Impact of e-learning on student mental health during the COVID pandemic

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities to shift teaching to mostly online formats. This sudden transition may undermine the mental health of students. This study examined the impact of E-Learning on local university student’s perceived stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. The attitudes and habits of students under E-learning were also examined. Population: The target population of this study is local (HKSAR, China) university students. Setting: This study is a prospective cross-section observational study. Methods: An online questionnaire survey was conducted from the 7th of February and the 6th of March 2021 using an exponential snowball sampling method. This study is approved by the University of Hong Kong and Hospital Authority Institutional Review Board (reference number: UW 20-875). Results: Out of 429 respondents, 76.7% of students reported moderate stress and 10.5% of students reported high stress. Higher perceived stress was inversely associated with privacy (P= 0.00, Cohen’s d: -0.336) and being able to keep up with the E-learning schedule (P=0.00, Cohen’s d: -0.352). A majority of students (78.1%) agreed that Elearning enabled them to save time from commuting, and approximately half (53.1%) agreed that E-learning helps knowledge retention. The most common perceived harms of E-learning were decreased motivation (50.6%) and that technical issues often lower teaching quality (49.7%). Limitation: This study focuses on Hong Kong mainly. Discussion: Though most students surveyed believe that Elearning is convenient, its usefulness is highly associated with the student’s motivation, as well as their external environment. We call for universities to invest in more IT products and to better structure the learning materials. Our study suggests that under pandemic, E-learning to a certain extend is a feasible alternative to face-to-face education. However, from participants who experience higher stress under E-learning, we conclude that its feasibility is closely related to good support from the University, including IT support, financial support, and psychological support. While Elearning serves a good purpose as a temporary measure, in many scenarios it cannot fully eplace face-to-face education. In some specific subpopulations, E-learning might even be associated with a negative effect on stress, anxiety, and depression.