Student perceptions about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their educational and personal life: A cross-sectional study in the Colombo Medical Faculty

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted university education worldwide. This study aimed to examine undergraduates’ perceptions on how their learning and lifestyle were affected and the institutional support they received during the pandemic. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2021 to March 2022 using an online questionnaire at the Colombo Medical Faculty among all students from the first to fifth year (n=1120). The participants used a Likert scale to rate their degree of agreement on how they were affected by the pandemic. The data were dichotomized (i.e., as ‘agree’/’disagree’) to examine its association with the students’ demographic characteristics using Chi-squared test. A p value of <0.05 was considered significant.