BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

The entire world is experiencing the desolation and devastation of a deadly virus, the new disease of COVID- 19 emerging from new corona virus SARS – COV 2, has spread throughout the world, affecting more than 200 countries and hundreds of people, the discouraging morbidity and mortality¹.

The clinical picture of patient with COVID-19 has a pattern of respiratory dominance and depends on the tropism of the virus towards the target organs of the body including lungs, gastrointestinal, kidney and cardiac tissue². The pandemic COVID-19 has spread worldwide and compelled the human society to maintaining social distancing. It has significantly disrupted the education sector which is critically determinant of a country's economic features. COVID-19 has created many challenges and opportunities for the education institutes to strengthen their technology and infrastructure. The lockdown has compelled many educational institutes to cancel their classes, examination, internship etc. and to choose the online mode.³ A study was conducted on the impact of the lockdown on learning status undergraduate and postgraduate students during COVID-19 pandemic at West Bengal, India. There were 232 samples. The study concluded that majority of students, 42% were suffered from stress, depression and anxiety. Most of the students, 32.4% students were facing problems related to poor internet connectivity, and 12.6% had unfavourable environment at home. Increasing eyesight problem with frequent headaches are attributed to prolonged screen time⁴. In addition, increasing anxiety and depression due to home confinement along with sleep disorders are also on the rise. Children attending online classes at home are not bound to having classroom professionalism.⁶

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

The impact of online education can be a concern for many students. The students can easily overcome the challenges posted by online learning. They may develop a positive impact such as improvement in collaborative work, improved the use of electronic media for sharing the information. They may improve the better time management and use of learning management system.⁵Rise in online meeting enhanced the digital literacy. They may provide demand for open and distance learning. The major struggle faced by the children are loss of motivation and sense of self-discipline needed to study online. They may feel awkward due to lack of interaction with the peers. Some of the physical impacts are overweight, obesity, back pain, headache, hearing problem, increasing eyesight problem and negative mental impacts are stress, depression, anxiety, social isolation and sleep disorders⁷. The psychological impact may be due to poor internet connection, poor economic condition, lack of favourable environment for study and increased responsibility of parent to educate their child, like a face-to-face interaction¹¹. Various studies reported that the online education poses severe impacts on the students and one of the major impacts is on mental health. The researcher also experienced the same situation during online education. Hence the researcher felt that there is need to conduct a study on the impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A study to assess the impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among college students of selected nursing colleges at Kottayam district.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To assess the impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among college students.

2. To find out the association between the impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among college students with selected demographic variables.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION:

Assess: In this study it is the activity to find out the impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among college students.

Impact: In this study it refers to the negative effect of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental Health.

Online education: In this study it refers to the form of teaching learning process which is delivered and administered using Internet.

COVID-19 pandemic: In this study it refers to an infectious disease occurring globally causing severe acute respiratory syndrome and caused by coronavirus.

Mental health: In this study it refers to the emotional and psychological wellbeing of college students and their ability to cope up with stress.

College students: In this study it refers to first year, second year, third year and fourth year BSc nursing students of Little Lourdes College of Nursing, Kidangoor.

Assumption:

· There is an impact of online education on mental health during COVID-19 pandemic among college students

· There is an association between impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among college students with the selected demographic variables

Hypothesis:

H0: There is no significant impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among college students.

H1: There is an association between the impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among college students with the selected demographic variables.

Delimitation:

· The study is limited to 40 samples.

· The study is limited to BSc Nursing students of selected nursing colleges in Kottayam District.

· The study uses simple random sampling technique which limits the generalization of findings

METHODOLOGY:

The research design applied for this study is descriptive design. The study is planned to conduct at Little Lourdes College of Nursing, Kidangoor. Population selected for the study is B. Sc nursing students of selected nursing colleges, Kottayam district. In this study, the sample is B. Sc nursing students of all batches in Little Lourdes College of Nursing, Kidangoor. The sample was collected using simple random technique from four batches and 40 were selected.

The following are the various inclusion criterions used in the present study.

· Students who have attended the online classes

· Students who are interested to participate in the research study

Instrument:

The instrument for the study is developed after thoroughly reviewing various literature and articles pertaining impact of online education on mental health. Data was collected by using validated structured tool consist of section A and section B.

Section A: Demographic variables includes age, sex, religion, year of study, area of living, residence, type of family, number of siblings, number of siblings undergoing online education, educational status of father, educational status of mother, occupation of father, occupation of mother, monthly family income and internet facility available.

Section B: Rating scale consist of 30 statements regarding the impact of online education on mental health.

The data was collected using online rating scale on 26 June 2021. The tool was sent to the students online and students were asked to fill the form and the answer were collected. The reliability co- efficient was computed using Spearman Brown correlation, “r” obtained was 0.96 and the tool was found to be reliable.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS:

Findings related to demographic variables:

The present study was conducted among students of Little Lourdes College of Nursing, Kidangoor with varying demographic variables such as age, gender, religion, year of study, area of living, residence, type of family, number of siblings, number of siblings undergoing online education, educational status of father, educational status of mother, occupation of father, occupation of mother, monthly family income, kind of internet connection used for online education. The data obtained revealed that 42.5% of students who participated in the study was in the age of 21 yrs, 90% of students were females, 85% students are Christians and 25% students are participated for the study from each batch. Majority of sample,80% were living in rural area, 77.5% students were stay with their parents, 82.5% students were from nuclear family. Majority of sample, 37.5% student’s siblings doesn’t undergo online education, 42.5% student’s father’s had secondary education, 50% of student’s mothers have higher secondary education,. 42.5% of student’s fathers are self-employed, 60% of student’s mothers are house wife, 40% of student’s have monthly income of <15,000, 85% of student’s use mobile data for their online education.

Findings related to impact of online education during COVID 19 pandemic on mental health among college students

Table 1: Frequency and Percentage distribution of impact of online education during COVID 19 pandemic on mental health among college students N=40

Impact	Frequency	Percentage
Mild negative impact	5	12.5
Moderate negative impact	13	32.5
Severe negative impact	20	50
Critical negative impact	2	5
Grand Total	40	100

Figure 1: Percentage distribution of impact of online education during COVID 19 pandemic on mental health among college students

Data shows that among the 40 samples,5 samples (12.5%) were having mild negative impact,13 samples (32.5%) were having moderate negative impact,20 samples (50%) were having severe negative impact and 2 samples (5%) were having critical negative impact.

There is significant impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among college students. Hence the null hypothesis is rejected.

Finding related to the association between selected demographic variables and the impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among college students.

The chi square is computed with 1 degree of freedom at 0.05 level of significance. Here, the calculated value is less than table value, 3.8 at 1 degree of freedom. Hence H1 is rejected, that is, there is no association between demographic variables such as year of study, type of family, number of siblings undergoing online education, educational status of father, educational status of mother with impact of online education during COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.

NURSING IMPLICATION:

The nursing implication of the study can be made in the following field of nursing practice, nursing research, nursing education and nursing administration.

Nursing practice:

Nurses who have good knowledge and who apply the evidence-based practice can provide a better care for patient based on scientific knowledge. Active participation of student nurses can be encouraged by proceeding opportunities for clinical teaching and health programmes to college students.

Nursing Research:

The finding of present study can be baseline for future study to build up and motivates for other investigator to conduct studies in future under different living conditions.

Nursing Education:

Adequate knowledge regarding impact of online education on mental health is very important. The research adds better knowledge to the body of knowledge of nursing profession, which can be included in curriculum and it helps to expand the knowledge of nursing students.

Nursing administration:

Nursing administrators should encourage other hospital Staffs to conduct awareness programs, to provide information regarding impact of online education on mental health.

CONCLUSION:

As per the result obtain from the current study revealed that, there was significant impact on online education during COVID- 19 pandemic on mental health among college students.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

A similar study can be conducted with large sample so that the findings can be generalized.

REFERENCE:

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2. Hemanshu P, Indu K, Charu M. Clinical synopsis of COVID 19: Evolving and challenging.Springer Nature Publications. Singapore. 2020.p.1-31

3. Joycee L. Mental health effects of school closures during COVID-19. 2020

4. Kapasia N, Paul P, Roy A, Saha J, Zaveri A. Children and Youth Services Review. Elsievier publications. Volume 116.September. 2020

5. Kumar Y. Impact of online teaching on students’ education and health in India during the pandemic of COVID-19.2021

6. Lishcher S, Safi N, Dickson C. Remote learning and students’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2020

7. Moghe K, Kotecha D, Patil M. COVID-19 and mental health: A study of its Impact on students. 2020

8. Polit, D. F., and Beck, C. T. Essentials of nursing research. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. Philadelphia. 9th ed. 2017.p. 94-104

9. Shailendra K S. Medical virology: from Pathogenesis to Disease control. Springer Nature publications. Singapore. 2020.p.199-202

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Received on 09.02.2022 Modified on 07.03.2022

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2022; 10(2):165-168.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2660.2022.00039