Nursing students' and faculty members' experiences of online education during COVID-19 across Southeast Asia: A Photovoice study

Wipada Kunaviktikul; Emily Ang; Ns Syamikar Baridwan; Alexandra Belle Bernal; Luz Barbara P Dones; Jo Leah Flores; Rachel Freedman-Doan; Areewan Klunklin; Wan Ling Lee; Chia-Chin Lin; Tzu Tsun Luk; Anh T H Nguyen; Mohd Said Nurumal; Agus Setiawan; Thandar Soe Sumaiyah Jamaluddin; T Q Huy; Patraporn Tungpunkom; Ns Dwi Nurviyandari Kusuma Wati; Xinyi Xu; Shefaly Shorey

doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105307

Nursing students' and faculty members' experiences of online education during COVID-19 across Southeast Asia: A Photovoice study

Nurse Educ Today. 2022 Apr:111:105307. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105307. Epub 2022 Feb 21.

Authors

Wipada Kunaviktikul¹, Emily Ang², Ns Syamikar Baridwan³, Alexandra Belle Bernal⁴, Luz Barbara P Dones⁵, Jo Leah Flores⁶, Rachel Freedman-Doan⁷, Areewan Klunklin⁸, Wan Ling Lee⁹, Chia-Chin Lin¹⁰, Tzu Tsun Luk¹¹, Anh T H Nguyen¹², Mohd Said Nurumal¹³, Agus Setiawan¹⁴, Thandar Soe Sumaiyah Jamaluddin¹⁵, T Q Huy¹⁶, Patraporn Tungpunkom¹⁷, Ns Dwi Nurviyandari Kusuma Wati¹⁸, Xinyi Xu¹⁹, Shefaly Shorey²⁰

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University, Thailand; Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Thailand. Electronic address: Wipada.ku@cmu.ac.th.
² Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: nuranke@nus.edu.sg.
³ Department of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia.
⁴ College of Nursing, University of the Philippines Manila, Philippines. Electronic address: asbernal1@up.edu.ph.
⁵ College of Nursing, University of the Philippines Manila, Philippines. Electronic address: lpdones@up.edu.ph.
⁶ College of Nursing, University of the Philippines Manila, Philippines. Electronic address: jaflores4@up.edu.ph.
⁷ Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. Electronic address: Rachel.freedman.doan@gmail.com.
⁸ Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. Electronic address: Areewan.k@cmu.ac.th.
⁹ Department of Nursing Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia. Electronic address: wllee@um.edu.my.
¹⁰ School of Nursing, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong; Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Charity Foundation, Hong Kong. Electronic address: cclin@hku.hk.
¹¹ School of Nursing, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong. Electronic address: lukkevin@hku.hk.
¹² Faculty of Nursing, Phenikaa University, Viet Nam. Electronic address: anh.nguyenthihong@phenikaa-uni.edu.vn.
¹³ Department of Critical Care Nursing, Kulliyyah of Nursing, International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia. Electronic address: mohdsaid@iium.edu.my.
¹⁴ Department of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia. Electronic address: a-setiawan@ui.ac.id.
¹⁵ Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, Kulliyyah of Nursing, International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia. Electronic address: sumaiyah@iium.edu.my.
¹⁶ Vietnam Nurses Association, Viet Nam; Thang Long University, Viet Nam. Electronic address: Huytq@thanglong.edu.vn.
¹⁷ Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. Electronic address: Patraporn.t@cmu.ac.th.
¹⁸ Department of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia. Electronic address: dwi.nurviyandari@ui.ac.id.
¹⁹ School of Nursing, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong. Electronic address: xuxinyi@connect.hku.hk.
²⁰ Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: nurssh@nus.edu.sg.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused extraordinary disruptions to education systems globally, forcing a rapid switch from conventional to online education. Although some qualitative studies have been carried out exploring the online education experiences of nursing students and faculty members during the COVID-19 pandemic, to our knowledge, no study has used the Photovoice approach.

Objectives: To explore the experiences of nursing students and faculty members as related to online education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: A descriptive qualitative design using Photovoice was adopted.

Setting: The study took place across five countries and one city in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong).

Participants: Fifty-two nursing students and twenty-eight nursing faculty members who participated in online education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Each participant submitted one photo substantiated with written reflections. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Ethical approval was obtained from institution-specific ethics boards.

Results: Three themes and eleven sub-themes emerged from the data. The three main themes were: 1) Psychological roadblocks to online education; 2) Developing resilience despite adversities; and 3) Online education: What worked and what did not.

Conclusion: Through Photovoice, the reflections revealed that nursing students and faculty members were generally overwhelmed with the online education experience. At the same time, participants were satisfied with the flexibility and convenience, opportunities for professional and personal development and safety afforded by online education. However, concerns over academic integrity, practical skills and clinical competencies, engagement and participation, the duality of technology and social isolation out-shadowed the advantages. It is worthwhile to explore the concerns raised to enhance online education across the nursing curriculum.

Keywords: Nursing faculty; Nursing students; Online education; Pandemic; Photovoice.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Education, Distance*
Faculty, Nursing
Humans
Pandemics
Students, Nursing* / psychology