BACKGROUND: In March 2020, nursing schools in Indonesia were forced to abruptly shift from face-to-face learning to fully online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, fully online learning was still not widely used in Indonesian nursing education. AIM: This study aimed to identify barriers in online learning among Indonesian nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design and involved 530 undergraduate nursing students from five universities in Indonesia participated in this study. The authors sent an online self-administered questionnaire to nursing students from October to December 2020. The questionnaire consisted of four sections to obtain the following data: (1) Sociodemographic characteristic, (2) information about online learning, (3) platform used for online learning, and (4) perceived barriers in online learning. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data with frequency distribution, percentages, means, and standard deviations. RESULTS: Nursing students in Indonesia were confronted by various barriers during the implementation of abrupt online learning in the current pandemic situation. Most frequently barriers encountered by nursing students during online learning were high costs for online learning, poor internet connection, lack of motivation toward online learning, lack of skill in using the online learning platforms, and lack of training and assistance to use the platforms. CONCLUSION: High cost for online learning, poor internet connection, low learning motivation, lack of skill in using the online learning platforms, and lack of training and assistance to use the platforms were identified as the most frequent barriers encountered by nursing students.

BACKGROUND: The global coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic has forced nursing schools in Indonesia to implement online learning. The association between online learning variables and psychological distress among nursing students is not fully understood. AIM: This study aimed to assess psychological distress among nursing students and the association between online learning variables and psychological distress. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2020 to February 2021. Six hundred and thirty-five nursing students from four universities in Indonesia participated in this study and were recruited through a consecutive sampling method. The measurement of psychological distress used the 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. Ordinal logistic regression was used to analyze the association between online learning predictors and psychological distress. RESULTS: Most of the respondents had severe psychological distress (n = 194; 30.6%). Older age was found to act as a protective factor against psychological distress (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = –0.159, p = 0.035; 95% confidence interval [CI]: (–0.307)–(–0.011)). Contrarily, not living at their own home during lockdown (aOR = 1.019, p = 0.001; 95% CI: 0.657–1.382), always feeling that online learning is expensive (aOR = 1.387, p = 0.001; 95% CI: 0.645–2.130), always experienced poor Internet connection during online learning (aOR = 3.380, p = 0.001; 95% CI: 1.935–4.826), and having no motivation toward online learning (aOR = 3.154, p = 0.001; 95% CI: 2.372–3.936) acted as risk factors for having psychological distress. CONCLUSION: Cost and Internet access barriers as well as low motivation during the abrupt shift to implementation of online learning in the current pandemic situation acted as risk factors for psychological distress among nursing students.

Introduction: During the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, online learning has become an important strategy in the implementation of nursing education, in order to prevent the SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the education sector. This study aimed to assess: (i) the correlation between self-efficacy and psychological distress; (ii) the correlation between self-efficacy and online learning readiness; and (iii) the correlation between psychological distress and online learning readiness among nursing students in Indonesia. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted from October until December 2020, and involved 500 nursing students from 3 universities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia who were recruited using consecutive sampling methods. The instruments used in this study were: 1) the 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10) to assess the psychological distress, 2) Online Learning Self-Efficacy Scale (OLSES) to assess online learning self-efficacy, and 3) Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) to assess online learning readiness. Spearman’s rank test was used to analyze the correlation between online learning self-efficacy, psychological distress, and online learning readiness. Results: Most of the nursing students (70.6%) had psychological distress ranging from mild to severe distress. The self-efficacy had an inverse correlation with psychological distress (Rho=-0.488, p=0.001). Contrarily, self-efficacy was positively correlated with online learning readiness (Rho=0.708, P=0.001). Psychological distress was inversely correlated with online learning readiness (Rho=-0.423, p=0.001). Conclusion: Online learning self-efficacy and psychological distress are significantly correlated with online learning readiness. Strategies to increase self-efficacy and ameliorates psychological distress, such as appropriate online learning training, adequate technical assistance, and psychological support were required to improve students’ online learning readiness.