COVID‐19: Knowledge, anxiety, academic concerns and preventative behaviours among Australian and Indian undergraduate nursing students: A cross‐sectional study

Terese Kochuvilayil, Ritin S. Fernandez, Lorna J. Moxham, Heidi Lord, Albara Alomari, Leanne Hunt, Rebekkah Middleton and Elizabeth J. Halcomb

Journal of Clinical Nursing, 2021, vol. 30, issue 5-6, 882-891

Abstract: Aims and Objectives To compare knowledge, anxiety, academic concerns and preventative behaviours between undergraduate nursing students in Australia and India during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Background Based on the World Health Organization's direction for containment of the novel coronavirus (COVID‐19), countries implemented varying levels of restrictions including closure of university campuses and providing on line undergraduate education. Methods Students in NSW, Australia and Kerala, India completed an online survey assessing their (a) knowledge and source of information about COVID‐19; (b) anxiety; and coping strategies; (c) academic concerns; and (d) preventative behaviours. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to summarise the data. Results Data from 99 Australian and 113 Indian undergraduate nurses were analysed. Greater number of Indian students indicated having sufficient knowledge of COVID‐19 (OR 0.22; 95% CI 0.08, 0.63), getting information about COVID‐19 from social media (OR 0.03; 95% CI 0.01, 0.07) and being concerned about ‘attending clinical placement’ (MD‐1.08; 95% CI −1.94, −0.23). Australian students reported significantly higher levels of anxiety (MD 1.99 95% CI 1.21, 2.78), difficulty sleeping (OR 18.00; 95% CI 6.76, 47.96), concentrating (OR 33.22; 95% CI 13.85, 79.67) and eating (OR 14.05; 95% CI 3.19, 61.84). Greater number of Australian students indicated that they would go to the University if they needed to meet with other students (OR 9.21; 95% CI 3.08, 27.55), had to access the library (OR 7.20; 95% CI 3.26, 15.90) or had a group assignment (OR 2.93; 95% CI 1.26, 6.77). Conclusions Wide variations were present in knowledge, anxiety, academic concerns and preventative behaviours among undergraduate nursing students in two countries. Relevance to clinical practice Undergraduate students may benefit from additional support from the University and staff in the clinical setting with online learning and resources in order to adjust to the ‘new normal’ and enable them to achieve academic success.

Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15634

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:30:y:2021:i:5-6:p:882-891

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Clinical Nursing from John Wiley & Sons
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().