Our paper focuses on the issues of social health and psychological safety of university students involved in digital sustainable education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, modern education is becoming inclusive due to the advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT), and it is important not only to stress the relevance of sustainable development and the use of digital technologies, but also their impact on students at schools and universities worldwide. Digital literacy is a newly emerging feature that results from the attitude of team members in the field of digital technologies. This paper explores the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on students' learning and well-being and outlines the potential considerations for educational systems as they support students through the recovery period and beyond. Our study is based on the results of our own survey that was administered using a snowball and convenient sample of 1524 respondents (aged 19-26 years; 56.2% females and 43.8% males) from the Czech Republic (N = 804) and Russia (N = 720). We employed the ANOVA and Dirichlet Process mixtures of Generalized Linear Models (DP-GLM) in order to explain the causes of stress and anxiety after grouping variables represented by gender and the study specializations. Our results demonstrate that more than 87% of the students in the sample expressed a medium to high vulnerability to stress, while 58% of the respondents were affected by severe anxiety during their online education engagement. The most important factors that emerged as significant were the fear of getting infected and social distancing, while the best strategy to cope with the stress was self-control. These results allow us to provide practical recommendations for effectively coping with and controlling stress and anxiety among students in the post-pandemic era. In addition, our findings might contribute considerably to the study of the overall long-term effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the university students, in general, and the use of digital technologies in higher education, as well as on the public health.

Department of Mass Communications and Media Business Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Leningradsky Prospekt 49 125993 Moscow Russia

Department of Trade and Finance Faculty of Economics and Management Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 16500 Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Finance Economics and Management Togliatti State University Belorusskaya str 14 445020 Togliatti Russia

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Bashir A., Bashir S., Rana K., Lambert P., Vernallis A. Post-COVID-19 adaptations; the shifts towards online learning, hybrid course delivery and the implications for biosciences courses in the higher education setting. Front. Educ. 2021;6:711619. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.711619. DOI

Díaz-Noguera M.D., Hervás-Gómez C., De la Calle-Cabrera A.M., López-Meneses E. Autonomy, motivation, and digital pedagogy are key factors in the perceptions of Spanish higher-education students toward online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:654. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19020654. PubMed DOI PMC

Ghazi-Saidi L., Criffield A., Kracl C.L., McKelvey M., Obasi S.N., Vu P. Moving from face-to-face to remote instruction in a higher education institution during a pandemic: Multiple case studies. Int. J. Technol. Educ. Sci. 2020;4:370–383. doi: 10.46328/ijtes.v4i4.169. DOI

Bento F., Giglio Bottino A., Cerchiareto Pereira F., Forastieri de Almeida J., Gomes Rodrigues F. Resilience in higher education: A complex perspective to lecturers’ adaptive processes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Educ. Sci. 2021;11:492. doi: 10.3390/educsci11090492. DOI

Strielkowski W. COVID-19 Pandemic and the Digital Revolution in Academia and Higher Education. Preprints. 2020 doi: 10.20944/preprints202004.0290.v1. DOI

Aristovnik A., Keržič D., Ravšelj D., Tomaževič N., Umek L. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on life of higher education students: A global perspective. Sustainability. 2020;12:8438. doi: 10.3390/su12208438. PubMed DOI PMC

Makwembere S., Matarirano O., Jere N.R. Lecturer Autoethnographies of Adjusting to Online Student Interactions during COVID-19. Res. Soc. Sci. Technol. 2021;6:148–168. doi: 10.46303/ressat.2021.16. DOI

Kesavan N., Seenuvasaragavan S., Burnette K., Heim A.B., Patel R.J., Johnston J., Cao X., Sakandar H.A., Zhuang Y., Oi K.K., et al. Pandemic-inspired policies. Science. 2022;3776601:22–24. doi: 10.1126/science.add2046. PubMed DOI

Mhlanga D. Artificial intelligence in the industry 4.0, and its impact on poverty, innovation, infrastructure development, and the sustainable development goals: Lessons from emerging economies? Sustainability. 2021;13:5788. doi: 10.3390/su13115788. DOI

Al-Oraibi A., Fothergill L., Yildirim M., Knight H., Carlisle S., O’Connor M., Briggs L., Morling J.R., Corner J., Ball J.K., et al. Exploring the Psychological Impacts of COVID-19 Social Restrictions on International University Students: A Qualitative Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:7631. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19137631. PubMed DOI PMC

Simionescu M., Bordea E.N., Pellegrini A. How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the stress vulnerability of employed and non-employed nursing students in Romania? PLoS ONE. 2022;17:e0264920. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264920. PubMed DOI PMC

Herat M. “I feel like death on legs”: COVID-19 isolation and mental health. Soc. Sci. Humanit. Open. 2020;2:100042. doi: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100042. PubMed DOI PMC

Długosz P., Liszka D., Bastrakova A., Yuzva L. Health Problems of Students during Distance Learning in Central and Eastern Europe: A Cross-Sectional Study of Poland and Ukraine. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:10074. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191610074. PubMed DOI PMC

Casacchia M., Cifone M.G., Giusti L., Fabiani L., Gatto R., Lancia L., Roncone R. Distance education during COVID 19: An Italian survey on the university teachers’ perspectives and their emotional conditions. BMC Med. Educ. 2021;21:335. doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-02780-y. PubMed DOI PMC

Cicha K., Rutecka P., Rizun M., Strzelecki A. Distance learning support measures for teachers in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:8031. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19138031. PubMed DOI PMC

Strielkowski W. New Trends in International Education: Impact of COVID-19 and Digitalization on Higher Education and Student Mobility. In: Akgün B., Alpay-dın Y., editors. Education Policies in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan; Singapore: 2022. (Maarif Global Education Series). DOI

Plett D., Pechlivanoglou P., Coyte P.C. The impact of provincial lockdown policies and COVID-19 case and mortality rates on anxiety in Canada. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2022;76:468–474. doi: 10.1111/pcn.13437. PubMed DOI PMC

Ponselvakumar G., Alaguraja M.S. Impact of Perceived Stress on Academic Performance Among College Students During Covid-19 Outbreak. J. Posit. Sch. Psychol. 2022;6:3605–3613.

Berti C., Elahi S., Catalano P., Bhutta Z.A., Krawinkel M.B., Parisi F., Hanson M. Obesity, Pregnancy and the Social Contract with Today’s Adolescents. Nutrients. 2022;14:3550. doi: 10.3390/nu14173550. PubMed DOI PMC

Rahayu S.T., Nuriyanis A., Sudewo G.C., Retnanda S.D. Social Economic and Educational Risk in COVID-19 Disaster (Case Study on The Number of Children of Productive Age in Indonesia Dropouts and High Unemployment Rates) J. Posit. Sch. Psychol. 2022;6:2002–2006.

Tang J.W., Caniza M.A., Dinn M., Dwyer D.E., Heraud J.M., Jennings L.C., Zaidi S.K. An exploration of the political, social, economic and cultural factors affecting how different global regions initially reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Interface Focus. 2022;12:20210079. doi: 10.1098/rsfs.2021.0079. PubMed DOI PMC

Lemay D.J., Bazelais P., Doleck T. Transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comput. Hum. Behav. Rep. 2021;4:100130. doi: 10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100130. PubMed DOI PMC

Dhar P., Rocks T., Samarasinghe R.M., Stephenson G., Smith C. Augmented reality in medical education: Students’ experiences and learning outcomes. Med. Educ. Online. 2021;26:1953953. doi: 10.1080/10872981.2021.1953953. PubMed DOI PMC

Stewart M.K. Social presence in online writing instruction: Distinguishing between presence, comfort, attitudes, and learning. Comput. Compos. 2021;62:102669. doi: 10.1016/j.compcom.2021.102669. DOI

Smith R.A., Brown M.G., Grady K.A., Sowl S., Schulz J.M. Patterns of undergraduate student interpersonal interaction network change during the COVID-19 pandemic. AERA Open. 2022;8:23328584211073160. doi: 10.1177/23328584211073160. DOI

Brüssow H. What we can learn from the dynamics of the 1889 ‘Russian flu’pandemic for the future trajectory of COVID-19. Microb. Biotechnol. 2021;14:2244–2253. doi: 10.1111/1751-7915.13916. PubMed DOI PMC

Alaimo Di Loro P., Divino F., Farcomeni A., Jona Lasinio G., Lovison G., Maruotti A., Mingione M. Nowcasting COVID-19 incidence indicators during the Italian first outbreak. Stat. Med. 2021;40:3843–3864. doi: 10.1002/sim.9004. PubMed DOI PMC

Said R.M., El-Shafei D.A. Occupational stress, job satisfaction, and intent to leave: Nurses working on front lines during COVID-19 pandemic in Zagazig City, Egypt. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 2021;28:8791–8801. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-11235-8. PubMed DOI PMC

Sun N., Wei L., Shi S., Jiao D., Song R., Ma L., Wang H., Wang C., Wang Z., You Y., et al. A qualitative study on the psychological experience of caregivers of COVID-19 patients. Am. J. Infect. Control. 2020;48:592–598. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2020.03.018. PubMed DOI PMC

Rashid S., Yadav S.S. Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on higher education and research. Indian J. Hum. Dev. 2020;14:340–343. doi: 10.1177/0973703020946700. DOI

Zagkos C., Kyridis A., Kamarianos I., Dragouni Κ.E., Katsanou A., Kouroumichaki E., Papastergiou N., Stergianopoulos E. Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning in Greek Universities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Attitudes of University Students. Eur. J. Interact. Multimed. Educ. 2022;3:e02207. doi: 10.30935/ejimed/11494. DOI

Dinh L.P., Nguyen T.T. Pandemic, social distancing, and social work education: Students’ satisfaction with online education in Vietnam. Soc. Work Educ. 2020;39:1074–1083. doi: 10.1080/02615479.2020.1823365. DOI

Kaur W., Balakrishnan V., Chen Y.Y., Periasamy J. Mental Health Risk Factors and Coping Strategies among Students in Asia Pacific during COVID-19 Pandemic-A Scoping Review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:8894. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19158894. PubMed DOI PMC

El-Monshed A.H., El-Adl A.A., Ali A.S., Loutfy A. University students under lockdown, the psychosocial effects and coping strategies during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross sectional study in Egypt. J. Am. Coll. Health. 2022;70:679–690. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2021.1891086. PubMed DOI

Pop A.I., Mirel S., Florea M., Lotrean L.M. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Research and Volunteering Activities among Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study among Romanian and International Students from One Medical Faculty from Romania. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:7477. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19127477. PubMed DOI PMC

Voltmer E., Köslich-Strumann S., Walther A., Kasem M., Obst K., Kötter T. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress, mental health and coping behavior in German University students-a longitudinal study before and after the onset of the pandemic. BMC Public Health. 2021;21:1385. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11295-6. PubMed DOI PMC

Rodriguez-Besteiro S., Tornero-Aguilera J.F., Fernández-Lucas J., Clemente-Suárez V.J. Gender differences in the COVID-19 pandemic risk perception, psychology, and behaviors of Spanish university students. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2021;18:3908. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18083908. PubMed DOI PMC

Villani L., Pastorino R., Molinari E., Anelli F., Ricciardi W., Graffigna G., Boccia S. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological well-being of students in an Italian university: A web-based cross-sectional survey. Glob. Health. 2021;17:39. doi: 10.1186/s12992-021-00680-w. PubMed DOI PMC

Lee J., Jeong H.J., Kim S. Stress, anxiety, and depression among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic and their use of mental health services. Innov. High. Educ. 2021;46:519–538. doi: 10.1007/s10755-021-09552-y. PubMed DOI PMC

Healthy Minds Network The Impact of COVID 19 on College Students Well-Being. [(accessed on 20 September 2022)]. Available online: https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/Healthy_Minds_NCHA_COVID_Survey_Report_FINAL.pdf.

Son C., Hegde S., Smith A., Wang X., Sasangohar F. Effects of COVID-19 on college students’ mental health in the United States: Interview survey study. J. Med. Internet Res. 2020;22:e21279. doi: 10.2196/21279. PubMed DOI PMC

Fruehwirth J.C., Biswas S., Perreira K.M. The Covid-19 pandemic and mental health of first-year college students: Examining the effect of Covid-19 stressors using longitudinal data. PLoS ONE. 2021;16:e0247999. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247999. PubMed DOI PMC

Salari N., Hosseinian-Far A., Jalali R., Vaisi-Raygani A., Rasoulpoor S., Mohammadi M., Khaledi-Paveh B. Prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression among the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Glob. Health. 2020;16:57. doi: 10.1186/s12992-020-00589-w. PubMed DOI PMC

Sun Y., Wang Z., Qiu Z., Zhou C. Multi-Impacts of Spatial Self-Policing during COVID-19: Evidence from a Chinese University. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:12172. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912172. PubMed DOI PMC

Husky M.M., Kovess-Masfety V., Swendsen J.D. Stress and anxiety among university students in France during COVID-19 mandatory confinement. Compr. Psychiatry. 2020;102:152191. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152191. PubMed DOI PMC

Theuring S., van Loon W., Hommes F., Bethke N., Mall M.A., Kurth T., Seybold J., Mockenhaupt F.P. Psychosocial Wellbeing of Schoolchildren during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Berlin, Germany, June 2020 to March 2021. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:10103. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191610103. PubMed DOI PMC

Mourad F., Mangialavori S., Delle Fave A. Resilience and Experience of the COVID-19 Pandemic among Italian University Students: A Mixed-Method Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:11714. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191811714. PubMed DOI PMC

Charles N.E., Strong S.J., Burns L.C., Bullerjahn M.R., Serafine K.M. Increased mood disorder symptoms, perceived stress, and alcohol use among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatry Res. 2021;296:113706. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113706. PubMed DOI PMC

Morvay-Sey K., Trpkovici M., Ács P., Paár D., Pálvölgyi Á. Psychological Responses of Hungarian Students during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:11344. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191811344. PubMed DOI PMC

Bernat S., Trykacz K., Skibiński J. Landscape Perception and the Importance of Recreation Areas for Students during the Pandemic Time. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:9837. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19169837. PubMed DOI PMC

Evans S., Alkan E., Bhangoo J.K., Tenenbaum H., Ng-Knight T. Effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on mental health, wellbeing, sleep, and alcohol use in a UK student sample. Psychiatry Res. 2021;298:113819. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113819. PubMed DOI PMC

Tang W., Hu T., Hu B., Jin C., Wang G., Xie C., Xu J. Prevalence and correlates of PTSD and depressive symptoms one month after the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in a sample of home-quarantined Chinese university students. J. Affect. Disord. 2020;274:1–7. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.05.009. PubMed DOI PMC

Al-Maskari A., Al-Riyami T., Kunjumuhammed S.K. Students academic and social concerns during COVID-19 pandemic. Educ. Inf. Technol. 2022;27:1–21. doi: 10.1007/s10639-021-10592-2. PubMed DOI PMC

Basri S., Hawaldar I.T., Nayak R., Rahiman H.U. Do academic stress, burnout and problematic internet use affect perceived learning? Evidence from India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustainability. 2022;14:1409. doi: 10.3390/su14031409. DOI

Swanson H.L., Pierre-Louis C., Monjaras-Gaytan L.Y., Zinter K.E., McGarity-Palmer R., Clark Withington M.H. Graduate student workload: Pandemic challenges and recommendations for accommodations. J. Community Psychol. 2022;50:2225–2242. doi: 10.1002/jcop.22769. PubMed DOI

Zaman U., Abbasi M. Linking transformational leadership and individual learning behavior: Role of psychological safety and uncertainty avoidance. Pak. J. Commer. Soc. Sci. 2020;14:167–201.

Imran N., Zeshan M., Pervaiz Z. Mental health considerations for children & adolescents in COVID-19 Pandemic. Pak. J. Med. Sci. 2020;36:S67. doi: 10.12669/pjms.36.COVID19-S4.2759. PubMed DOI PMC

Kotwal A.A., Holt-Lunstad J., Newmark R.L., Cenzer I., Smith A.K., Covinsky K.E., Perissinotto C.M. Social isolation and loneliness among San Francisco Bay Area older adults during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 2021;69:20–29. doi: 10.1111/jgs.16865. PubMed DOI PMC

Ihm L., Zhang H., van Vijfeijken A., Waugh M.G. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of university students. Int. J. Health Plan. Manag. 2021;36:618–627. doi: 10.1002/hpm.3145. PubMed DOI PMC

Basheti I.A., Mhaidat Q.N., Mhaidat H.N. Prevalence of anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare students in Jordan and its effect on their learning process: A national survey. PLoS ONE. 2021;16:e0249716. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249716. PubMed DOI PMC

Garton L., Haythornthwaite C., Wellman B. Studying on-line social networks. In: Jones S., editor. Doing Internet Research: Critical Issues and Methods for Examining the Net. Sage; Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: 1999. pp. 75–105. DOI

Wellman B. An electronic group is virtually a social network. In: Kiesler S., editor. Culture of the Internet. Lawrence Erlbaum; Mahwah, NJ, USA: 1997. pp. 179–205.

Wright K.B. Researching Internet-based populations: Advantages and disadvantages of online survey research, online questionnaire authoring software packages, and web survey services. J. Comput. Mediat. Commun. 2005;10:JCMC1034. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00259.x. DOI

Choi B., Jegatheeswaran L., Minocha A., Alhilani M., Nakhoul M., Mutengesa E. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on final year medical students in the United Kingdom: A national survey. BMC Med. Educ. 2020;20:147. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02117-1. PubMed DOI PMC

Morales-Rodríguez F.M. Fear, stress, resilience and coping strategies during COVID-19 in Spanish university students. Sustainability. 2021;13:5824. doi: 10.3390/su13115824. DOI

Karabatsos G., Walker S.G. A Bayesian nonparametric causal model. J. Stat. Plan. Inference. 2012;142:925–934. doi: 10.1016/j.jspi.2011.10.013. DOI

Investigating stress, anxiety, and coping strategies among higher education students in extreme contexts: insights from Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic

Lessons for Medical and Health Education Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic