Level of stress and anxiety regarding Covid-19 among nursing students

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 pandemic has caused disasters and disorders all over the world. India is also going through a challenging situation as the number of infected/positive cases is increasing day by day. Due to the crisis of COVID-19 education system has come to a halt as schools and colleges are closed to slow down and prevent the spread of infection. Nursing institution also closed down and online mode of teaching was done. Hands on training is required to relate theory in to practice which was thwarted due to the pandemic COVID-19. Nursing students were panic and apprehensive about the situation even though they were asked to stay in the hostel. OBJECTIVE: To assess the level of stress and anxiety among the nursing students and to associate the level of stress and anxiety with selected demographic variables. METHODS: The study design was descriptive cross-sectional. The study was conducted in College of Nursing CIHSR among the 3rd Year GNM, 3rd Year and 4th Year B. Sc. Nursing Students. Total enumerative sampling method was used and sample size was 95. Standardized instrument on Perceived stress scale for assessing stress and Corona anxiety scale for assessing anxiety regarding COVID – 19 were used for the study. The study was approved by nursing research committee and informed consent was taken. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULTS: The study found that 80(84.2%) had moderate stress out of 95 respondents, 8 (8.4%) had high perceived stress, and 7(7.4%) had low level of stress. In the Coronavirus anxiety scale majority of the respondents, 91(95.8%) have little to no dysfunctional anxiety out of 95 respondents, 2 (2.1%) had possible dysfunctional anxiety and 2 (2.1%) had probable dysfunctional anxiety. There were no significant association between level of stress, anxiety and demographic variables. CONCLUSION: Study reveals that majority of the students had moderate level of stress and little to no dysfunctional anxiety regarding COVID - 19. Thus leaflet regarding cause, spread, prevention and management of COVID-19 given to each student to reduce their stress and anxiety.