Stress Levels and Mental Well-Being Among Slovak Students During e-Learning

Stress Levels and Mental Well-Being Among Slovak Students During e-Learning in The COVID-19 Pandemic

Introducing restrictions on human contact has been effective in preventing the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, however, it appears to have negatively impacted mental health. Psychological problems in different age groups occur with different intensity and duration of the pandemic. This study was aimed to assess the impact of introducing distance learning (e-Learning) on the stress levels and mental well-being among Slovak Students.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Anxiety State
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: Stress Levels and Mental Well-Being assessment

Detailed Description

Socially isolated young people, condemned to constant contact with the Internet, find themselves in sorrowful situations where their basic need were impossible. Previous studies report that university students report high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, which affects student motivation and attitudes toward learning; however, to date, no such studies have been conducted on a population of Slovakian Students. This study considered 4 Slovak universities. Using standardized questionnaires, students' mental status during e-Learning was assessed at the beginning of the summer semester (February, March 2021).

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 3051

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Poland
  • Opole, Poland, 45-758
    • Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Opole University of Technology

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 26 years (ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Students participating in active learning

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Students attending the course cycle

Exclusion Criteria:

• Inability to self-complete the research questionnaires;
• Psychiatric or psychological treatment, likewise taking medications that affect the psyche during the research project;

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Students; Students from 4 universities, regardless of field of study and academic year	Diagnostic test: Stress Levels and Mental Well-Being assessment; At the beginning of the summer semester of the 2020/2021 academic year, stress levels as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed in students at four universities.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10)	The PSS-10 is widely used for measuring psychological distress. It contains 10 questions on a five-point scale from 0 to 4. The higher the score, the greater the feeling of stress.	20 minutes
BDI	The BDI-II is a tool used to determine the degree of intensity of depressive symp-toms. The 21-item questionnaire consists of two parts: emotional and somatic. Depending on the number of points obtained, the severity of depression can be assessed. A range of 0-10 points indicates no depression, 11-27 indicates moderate mood disorder, and 28 indicates major depressive disorder. The cutoff for dividing patients into depressive and non-depressive subgroups was a score of 10, following the guidelines given by Beck et al.	20 minutes
Authors survey	The survey contains five sections on the impact of e-learning on various aspects of life. The survey responses were structured on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 to 5, where 1 refers to "strongly disagree" statement and 5 to "definitely agree". Questions were grouped into areas: Social life (3 questions), Education skills (4 questions), Eco-nomic field (2 questions), Nutrition habits and drugs (2 questions). The questionnaire showed satisfactory reliability with a Cronbach alpha of 0.82.	10 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Opole University of Technology

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): February 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): March 15, 2021
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): April 23, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 8, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 11, 2021
• First Posted (ACTUAL): June 14, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): July 12, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 9, 2021
• Last Verified: July 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: depression; COVID-19; anxiety; e-Learning
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Depression
• Other Study ID Numbers: COVID_Slovak

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No