and less negative feelings.
Conclusions:
The findings of the present study call for implementing structures and measures targeted at stress reduction, as well working conditions, and pedagogy with regard to forced online distance education.
Citation
