Psychological impact during Covid-19 pandemic and academic performance in emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) among IIUM Kuantan nursing students

Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed Coronavirus as a pandemic and has declared it as a public health emergency of global worldwide concern. The spread of the pandemic triggered widespread fear and caused a variety of changes in people's lives, seriously affecting them, physically and mentally. The epidemic of COVID-19 has effectively impacted nearly all areas of our society, including the higher education, and has prompted higher education institutions around the World to implement a distance learning mode called Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL). The transition from face-to-face learning to online learning has brought many challenges to the students including their academic performance. Aim: This research conducted to measure the psychological impact during COVID-19 pandemic and academic performance in ERTL among IIUM Kuantan nursing students. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 202 of IIUM Kuantan nursing students using the convenience sampling method. The data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS 20.0 software for both descriptive and statistical findings. Results: The mean anxiety score of the students was 40.62 (±8.867) which indicated the normal anxiety level among them, in which majority of them 149 (73.8%) have normal level of anxiety, 45 (22.3%) of them with mild to moderate anxiety and 8 (4.0%) with severe level of anxiety. However, ERTL has a substantial negative impact toward the students‟ academic performance showing a significant association between their psychological impact with p-value