SELECTED NURSING STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC STRESS: COPING AND ACHIEVEMENT STRATEGIES AMIDST COVID-19

: Online classes are proven to be challenging for students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers determined the nursing student's academic stress: coping and achievement strategies amidst COVID-19 at Wesleyan University, Philippines during the Academic Year 2020 – 2021 (second semester). The study was quantitative descriptive, which utilized total enumeration sampling to examine the entire population of the 177 Level II nursing students. Survey questionnaires were adapted and collected through Google Forms, which were analyzed using frequency and percentage, total weighted mean, and K endall’s tau. Thus, this study determined the demographic profile, age, sex, religion, academic stress, coping, and achievement strategies of the respondents. In conclusion of this study, respondents have a high level of academic stress and use adaptive coping strategies and self-motivation to learn learning strategies. Researchers recommended to universities, colleges, and professors some considerations to enhance the academic performance of students. value of of academic stress a value of .164, value of 0.05. of a value of of no


Introduction
The Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov) was first distinguished and revealed by the WHO China Country Office on December 31, 2019, as cases of pneumonia with obscure etiology (unknown cause) that happened in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China (WHO, 2020). The world is currently experiencing a life and death situation when the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic. It is progressing within 2020.
Additionally, it has now become a global public health emergency. As of now, there are 1,620,294 deaths worldwide and the United States is the leading country with the highest cases of COVID-19 (John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre, 2020). This expanding threat results in growing clinical and administrative demands on physicians and healthcare workers. It also dramatically impacted the community and, therefore, the education of the students.
According to the CDC, some considerations must be made about different countries affected or not by . At this point, people must avoid making contact and limit themselves to mass gatherings. There is a lower risk of having the disease if they are involved in virtual-only activities, events, and gatherings. In addition to that, students are discouraged from participating in face-to-face classes since school premises are shut down for safety measures. Everyone needs to reconcile through virtual learning to aid the education of each student. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the requirement for social distancing, this virtual learning has drastically helped reshape and improve the instructor and students' engagement with education.
Since in-person classes moved online and the "Stay Home Stay Safe" executive order was implemented, many students have faced a stressful change in their status (Sheroun et al., 2020). Institutional shutting down during this inevitable time is to be found demandable as an option to institutional shutting down. It has become a solution for the continuity of the teaching and learning process for students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Undoubtedly, it seriously affected the students, but since no one knows when this pandemic will completely vanish, educational institutions chose to utilize the generally accessible technological resources to create virtual learning materials for students.
Despite the unexpected imposition of lockdowns, universities were ready to implement technological solutions to ensure class continuity across courses. However, it has led to more difficult decisions for medical schools (Remtulla, 2020). As a result of an inadequate learning approach, students faced academic stress. Virtual learning is not suitable for medical courses, specifically nursing students, as it is practice-based and has clinical procedures. Nevertheless, it does not apply to students who are not digitally advanced, which is why the effectiveness of virtual learning is not guaranteed for most students.
Additionally, students worry about their academics as they are new to the virtual learning type of education, especially students from the health profession. There would be quality concerns regarding the education delivered through online learning and the motivation or satisfaction level experienced by the students. They may also face a lack of technical support from institutes and instructors due to insufficient access to technology, which has hampered their development experience and resulted in significant obstacles in virtual learning (Hasan et al., 2020).
Moreover, the usual way to complete education in medical school has always been predictable. The students need to demonstrate their knowledge and dedication to medicine and enhance themselves in clinical-based practice or non-clinical activities. With the COVID-19 pandemic, this has been significant concern about medical students' future careers and lives. Students can continue their education, specifically medical students, through alternative ways, which will lessen the impact of the pandemic in health profession courses (Ferrel and Ryan, 2020). Academic stress is one of the hindrances most students face that prevents them from learning, as spending an extended amount of time in front of a computer or any device could manifest a negative physical outcome or effect on a student.
The worldwide pandemic has proven to be challenging for students. It has a critical impact on clinical education wherein clinical instructors and medical students are working within the most troublesome of circumstances in a hospital-based setting or clinical practice. The research studies of Fawaz & Samaha (2020) together with Sheroun et al. (2020) discuss the e-learning factors that contribute to the academic stress that influences students' academic performance. Moreover, the study of Adnan & Anwar (2020), together with Al-Tammem et al. (2020), discusses the essential coping strategies of the students from educational organizations; however, only some of the reviewed literature focused on nursing students' academic stress: coping and achievement strategies.
Thus, this study aims to analyze the nursing students' academic stress and their coping and achievement strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic to hone their academic performance.

Methodology
This study utilized a quantitative descriptive research design. The quantitative descriptive method of research is a fact-finding study with an adequate and accurate description and interpretation of the findings. It describes, with emphasis, what exists, such as current conditions, practices, situations, or any other phenomena (Polit & Beck, 2006).
This study used descriptive analysis by means of quantitative approaches. The researchers used descriptive analysis in order to provide further knowledge about the nursing students' academic stress: coping and achievement strategies amidst COVID-19 at Wesleyan University, Philippines during the Academic Year 2020-2021 (second semester). This study's participants are second-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing students at Wesleyan University, Philippines during the Academic Year 2020-2021 (second semester). The researchers chose the second-year students of Bachelor of Science in Nursing to know the nursing students' academic stress: coping and achievement strategies amidst. COVID-19. Level II nursing students were chosen to be the respondents of this study because they experienced having a face-to-face class when they were in their first year in nursing school. Moreover, due to COVID-19, they need to use the virtual mode of learning as a substitute for the traditional mode of learning when they are in their second year in nursing school. For this reason, they are suitable to be the respondents of this study to determine the academic stress, coping and academic strategies of the nursing students. The number of respondents consists of 177 second-year students, which is 27.3% out of 643 nursing students at Wesleyan University, Philippines.  Table 1 illustrates the percentage of the respondents in terms of age. The majority of the respondents are 20 years old, which has a total percentage of 48%. It was followed by respondents who are 19 years old, which has a total percentage of 33.3%. The respondents who are 21 years old have a total percentage of 10.2%. It means that most of the respondents who answered the survey are 20 years old. There is a greater need for student psychological therapy as a result of the rapid shift in the education system due to the high levels of stress and moral instability of generation Z students. The potential prospects of their careers were demonstrated by a very recent study that was also released during the COVID-19 cycle (Fawaz & Samaha, 2020). In addition, the analysis reported that age was correlated statistically and substantially with the degree of stress; i.e., the younger the age, the greater the risk of suffering from psychological stress (Al-Tammem et al., 2020).  Table 2 illustrates the percentage of the respondents in terms of sex. The majority of the respondents are females, which comprises 75.7%. Male respondents make up 24.3% of the total. It means that most of the students who answered this survey are female. This is to be expected, as the nursing profession is known to be dominated by females around the world. Based on the findings of Al-Tammem et al., 2020, no significant difference between males and females was found in the overall psychological stress ratings. Nevertheless, a higher degree of stress was reported among females and university students compared with males. Females were more vulnerable to anxiety (Al Ateeq et al., 2020). Gender variations in the hormone response to stress may be due to this finding (Al-Hanawi et al., 2020). Based on the study by Oducado et al. (2021), there were no significant differences in the e-learning attitude regardless of female and male nursing students' gender in the two selected nursing schools in the Philippines. Perhaps, as opposed to male students, female students from Malaysian universities are more oriented to the E-learning platform (Shahzad et al., 2020).  Table 3 illustrates the percentage of the respondents in terms of religion. There are 129, or 72.9%, of the students who answered Roman Catholic, followed by the students who answered Others, garnering 27 or 15.3%. Next on the list were respondents who are Methodist, with a total response of 13, or 7.3%, and lastly, 8 or 4.5% of the respondents answered Iglesiani Cristo as their religion. It means that most of the students who answered this survey are Roman Catholic.

Discussion
In the study of Aftab et al. (2018), religious engagement was found to have a positive influence on improving life satisfaction and reducing stress in students, which could help them do better academically.  Table 4 presents the academic stress of students during COVID-19. The respondents, who are second-year nursing students, obtained an overall weighted mean of 2.63, indicating a high level of academic stress. Meanwhile, the highest mean of respondents who are second-year nursing students was "Do you have fear of examinations such as a final professional exam, ward tests, class tests, assessments?", which was for academic reasons with a mean of 3.07, indicating a high level of academic stress. While, "I have no guidance and supervision from my professors," which is under social reasons, garnered the lowest mean of 1.99, which indicates a very low level of academic stress. The result shows that the respondents experienced a high level of academic stress when taking examinations. Students' stress during exams included Internet connection problems, exam structure, their preparedness and personal factors such as the exam environment at home that is not appropriate (Elsalem et al., 2020). A healthy, comfortable, and non-toxic environment helps improve students' academic performance. Academic institutions must provide this kind of environment for their students when learning in school. In terms of an online class setting, several suggestions may be considered. It is suggested that professors do not assign homework to their students. Through this, students' time spent doing academic work in their homes may be reduced. On the other hand, it is also suggested to implement interactive classes that can entertain students while learning to motivate them to engage in the education process (Vargas et al., 2020). Moreover, several articles show that the chances of students experiencing stress are low when professors guide and supervise them well. Studies suggest that teacher support is an important mechanism through which teachers can foster students' positive academic emotions and reduce their negative academic emotions (Lawman and Wilson, 2013). Furthermore, even in an online class, teachers can also free their time for the students who will seek help from them. The teacher's assistance and support must be immediately available and can complement a student's other interpersonal relationships, particularly if those relationships are unstable. In addition to that, targeted interventions can assist students who are having problems in finding and utilizing teacher assistance to enhance their academic achievement (Lei et al., 2018).  The result shows that the highest number of respondents are using adaptive coping strategies. Several studies support that higher optimism and lower pessimism can decrease the negative impact of how a person adapts to the experience of psychological problems (Arslan et al., 2020). It minimizes or manages stressors, but those who ignore, avoid, or remove themselves from stressors and emotions are adversely associated (Conversano et al., 2010) for the reason that optimism was also having a negative effect and was correlated with avoidant coping (Eden et al., 2020). It means that excessive optimism can sometimes lead people to overestimate their chances of experiencing good things while avoiding negative ones. Future studies are needed to determine how to effectively use optimism as a coping strategy to avoid overuse that can lead to negative effects.
Adaptive coping was more likely to decrease perceived stress levels than maladaptive coping (Lopez, 2014). It shows that respondents are using more adaptive coping strategies than maladaptive coping strategies, as shown in the table. The highest mean under Maladaptive Coping is 'Turning to work or other activities to take my mind off things' or 'Self Distraction', only ranked 6th place overall with a weighted mean of 3.04. Self-distraction is defined as diverting one's attention away from a stressful situation by participating in activities such as watching television, exercising, reading, or indulging in other enjoyable activities. Based on the study of Wasil et al. (2021), self-distraction was the most frequently reported common strategy. Watching television and eating were the most commonly reported types of self-distraction. Self-distraction tends to be more effective in coping with uncontrollable stress (Wadsworth, 2015). However, the effectiveness of self-distraction likely varies among individuals using it as a coping strategy (Bendez et al., 2019). Future studies are needed to determine which types of selfdistraction are most effective in every individual.
Overall, it was encouraging to find that adaptive coping strategies scored higher among respondents than maladaptive coping strategies. The results suggest that mental health should not be ignored, especially during a pandemic. Academic institutions should collaborate with government officials to improve the mental well-being of their students (Salmana et al., 2020).  Table 6 presents the Achievement Strategies of respondents during Covid-19. Responses from participants show that 'I improve from my mistakes' as an Achievement strategy recorded the highest mean of 3.32 which is under Motivation for Learning. Followed by 'I repeated the online instructional materials based on my needs', with a weighted mean of 3.19 which is under Learner Control. While 'I feel confident in posting questions in online discussions' as an Achievement strategy recorded the lowest mean of 2.35 which is under Online Communication Self-efficacy. Due to pandemics, traditional classroom learning must modify to online learning. Therefore, students must adopt new and improved strategies to achieve their goals in learning. In the online learning environment, the effectiveness of the strategies that were used in a traditional classroom setting may be reduced. We should not presume that the traditional teaching methods and materials would automatically provide the same learning outcomes in an online learning environment (Broadbent et al., 2015). To fully understand how to achieve effective online learning, it is important to understand what characteristics of online learning preparation college students should have (Hung et al., 2010). The finding shows that respondents are using Motivation for Learning as an achievement strategy, followed by Learner Control and the lowest is Online Communication Self-efficacy.
Learners' motivation has been consistently correlated to successful learning and influences academic outcomes (Clayton et al., 2010). It is necessary to identify the reason or source of a mistake after it has been recognized (Radosavljević et al., 2015). For that reason, students will improve their academic performance leading to achieving clear goals. The definition of Learner Control has changed over time to encompass aspects of new learning paradigms and technology (Hung et al., 2010). Scheiter (2014) states that Learner Control improves learning by allowing students to build and increase their ability to self-regulate their learning. Nevertheless, it was also mentioned that there is little evidence that learner control would immediately improve motivation and engagement, which will help students learn more effectively. Traditional learning settings are quite different from web-based learning environments (Hung et al., 2010). For that reason, students are generally required to follow instructional material to ensure that everything is done correctly. Getting students to ask questions and participate in discussions is a daily struggle (Rocca, 2010). It is the reason why being 'confident in posting questions in online discussions' scored the lowest. Several factors can hinder participation in web-based conversations (Hurt et al., 2012). Based on the study by Yukselturk (2010), achievement, gender, and weekly hours of Internet use were found to have a significant relationship with students' level of participation in the online discussion. Future studies must conduct and focus on how will the students effectively utilize the achievement strategies in the virtual classroom setting. The study aimed to determine if the demographic profile has a significant relationship with academic stress among nursing students. The results showed that there was no correlation between the demographic profile and academic stress among nursing students. Table 7 revealed that the two-tailed test showed that the significance of age with academic stress was .992, more significant than the accepted value of 0.05. The significance of sex with academic stress had a value of .164, also more significant than the accepted value of 0.05. The significance of religion with academic stress had a value of .060, which is also more significant than the accepted value of 0.05. This means that there is no significance between the variables and the null hypothesis is accepted. The study aimed to determine if the demographic profile has a significant relationship with the coping strategies among nursing students. The results showed that there was no correlation between the profile and coping strategies among nursing students. Table 8 revealed that the two-tailed test showed the significance of age with coping strategies was .196, more significant than the accepted value of 0.05. The significance of sex with coping strategies had a value of .337, also more significant than the accepted value of 0.05. The significance of religion with coping strategies had a value of .478, also more significant than the accepted value of 0.05. It means that there is no significance between the variables and the null hypothesis is accepted. The study aimed to determine if academic stress has a significant relationship with the coping strategies among nursing students. The results showed that there was no correlation between academic stress and coping strategies among nursing students. Table 9 revealed that the two-tailed test showed that the significance of academic stress with coping strategies was .125, more significant than the accepted value of 0.05. This means that there is no significance between the variables and the null hypothesis is accepted.

Conclusions
1. The majorities of the respondents are females, 20 years of age and Roman Catholic. 2. The overall weighted mean of academic stress among Level II students amidst COVID-19 developed as a high level of stress, which was interpreted as the result of students' experiencing difficulty in taking an online examination. 3. Moreover, the coping strategies for the level of academic stress of the majority of respondents are through the use of positive optimism, which enables them to be more adaptive in their current state. 4. On the other hand, achievement strategies with the presence of academic stress lie through the use of self-motivation to learn and aid curiosity amidst difficulty in communication. 5. There is no significant relationship between profile and academic stress among nursing students. 6. There is also no significant relationship between demographics and coping strategies among nursing students. 7. There is no relationship between variables' academic stress and coping strategies. 8. Therefore, the null hypotheses are accepted.

Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
About the authors Dr. Johdel C. Cabaluna is a Registered Nurse and a Licensed Professional Teacher. He is an Associate Professor at Wesleyan University-Philippines. He is also a reviewer and lecturer in various review centers in the Philippines. Maria Karmela Del Rosario RN, MAN is a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing student at St. Louis University-Baguio, Philippines. She is a former nurse manager at St. Luke's Medical Center and is currently the Academic Coordinator of Wesleyan University, Philippines. Kyla Christine Antipala is a nursing student enrolled at Wesleyan University, Philippines. Mariden Claire Alvaran is a nursing student enrolled at Wesleyan University, Philippines. Camille Faye Candelaria is a nursing student enrolled at Wesleyan University, Philippines. Vennieve Jane Eder is a nursing student enrolled at Wesleyan University, Philippines. Ashley Nickole Alexisse Castelo is a nursing student enrolled at Wesleyan University, Philippines.