COVID-19 Pandemic-related Stress, and Coping Strategies among Undergraduate Nursing Students, Sri Lanka

Introduction: COVID-19 resulted in disruptions to the teaching and learning process for nursing students. In Asia, nursing students were particularly affected, facing heightened stress and interruptions in their education and clinical practice. This study assesses the COVID-19 pandemic-related stress, depressive symptoms and coping strategies among undergraduate nursing students in Sri Lanka. 
Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 385 nursing undergraduates from government universities in Sri Lanka, which offer a BSc nursing degree program. Self-administered online questionnaire was used for data collection. COVID-19-related stress, depressive symptoms, psychological changes and coping strategies among nursing students were included as dependent variables. The Chi-square test was adopted to assess the association between variables, with p<0.01 considered as the significance level. 
Result: Of the participants, 74.4% (n=286) reported stress at a moderate level; 13.8% (n=53) of respondents reported stress at a mild level, and 11.9% (n=46) reported a higher level of stress during the pandemic. The coping strategies that nursing undergraduate students used to relieve COVID-19 pandemic-related stress and depression varied among individuals.  
Conclusion: Stress due to COVID-19 reported by the participants could have affected academic activities of nursing undergraduates. These findings highlight the need for targeted mental health interventions to enhance coping skills among nursing students during public health crises.