Attitude and Perception of Students towards Non-academic Challenges of Learning Amidst COVID Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The medical education sector of India, undoubtedly being a huge part of this sector, took a big hit with the advent of the pandemic. Methodology: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted during the month of October 2020 and it involved the students pursuing health courses (MBBS) from various colleges. The inclusion criteria consisted of students pursuing MBBS course and willing to participate in the survey. The survey was conducted through electronic questionnaires with the aid of Google Forms created online. Results: The majority (66.3%) of them expressed their disappointment over the general state of affairs during the pandemic and half of the respondents reported increased stress levels as compared to the period before the pandemic. The time spent using electronic devices by the student population increased from 1-4 hours before the pandemic (74.6%) to 5-9 hours (50.4%) during the pandemic, and they reported experiencing certain ill-effects among which eye strain, headache were the major complaints. 69% of them stated that they found some extra time during the pandemic and utilized it for non-academic activities. Conclusion: Our study findings show that students still prefer the traditional face-to-face lectures because of the various short comings of virtual online sessions. A big proportion of students have become the victims to the pandemic’s impact on mental health.