An Evaluation of Physical and Psychological Changes in School Children during Online Education - A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Covid -19 is a great pandemic that keeps people indoors. This has increased the levels of perceived stress among not only adults but also young children. Children are much exposed to online education that keeps them in front of a computer or mobile phone exposing them to virtual education. This causes them to get stressed very easily. Objective: To evaluate the physical and psychological changes in school children during online education. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of a sample consisting of 100 school children undergoing online education through their schools was conducted. The participants were administered with a self developed questionnaire consisting of 17 questions. The responses were collected using google forms. Descriptive statistics, frequency analysis and chi square test was used to analyse the data. Results: The study reported that school children were stressed during online education. Crosstab evaluation was done for the questionnaire. It reported that the majority of the female children said that they feel good about online education and are able to manage the stress. Conclusions: This study concluded an innovative finding that there is a gradual increase in the level of stress from moderate high among school students after the start of the COVID-19  outbreak.