Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic and eHealth Literacy Among Nursing Students in the United States and Turkiye, 2022

Ayaz-Alkaya S., Belay H.

PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTS, cilt.140, sa.4, ss.334-341, 2025 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 140 Sayı: 4
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1177/00333549251341230
  • Dergi Adı: PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, PASCAL, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, Applied Science & Technology Source, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), CAB Abstracts, CINAHL, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, Gender Studies Database, PAIS International, Public Administration Abstracts, Public Affairs Index, Veterinary Science Database
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.334-341
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Objectives: In health emergencies such as pandemics, nurses are on the front lines, thus increasing their risk of psychological distress. The mental health of nursing students may also deteriorate as a result of changes in learning and clinical practice environments. We measured the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and electronic health (eHealth) literacy among nursing students and identified associated factors. Methods: We used a cross-sectional design to analyze students studying at 2 nursing schools in the United States and Turkiye (N = 887 nursing students). We used the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (range, 7-35) and the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (range, 5-20) to measure fear and anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we used the Electronic Health Literacy Scale (range, 8-40) to measure eHealth literacy among students from April through June 2022. We conducted 1-way multivariate analysis of variance (F) to examine the relationships among variables, with P <= .05 considered as significant. Results: Students had mean scores of 30.7 for eHealth literacy, 14.1 for Fear of COVID-19 Scale, and 6.2 for Coronavirus Anxiety Scale. Scores for eHealth literacy varied according to the students' school, academic level, and employment but were generally high. Sex (Wilks lambda = 0.952; F = 14.787; P < .001) and the frequency of following news related to COVID-19 (Wilks lambda = 0.927; F = 11.424; P < .001) influenced COVID-19-related fear and anxiety. eHealth literacy and fear of COVID-19 differed significantly by students' vaccine dose (lambda = 0.983; F = 5.081; P = .002). Conclusions: Increasing the level of eHealth literacy can contribute to reducing the psychological effects of health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, among nursing students.