Assessing Covi-19’s Effects on Mental Health in Nursing Students During E-Learning in Pandemic

Introduction: Covid-19 declared by WHO as a pandemic, from the time of experiencing it for the first time until now has caused many deaths all over the world. As a consequence of this pandemic, all public and private institutions tried to adapt life and work. Academic institutions in this period choose to continue with online platforms. This sudden switch from face to face to online learning has caused not only problems during lessons but also in mental and physical health of the students. Objectives: The study aims to evaluate the level of anxiety among nursing students who study at public nursing faculty in Tirana, Albania. Methods: A cross-sectional and descriptive study was performed in April- May 2023 at Faculty of Technical Medical Science Tirana, Albania. The study involved nursing students in their third year of Bachelor and first year of Professional Master and Master of Science because only these students have taken online lessons. They were 278 in total. Results: The students responded (n = 278) to a questionnaire following GAD7 and HAM-A with some other basic information. Our findings showed that the level of moderate, severe and very severe anxiety range 30.53%, 3.38% and 1. 53% respectively. A significant relationship was found between gender, age and psychological impact (p=.057; p=.001). The most dominant symptoms were headache (192, 69.10%) and eye irritation (191, 68.70%). 137,49.30% of the respondents think that the lockdown had moderate impact on study. Conclusions: By applying different methods of assessing the level of anxiety, we found that our nursing students experienced anxiety caused on by the COVID-19 pandemic and isolation just like other nursing students around the world. Designing and consolidating strategies (mental health services or psychological counseling) by faculty members to face similar pandemic situations in the future, would help reduce anxiety among students because they will be professionals tomorrow, thus it is important to take care for their mental health.