Concern About Returning to Face-to-Face Classes After the Pandemic: Importance of Emotional Intelligence and Stress Coping Strategies in Health Science Students

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new normality, a scenario where different circumstances trigger emotions such as concern about returning to face-to-face classes, to which higher education students adapt. The objective was to identify how emotional intelligence and coping with stress explain students' concern about returning to face-to-face classes post COVID-19. Methods: This was an explanatory and cross-sectional study. The sample by intention was 588 students from the Faculty of Health Sciences. The Rotterdam Emotional Intelligence Scale (REIS), the Stress Coping Questionnaire (CAE), and the ACAD-COVID-19 scale were used. For data collection, the instruments were digitized. Bivariate analysis with Chi-square and multivariate logistic regression was performed. Results: The mean age of the participants was 19.72 years; most were single and without children (96.9% and 96.8%, respectively). 74.3% did not work, 80.8% were from the first years of study, and 52.7% belonged to nursing school. About 94.2% of participants indicated having adequate emotional intelligence, 91.3% expressed coping with adequate stress, and 67.2% indicated serious concern about returning to face-to-face classes. An association was found between gender (p=0.042), age (p=0.002), year of study (p=0.027), emotional intelligence (p=0.001), and coping with stress (p=0.001) with concern for return to face-to-face classes. Emotional intelligence identified as adequate (OR: 2.580; IC95%: 1.117-5.960) and coping with stress identified as adequate (OR: 2.008; IC95%: 1.018-3.960) are more likely to express serious concern about the return to face-to-face classes after the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: According to the results, the need to safeguard the psychological aspects of students is highlighted, especially emotional intelligence, as well as to improve coping with stress so that they can better manage concerns about returning to face-to-face classes. The educational authorities should implement strategies to improve these aspects in order to ensure the adequate return to face-to-face classes in new scenarios.