Since the emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan in December 2019, major extraordinary measures have been implemented globally to reduce transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (1, 2). Despite these, within weeks the ensuing pandemic caused significant changes to the educational landscape worldwide. In the UAE, the first case of COVID-19 was identified on 29 January 2020. In response, the government has taken stringent steps to control the spread of the virus, including stay-home orders of two to three months duration (1, 3). On 3 March 2020, the UAE Ministry of Education announced that all schools, colleges and universities across the country would close for a month starting Sunday 8 March as part of efforts to contain the spread of the virus (4).
In response to the spread of COVID-19, higher education institutions (HEIs) around the globe closed their physical campuses and moved rapidly from traditional face-to-face courses to remote or online courses (5, 6). According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (7), the pandemic has interrupted the learning of more than one billion students in 129 countries worldwide. In the UAE, many HEIs have been forced to make timely adjustments to ensure the provision of education and sustain students’ academic progress.
Consequently, students are liable to have experienced stressors subsequent to the academic burden, lack of relaxation time and repeated examinations in a competitive environment (8, 9). The pandemic disrupted student life; normal classes were suspended and students could not participate in social activities, affecting their academic performance and aggravating stress levels (1, 10, 11). Previous studies have found significantly high stress and anxiety levels among university and college students during the pandemic, negatively impacting their perception of online courses (10, 12, 13).
Previous research has established that students’ ability to use learning technology tools, lack of IT knowledge, lack of technical support during virtual classes and the inappropriateness of online course content were causes of students’ distress and burden during home quarantine (10). Hasan and Bao (1) examined the effects on students’ psychological distress of ‘e-learning crack-up’ during COVID-19 lockdown; their survey of 400 students identified perception of e-learning crack-up as a significant independent predictor of psychological distress.
The prevalence of emotional distress varies among recent studies but demonstrates that a considerable percentage of students risk psychological distress. For example, Li et al. (14) found that among 1210 students, 53.8% had severe to moderate psychological distress, with female students being associated with more significant emotional burnout. In a Spanish study, 34.19% of respondents showed moderate to extremely severe depression symptoms, 21.34% showed extremely severe anxiety symptoms and 28.14% exhibited moderate to severe stress symptoms subsequent to the COVID-19 pandemic (15). The literature also identifies various factors influencing students’ mental health. A recent study among 7143 college students revealed that COVID-19-related factors such economic stressors, effects on daily life and academic delays were positively associated with the level of anxiety symptoms (10), while supportive family, living with parents and having a steady income were protective against high levels of anxiety. Moreover, the findings of Meo et al. (16) show that a sense of emotional detachment from family, friends and fellow students was significantly associated with emotional distress and had negatively impacted students’ academic performance and total daily studying hours. Despite the extensive research conducted over the last year, however, no attention appears to have been paid to changes in assessment methods during the crisis, students’ GPA before and after the outbreak and marital status. This study therefore explores the association of these factors with students’ fatigue levels and psychological well-being.
Significance of the study
Before 2020, a major transition to online education was already underway. Over the past decades, online teaching had become a strategic objective for many HEIs, including those in the UAE. Then, when the pandemic nature of the COVID-19 outbreak became evident in the spring of 2020, universities abruptly went online with very few days of planning (17). A growing body of literature recognises the importance of exploring the impact of the pandemic and the sudden shift to online learning on students’ psychological well-being. To our knowledge, no studies within Arab culture and the Gulf countries have examined this impact. The study also aims to determine the association of students’ characteristics with perceived psychological well-being and the fatigue associated with confinement due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) is a federal educational institution comprising the largest student body in the UAE, with more than 20,000 students in 16 campuses across the country. Since March 2020, various strategies have been actioned to ensure a smooth transmission to online learning and teaching experience (3). One of strategies was to modify the academic assessment approach after extensive consultation with faculty and the endorsement of the HCT’s Academic Council. Examples of changes to traditional exams include splitting them into multiple online quizzes and assignments; replacing them with projects or case studies, reducing the weight to 15% and distributing the remaining weight over other formative assessments; replacing them with e-portfolios; using questions with an increased level of cognitive complexity; and setting online, open-book practical exams (timed and scheduled during online class sessions).
This study examines three main hypotheses: 1) The abrupt transition to pure online learning increased students’ psychological distress and fatigue; 2) The modified assessment strategy during home confinement moderated the effect on students’ family lifestyles, physical health, mental health and stress; and 3) Students’ perception of psychological well-being moderated fatigue levels and academic performance.
The results could assist colleges, administrators and policymakers in the UAE by providing a theoretical basis for assessing psychological well-being and identifying the appropriate actions to help students during future pandemics. It should also provide guidelines for policymakers on possible mechanisms to moderate the impacts of anxiety on students during such health crises.