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ORIGINAL ARTICLE 66 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
ARTICLE
INFORMATION
Article History:
Received:
March 26th 2021
Revised:
June 22nd 2021
Accepted:
June 22nd 2021
Corresponding
Author:Rajeswari R.
Email ID:
rajeswarikannan19320
11@gmail.
com
Mobile No:
9344318568
PERCEIVED LEVEL OF STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES REGARDING
VIRTUAL LEARNING AMONG NURSING STUDENTS 1Prema K., 2Manimala S., 3Rajeswari R.*, 4Rathidevi S.
1 Principal, Annai Velankanni College of Nursing, Chennai, affiliated to The Tamil Nadu
Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. 2 Assistant Professor, Annai Velankanni College of Nursing, Chennai, affiliated to The Tamil
Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. 3 Vice Principal, Indirani College of Nursing, Ariyur, affiliated to Pondicherry University,
Kalapet, Puducherry, India. 4 Associate Professor, Indirani College of Nursing, Ariyur, affiliated to Pondicherry
University, Kalapet, Puducherry, India.
ABSTRACT
Background: Due to the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown, colleges and
schools were closed and all institutions had initiated online classes to
continue the academic process. These unexpected changes compelled all
those involved to use technological support for virtual learning. This poses
stress among the students due to many reasons. It is one of the biggest
health concerns, and coping abilities differ from one student to another.
Aim and objective: The present study was aimed at assessing the
perceived level of stress and coping strategies regarding virtual learning
among nursing students in selected colleges. Methodology: A descriptive
cross-sectional research design was adopted for the study. A total of 160
students were selected as samples by a purposive sampling technique and
the data was collected online using google forms. A structured demographic
questionnaire, structured perceived stress scales and coping strategy scales
were mailed individually. The online data was recorded and analysed.
Result: The results showed that 51.25% of the students had low stress,
4.50% had moderate stress and 6.25% had high levels of stress. Regarding
coping abilities, 40.62% of the students had poor coping abilities, 51.88%
had moderate coping abilities and 7.50% had good coping abilities. There was a negative fair
correlation found between the level of stress and coping (r value -0.39), indicating that as stress
increased, the level of coping decreased. There was a significant association found between the level
of stress and coping, with selected demographic variables like course, current year of study,
residence and number of online sessions. Conclusion: This study concludes that virtual learning
causes much stress among students but the stress is reduced when they are able to cope better with
the situation.
Keywords: Coping strategies, COVID 19, nursing students, pandemic, perceived stress, virtual
learning
Prema K., Manimala S., Rajeswari R., Rathidevi S., Perceived level of stress and coping
strategies regarding virtual learning among nursing students, ICCRJNR, Jan – Jun 2021, 6(1):
66-78
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 67 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
I INTRODUCTION
The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected millions of people and
threatened their lives across the world. In India, the first case of Corona virus was found on
January 30, 2020, and it started increasing day by day. The WHO declared the coronavirus
disease as a pandemic on March 12, 2020. In order to prevent rapid spread of disease, the
Government of India announced a lockdown on March 22, 2020 which ceased the
functioning of the entire country in all sectors, including the educational sector.
Fig.No.1: COVID 19 Confirmed cases/Recovered/Deaths by Day in INDIA
Source: Predictions and role of interventions for COVID-19 outbreak in India | by COV-IND-19 Study Group |
Medium1
In India, all the state governments announced lockdowns for schools and colleges
without any certainty of reopening. This was a crucial time for the educational sector for
conducting board examinations, admissions for the next academic year, entrance tests of
various universities and competitive examinations. This urged all sectors to compensate with
the available technology. The Education Department also made a decision to use the online
mode of teaching at school and higher education levels. In the nursing colleges all over Tamil
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 68 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
Nadu, a common e-learning platform was initiated with the use of Google Classroom and
Zoom online platforms as per the Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council.
Sheroun D. et al., (2020) conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the perceived
stress and coping strategies among 427 first to final year B.Sc. Nursing students of selected
colleges in Pune during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The majority of participants
were between 21-25 years. Results revealed that the male students had more perceived stress
(22.73) than female students (21.86). The maximum mean perceived stress score (22.56) was
observed among the 4th year students, and the least mean perceived stress score (20.20) was
found among the 2nd year students. The maximum mean coping strategies score (78.45) was
found among the 1st years and the least (71.23) was found among the 4th year B.Sc. Nursing
students. Based on this review, the investigator took an initiative to assess the perceived level
of stress and coping among the accessible nursing students, related to virtual learning during
the lockdown period.2
Statement of the problem
A study to assess the perceived level of stress and coping strategies regarding
virtual learning among nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in
selected colleges of Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu.
Objectives of the study
1. To assess the perceived level of stress among nursing students regarding virtual
learning during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
2. To assess the level of coping strategies adopted by nursing students regarding virtual
learning during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
3. To correlate the level of stress and coping strategies among nursing students regarding
virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
4. To find out the association of the perceived level of stress among nursing students
regarding virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown with selected
sociodemographic variables.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 69 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
5. To find out the association of level of coping strategies adopted by nursing students
regarding virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown with selected
sociodemographic variables.
Research Hypotheses
RH1: There is a significant correlation between the level of stress and coping among
students regarding virtual learning during the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown.
RH2: There is a significant association between the level of stress among students
regarding virtual learning during the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown and the selected
demographic variables.
RH3: There is a significant association between the level of coping among students
regarding virtual learning during the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown and the selected
demographic variables.
Assumptions
● Nursing students may have varied levels of stress regarding virtual learning during the
COVID 19 pandemic lockdown.
● Nursing students may have varied levels of coping strategies to manage the stress.
II MATERIAL AND METHODS
A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design was chosen to attain the objectives of
this study. The research variables for the study were stress and coping strategies of nursing
students. The schools and colleges of nursing were randomly selected by lottery method and
the samples were selected through purposive sampling technique. Ethical Clearance was
obtained from the institutions and written informed consent was obtained from the selected
samples prior to data collection. Data was collected from 160 nursing students from all the
levels of General Nursing and Midwifery and B.Sc. Nursing courses from School and
College of Nursing at Chengalpattu district. Content validity was obtained from the experts
and reliability of the Structured Perceived Stress Scale and the Structured Coping Scale was
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 70 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
identified as 0.85 and 0.80 respectively. The tools were administered through online Google
forms and the responses were recorded.
Description of the tools
Part I: Assessment of demographic variables using structured questionnaires.
Part II: Assessment of level of stress using Structured Perceived Stress Scale. It consists of
10 questions with 5 points from 0-4 for each question. The score was interpreted as low stress
(0-13), moderate stress (14-26) and high stress (27-40).
Part III: Assessment of coping strategy using Structured Coping Scale which consists of 25
questions with 5 responses. The score for each response was assigned from 0-4. The score
was interpreted - less than 50% as poor coping, 51-75% as moderate coping, >75% as good
coping.
Data Collection Procedure
The data collection instruments were prepared as Google Forms. These forms were
mailed individually after obtaining the consent for participation. The responses were received
online and recorded. Confidentiality of data was assured to the samples. Data was organised
and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Methods Statistical Test Purpose
Descriptive
Statistics
Frequency and
percentage
Analyse the distribution of demographic variables
Inferential
Statistics
Karl Pearson
correlation
Identify the correlation between stress and coping level
ANOVA Find the association between the level of stress and
coping with the selected demographic variables
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 71 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
III RESULT
Section A: Distribution of demographic variables of the nursing students
Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of demographic variables
N=160
S. No. Demographic variables n Percentage
1 Courses
B. Sc. Nursing 125 78.13
DGNM 35 21.87
2 Current year of study
1 24 15.00
II 54 33.75
III 52 32.50
IV 30 18.75
3 Residence
Urban 65 40.72
Rural 67 41.88
Semiurban 28 17.50
4 Device availability
Cell phone 160 100
Laptop 0 0
Computer 0 0
Tablet 0 0
5 Number of siblings attending online classes in the family
One 82 51.24
Two 59 36.88
Three 19 11.88
6 Number of devices available at home for online classes
One 98 61.25
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 72 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
Two 45 28.12
Three 17 10.63
7 Number of online sessions per day
One 28 17.50
Two 24 15.00
Three 14 8.75
Four 94 58.75
8 Duration of online classes
30 minutes–2 hours 45 28.13
2 hours to 4 hours 74 46.25
More than 4 hours 41 25.62
9 No. of days of virtual classes/week
2-3 2 01.25
5 119 74.37
6 39 24.38
10 Comparison of virtual class hours with normal classroom hours
Longer than classroom hours 41 25.62
Same as classroom hours 38 23.75
Shorter than classroom hours 81 50.63
11 Attended online classes previously
Yes 116 72.5
Often 5 03.12
Rare 2 01.25
No 37 23.13
12 Previous knowledge about computer basics
Learnt basics of computer 7 4.38
Had knowledge about the computer 118 73.75
Don't know 35 21.88
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 73 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
13 Problems associated with virtual learning (specify)
Back pain 3 01.88
Noise disturbances 2 01.25
Eye pain 6 03.75
Headache 2 01.25
Stress 4 02.50
Other health problems 3 01.88
Difficult to understand 18 11.25
Network problem 40 25.00
Financial problem 3 01.88
Phone issues 8 05.00
No issues 71 44.38
Section B: Perceived level of stress among nursing students regarding virtual learning
during the Covid 19 lockdown
N=160
Fig. 2: Level of perceived stress among the students
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 74 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
Section C: Level of coping among nursing students regarding virtual learning during the
Covid 19 lockdown N=160
Fig. 3: Level of coping strategies among the students
Section D: Correlation between the level of stress and coping among nursing students
regarding virtual learning during the Covid 19 lockdown
N=160
Fig. 4: Correlation between stress and coping among the students
Section E: Association of the perceived level of stress among nursing students regarding e-
learning in the Covid 19 lockdown with selected demographic variables
There was a statistically significant association found between the perceived level of
stress and selected demographic variables like course of study (χ2=6.71 p=0.04DF=2), year of
study (χ2=16.63 p=0.01DF=6), area of residence (χ2=10.04 p=0.04), number of online
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 75 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
sessions per day ( χ2 = 13.04 p=0.04 DF 4 ), attended online classes before (χ2=13.39 p=0.04
DF 6).
Section F: Association of coping strategies adopted by the nursing students with selected
demographic variables
There was a statistically significant association found between the level of coping
strategies and the selected demographic variables like course (χ2=6.96 p=0.03DF=2), area of
residence (χ2=12.22,p=0.02DF=4) and the students who had completed computer courses
(χ2=15.77 p=0.01DF=4).
IV DISCUSSION
The first objective was to assess the perceived level of stress among nursing students
regarding virtual learning during the Covid 19 lockdown. It proved that 55.63% of the
students had low level of stress, 42.50% had moderate level of stress and 6.25% of them had
a high level of stress.
This result is consistent with the finding of a study conducted by Fatima A. (2020)
about “Stress among students in lockdown due to COVID-19 thereat and the effects of
attending online classes.” The results proved that 34.4% of the students felt stressed
sometime in the week, 22.6% of students felt stressed often in the week and 15.1% of
students are always in stress due to the threat of coronavirus. Finally, 51.4% of students were
stressed due to the corona threat, 69.8% of students were stressed about their studies, 78.5%
students were not comfortable with online classes and concluded that most of the students
were mentally stressed during this pandemic.3
The second objective was to assess the level of coping strategies adopted by the
nursing students regarding e-learning during the Covid 19 lockdown. It was found that
40.62% of the students had poor levels of coping, 51.88% had moderate levels and 7.50%
had good levels of coping.
Supporting this finding is a similar study by Chandra Y (2020) about “Online
education during COVID-19: perception of academic stress and emotional intelligence
coping strategies among college students” which revealed that many of them had started
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 76 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
diverting themselves through various creative activities and taking up courses which helped
them to learn new technical skills. By using emotional intelligence and distancing from
boredom and depressive thoughts, students were trying to cope with negative effects arising
from the current pandemic situation.4
The third objective was to correlate the level of stress and coping strategies among
nursing students regarding virtual learning during the Covid 19 lockdown. The Karl Pearson
Correlation coefficient ‘r’ value of -0.39 showed that there was a significant negative fair
correlation between the level of coping with the perceived stress score, at p=0.001. This
denotes that as the level of coping increases, the level of stress decreases. Hence, the research
hypothesis RH1, stated earlier, was accepted.
The fourth objective was to find the association of perceived level of stress among
nursing students regarding virtual learning during the Covid 19 lockdown and selected
sociodemographic variables. A significant association was found between the selected
demographic variables and the level of stress. Hence RH2, stated earlier, was accepted for the
specified variables.
The fifth objective was to find the association of the level of coping among nursing
students regarding virtual learning during the Covid 19 lockdown and selected
sociodemographic variables. There was a significant association found between the level of
coping and selected demographic variables. Hence, the Research Hypothesis RH3, stated
earlier, was accepted for the specified variables.
This result is similar to a study conducted by AlAteeq DA. on “Perceived stress
among students in virtual classrooms during the COVID-19 outbreak in Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia” which showed a significant association of female gender and university students with
stress level (p-value = 0.003 and 0.049, respectively).5
Limitations
Some of the limitations of this study are that the samples were chosen from one
district only; the stress level was assessed only at one point of time and subsequent stress
levels were not measured.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 77 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
Recommendations
A similar study can be replicated at different settings with larger samples. A
longitudinal design can be adopted to measure the changes in the stress level with regard to
different teaching methodologies.
V CONCLUSION
Virtual learning is most widely accepted worldwide to manage the activities of the
educational sector in this present scenario. The problems relevant to technology and
socioeconomic background in implementing virtual learning create stress among the students.
This may lead to the development of positive or negative coping strategies. Counselling cells
can take up initiatives to identify the stressors and guide students for the promotion of
positive coping strategies.
VI REFERENCES
1. Group COV-IND-19 S. Predictions and role of interventions for COVID-19 outbreak in
India [Internet]. Medium. Medium; 2020 [Internet]. Available from:
https://bhramarm.medium.com/predictions-and-role-of-interventions-for-covid-19-outbreak-
in-india-52903e2544e6
2. Sheroun D, Wankhar DD, Devrani A. A Study to Assess the Perceived Stress and Coping
Strategies among Bsc Nursing Students of Selected Colleges in Pune during Covid-19
Pandemic Lockdown [Internet]. International Journal of Science and Healthcare Research.
1970 [Internet]. Available from:
https://ijshr.com/IJSHR_Vol.5_Issue.2_April2020/IJSHR_Abstract.0038.html
3.Ambreen Fatima [Internet]. SSRN. [Internet]. Available from:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=4073679
4.Chandra Y. Online education during COVID-19: perception of academic stress and
emotional intelligence coping strategies among college students. Asian Education and
Development Studies. 2020;10(2):229–38.
5. AlAteeq DA, Aljhani S, AlEesa D. Perceived stress among students in virtual classrooms
during the COVID-19 outbreak in KSA. Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences.
2020;15(5):398–403.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE 78 http://www.iccrjnr.com Volume 6 ; Issue 1; Jan-Jun2021
VII SOURCE OF SUPPORT: None
VIII CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None
IX ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The author would like to acknowledge the contributory
authors and the study participants for their contribution.
X CONTRIBUTORS: PK: Conceptualisation of the study, preparation of the questionnaire,
MS: Data collection and data analysis and writing the manuscript, RR: Finalised the
manuscript, Edited and critically evaluated the manuscript. RS: Edited and finalised the
manuscript.