The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on nursing higher education at Chengdu University

Abstract

Background: To combat/control the COVID-19 pandemic, a complete lockdown was implemented in China for almost 6 months during 2020.

Purpose: To determine the impact of a long-term lockdown on the academic performance of first-year nursing students via mandatory online learning, and to determine the benefits of online teaching.

Methods: The recruitment and academic performance of 1st-year nursing students were assessed between 2019 [prior to COVID-19, n = 195, (146 women)] and 2020 [during COVID-19, n = 180 (142 women)]. The independent sample t test or Mann-Whitney test was applied for a comparison between these two groups.

Results: There was no significant difference in student recruitment between 2019 and 2020. The overall performance of the first-year students improved in the Biochemistry, Immunopathology, Traditional Chinese Medicine Nursing and Combined Nursing courses via mandatory online teaching in 2020 compared with traditional teaching in 2019.

Conclusion: Suspension of in-class learning but continuing education virtually online has occurred without negatively impacting academic performance, thus academic goals are more than achievable in a complete lockdown situation. This study offers firm evidence to forge a path for developments in teaching methods to better incorporate virtual learning and technology in order to adapt to fast-changing environments. However, the psychological/psychiatric and physical impact of the COVID-19 lockdown and the lack of face-to-face interaction on these students remains to be explored.

Fig 1. Diagrammatic demonstration of the experimental design.

Chinese education is divided into two semesters each year. Semester 1 (Autumn semester) runs from September to the following February. Semester 2 (Spring semester) runs from March to July. During the pandemic lockdown between March and July 2020, the COVID-19 cohort carried out their second semester of studies online.

Fig 2

Equilibrium comparison of the students’ demographic characteristics between the pre-COVID-19 cohort (white bars) and COVID-19 cohort (gray bars), including total number (A), numbers stratified based on gender (B), the average age (C) and the age stratified based on gender (D).

Fig 3

Student academic achievement by curriculum, Chinese Classic Literature (A), English (C), Chinese History (E) and Computer Science (G). The white and gray bars represent the pre-COVID-19 cohort and COVID-19 cohort, respectively. Student academic achievement of curriculum is further stratified by gender, Chinese Classic Literature (B), English (D), Chinese History (F) and Computer Science (H). The white, light grey, middle grey and dark grey bars represent men students in 2019, women students in 2019, men students in 2020 and women students in 2020, respectively. The Y-axis represents the academic mark in percentage points.

Fig 4

Student academic achievement by curriculum, Physiology (A), Biochemistry (C), Immunopathology (E) and Physiology Practice (G). The white and gray bars represent the pre-COVID-19 cohort and COVID-19 cohort, respectively. Student academic achievement of curriculum is further stratified by gender, Physiology (B), Biochemistry (D), Immunopathology (F) and Physiology Practice (H). The white, light grey, middle grey and dark grey bars represent the men students in 2019, women students in 2019, men students in 2020 and women students in 2020, respectively. The Y-axis represents the academic mark in percentage points.

Fig 5

Student academic achievement by curriculum for TCM Nursing (A) and Multicultural Nursing (C). The white and gray bars represent the pre-COVID-19 cohort and COVID-19 cohort, respectively. Student academic achievement of curriculum is further stratified by gender, Chinese TCM Nursing (B) and Combined TCM and Western Nursing (D). The white, light grey, middle grey and dark grey bars represents the men students in 2019, women students in 2019, men students in 2020 and women students in 2020, respectively. The Y-axis represents the mark in percentage points.