Self-Perceived Psychological and Educational Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic among Allied Health Students in a Philippine Private University

The study aimed to find out the self-perceived psychological and educational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among allied health students. Respondents were 324 students from allied health courses such as Dentistry, Medical Technology, Radiographic Technology, Nursing, and Physical Therapy who were enrolled in the 1st semester of school year 2021-2022. Results showed that BSPT were the most psychologically impacted by COVID-19 pandemic in terms level of stress, anxiety, and study motivation while BSRT students has the highest change in sleep quality. Dentistry and BSRT have the lowest levels of academic learning, while BSPT was the most affected academically in terms of academic teaching, time for individual study, gain of practical skills, and future professional perspective. The third year has the highest level of stress, while the second and third year have high levels of anxiety, the second year has high change in the quality of sleep and the first year has a moderate affect for study motivation The sixth year has high academic learning, the first year has high level for academic teaching as well as time for individual study, the fourth year has moderate effect for skills acquisition while the second year has a high impact on future professional perspective. There was a significant correlation between anxiety and future professional perspective, between anxiety and time for individual study, between study motivation and academic learning, between study motivation and gain of practical skill, and between study motivation and future professional perspective. School administrators may provide a psychological assessment to identify those who are suffering from high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression and provide counseling and psychological therapy to affected students.

Keywords – allied health students, educational impact, psychological impact