PERCEIVED EFFECT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN ON THE NURSING AND MIDWIFERY EDUCATION OF UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS IN BABCOCK UNIVERSITY

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted daily physical activities ranging from religious rituals to education, all day long. There has been a significant change in nursing with the pandemic, face-to-face lectures and physical interactions within laboratories have switched over to e-learning platforms, and this significantly impacted nursing education. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the perceived effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on undergraduate nursing students’ nursing and midwifery education. The study adopted a descriptive, non-experimental cross-sectional research design. Undergraduate nursing students from Babcock University were selected using a stratified random sampling technique to select 275 respondents which is the sample size representing the study population. 260 questionnaires were properly filled, returned and validated for analysis. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used for analysing frequencies and testing research questions. The majority (45.8%) of respondents experienced academic burnout during online learning, with the mean levels of overall competence for each level of study being fair. Anxiety was common for online learning sessions (31.5%). COVID-19 significantly affected the acquisition of core nursing and midwifery skills (48.1% and 57.7% respectively). The study concludes that there is a positive perceived effect of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on the nursing and midwifery education of undergraduate nursing students (73%). While there were challenges, the nursing community demonstrated resilience and adaptability, and the experience prompted a greater focus on the importance of preparedness for healthcare crises and the development of a more flexible and resilient nursing education system. A similar study should be carried out on another group of undergraduate nursing students at a different university, and a separate study should be carried out to focus on the effects of the pandemic on respondents with a history of psychological problems.