Published online Dec 19, 2023. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i12.1106
Peer-review started: August 13, 2023
First decision: October 10, 2023
Revised: November 2, 2023
Accepted: December 4, 2023
Article in press: December 4, 2023
Published online: December 19, 2023
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted all facets of everyday life. Students turned to online education to minimize the pandemic’s spread and negative impacts on health. Students from various backgrounds and places were required to adapt to new learning conditions. Student learning satisfaction is a crucial indicator of the effectiveness of online learning that is related to academic achievement.
Surveys of online learning satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic show inconsistent results. Some studies showed that the higher the psychopathology scores, the less online learning satisfaction. University period is a critical time for shaping a student’s personality and developing talents, they have unique psychological characteristics. However, it is not clear which personal characteristics (demographic variables) and which emotions, e.g., depression, fear, neurasthenia, compulsive anxiety or hypochondria, had important effects in online learning satisfaction early in the pandemic.
Furthermore, coping style is a cognitive and behavioral feature that individuals adopt when they face stressful situations and events. Coping style has a positive and a negative dimension. Positive coping helps individuals to actively manage adversity. Negative coping includes social withdrawal and avoidance. Negative coping can increase anxiety and depression and increase the degree of procrastination, which have negative effects on academic performance. Positive coping is a protective factor for mental health. Nevertheless, factors associated with emergency online learning satisfaction such as coping style have not been adequately defined for the specific pandemic period.
Our study will clarify satisfaction with online learning and identify personal characteristics and the emotions that had important effects on online learning satisfaction early in the pandemic. Furthermore, this study will clarify which coping style was associated with emergency online learning satisfaction in the specific period. Our findings will provide references for colleges to conduct accurate mental health education and ensure student satisfaction with online courses for a good quality academic experience and metal health.
Our objective is to provide references for colleges to conduct accurate mental health education for students and ensure their satisfaction with online courses. In addition, we will explain challenges to fostering a productive learning environment threatened by epidemic outbreak and economic uncertainty.
We measured the influence of college student psychological states and coping styles on their learning satisfaction. Measurements were based on questionnaires designed to investigate mainly demographic and sociological data, i.e., gender, age, current role, grade, nationality, family location, academic year, monthly household income, parents’ education, online status, average daily time paying attention to the epidemic, and whether bored at home for long time. Mental status was assessed with the Psychological Questionnaire for Emergent Events of Public Health (PQEEPH). The PQEEPH scale is specially designed for public health emergencies; it is composed of 25 items of five subscales, i.e., depression, neurasthenia, fear, compulsion-anxiety, and hypochondria that describe emotional status precisely and in detail. Coping styles were assessed with the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive and exploratory methods. First, the skewness and kurtosis values were used to determine whether the data were normally distributed. Data were skewed, continuous variables were expressed as median (interquartile range) and were assessed by Mann–Whitney test or Kruskal-Wallis H test . Second, the correlation of variables was represented by Pearson’s and Spearman’s coefficients based on the type of data. Third, multiple linear regression was performed to identify predictors of online learning satisfaction. All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0 (IBM Corporation). All tests were within the 95% confidence interval.
We collected 1600 questionnaires, of which 1580 (98.6%) were effective. Online learning satisfaction was poor for 3.9% (61/1580) of participants, general for 33.2% (525/1580) participants, and good 62.9% (994/1580). Demographic characteristics and single factor analysis showed statistical significance (P < 0.05) for age, major, academic year, family location, online status, average time attention to epidemic, whether following a regular schedule, whether bored at home, health condition, and exercise intensity. Correlation analysis of online learning satisfaction, mental status, and personal characteristics showed that fear, compulsion-anxiety, positive coping style, father's education, online status, exercise intensity, health condition, whether on a regular schedule and whether bored at home were positively associated with online learning satisfaction. Depression, neurasthenia, hypochondria, negative coping style, age, average time of attention to the epidemic were negatively correlated with online learning satisfaction. Multiple linear regression of online learning satisfaction showed online learning at schedule, strong exercise intensity, good health, regular schedule, paying attention to epidemic less than one hour, and not bored at home had positive effects (P < 0.05) on online learning satisfaction. Depression and neurasthenia had significant negative effects on online learning satisfaction, whereas fear had positive effects (P < 0.05). Positive coping had a significant positive effect on satisfaction with online courses, whereas negative coping had a significant negative effect (P < 0.05).
The new theory is that this study assessed factors especially on personal characteristics, mental status, and coping style related to satisfaction with emergency online learning among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little study has been focused on online acceptance of education in early time of COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings provide reference for educators, psychologists, and school administrators to conduct health education intervention.
The new method we used is the PQEEPH. This scale is specially designed for public health emergencies, it is composed of 25 items of five sub scales, depression, neurasthenia, fear, compulsion-anxiety, and hypochondria which describe the emotional status detailed and precisely.
On the basis of our methods and findings concerning factors that affect online learning satisfaction, we suggest that it will be possible to assess the effects of psychological intervention for college students during the next emergency online learning period and then formulate corresponding and mature programs.