Alleviating the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Physical, Psychological Health, and Wellbeing of Students: Coping Behavior as a Mediator.

Background: Public health procedures under the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown policy negatively affect people's health. Students' physical issues have been increased due to restrictions which further impact their psychological and overall well-being. Objective: The research looks at the influence of coping behavior in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on students' physical/psychological health and general well-being. Methods: The study's participants were chosen from a pool of 2200 people using convenience sampling. Using an anonymous online poll, the main data were gathered. The collected data were analyzed by using Smart-PLS. Results: From eight direct correlations, seven were found to be true, except the route pandemic -> overall wellbeing, which was not true. Furthermore, it was shown that the mediating effect of coping behavior was statistically significant in the routes of mediation. Conclusion: Coping strategies have a significant role in how a person responds to trying circumstances. Our study's results suggest that coping strategies had a statistically significant mediation role in reducing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is concluded that appropriate coping strategies are an effective adaptation of a protective barrier against the damaging effects of COVID-19 on health.

Validation of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale in a Sample of Pakistan's University Students and Future Directions.

This study determined the psychometric validation of the English version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S). Findings demonstrated robust psychometric properties for the FCV-19S. CFA results showed that the FCV-19S was a good model fit to the data in a sample of 608 university students. The FCV-19S also showed good concurrent validity, as it was significantly and positively related to the Preventive Behaviors related to COVID-19 Scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale as well as significantly and negatively related to the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. The scale also showed good internal consistency reliability. Further, the association of age with FCV-19S indicated that younger students experienced greater fear of COVID-19. The analyses of mean differences revealed that women as compared to men, bachelor's and master's students as compared to post-master's students, and unemployed students as compared to employed students experienced greater fear of the outbreak. Also, those suffering from severe anxiety experienced greater fear of COVID-19 followed by those suffering from moderate, mild, and minimal anxiety. Moreover, knowing someone suffering from the coronavirus, being afraid that someone close might contract the virus, and believing that the current COVID-19 situation adversely affects academic performance were linked to higher levels of fear of the pandemic. Practice implications, limitations, and avenues for future research are also discussed.

Learning behavior, digital platforms for learning and its impact on university student's motivations and knowledge development.

Background: Learning digital technologies in higher education is a process of knowledge generation, and the rapid growth of technology in education has a significant impact on students' learning behaviors, motivation, and knowledge development. Pakistan's remarkable technological breakthrough has increased in the education field. Study objectives: The study focuses on estimating students' learning behaviors, identifying the positive influence of educational apps on digital learning platforms, and analyzing their impact on students' motivation and knowledge development. Materials and methods: According to the study's objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted to gather the primary data. The participants were students of universities in Lahore city of Pakistan. For this study, the sample size was N = 300, carefully chosen using the purposive sampling technique. Of the respondents, there were 146 male and 154 female students, and the sample consisted of individuals aged 25-35 years. Smart-PLS-Bootstrapping, T-Values (PLS) 3.2.9 and the structural equation model (SEM) were applied to get the appropriate outcomes from the proposed study framework. Results: SEM analysis results shows that all proposed hypotheses [Animated Movies (AM) -> Student Motivation (SM), Educational Apps (EA) -> Knowledge Development (KD), Learning Behavior (LB) -> Animated Movies, Learning Behavior -> Educational Apps, Learning Behavior -> Knowledge Development, Learning Behavior -> Virtual Classrooms (VCr), Virtual Classrooms -> Knowledge Development, Virtual Classrooms -> Student Motivation] are confirmed while Learning Behavior -> Student Motivation is not confirmed. Conclusion: This study found that digital learning platforms significantly impact students' learning and what motivates them to learn. The study also found that using educational apps and virtual classrooms more often helps students learn more and be more motivated to learn.

COVID-19, students satisfaction about e-learning and academic achievement: Mediating analysis of online influencing factors.

Background: The current study examines student satisfaction with e-learning, the adaption of online learning channels, digital competency of students' involvement, and academic achievement during COVID-19. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the online influencing components for learning among University students in Pakistan during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Methods: The study population comprised Pakistani University students in Punjab province who tooke online lessons throughout the epidemic. In accordance with the study's purpose, a questionnaire survey was employed to gather primary data. SPSS-23 is used for analyzing the demographic data, and cleaning and preparing data for testing hypotheses. SmartPLS 3.0 was used to investigate the suggested study framework using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The analysis of the SEM model shows that all planned hypotheses (Adaptation of Online Education Channels -> Satisfaction about E-learning, COVID-19 Pandemic -> Adaptation of Online Education Channels, COVID-19 Pandemic -> Digital Competence, COVID-19 Pandemic -> Motivation for Online Learning, COVID-19 Pandemic -> Willingness for Online Learning, Digital Competence -> Satisfaction about E-learning, Motivation for Online Learning -> Satisfaction about E-learning, Satisfaction about E-learning -> Academic Achievement, Willingness for Online Learning -> Satisfaction about E-learning) are confirmed. Conclusion: The results linked e-learning satisfaction to academic success and Pakistani students who utilized e-learning throughout the outbreak reported higher levels of academic satisfaction and achievement.