Study on Difference in Coronavirus-19 Related Anxiety between Face-to-face and Non-face-toface Classes among University Students in South Korea

Introduction: The Coronavirus-19 pandemic has thrown the world into survival trauma The negative effects of anxiety on academic performance had been shown in many studies The pandemic of Coronavirus-19 increases not only the symptoms associated with grief but also mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety disorder Aim and Objective: This paper examined the anxiety about Coronavirus-19 among university students who recently experi-enced face-to-face and non-face-to-face classes, to suggest a better class type for high-quality academic performance with less fear The survey was conducted on 94 nursing college students in J City, South Korea, from June 27 to June 30, 2020 The State Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1975) was employed online Result: The findings showed that there was a significant difference (t=12 113, p= 000) in anxiety between face-to-face (53 05±9 41/80) and non-face-to-face class groups (37 46±7 63/80) That of face-to-face was 1 41 times higher than that of non-face-to-face There were significant differences with regards to class preference (t=12 113, p= 000) and gender (t=12 113, p= 000) only in the face-to-face but not in the non-face-to-face group The non-face-to-face preferred group had scored 1 22 times higher than the other group and females had scored 1 19 times higher than the males These results were highly significant (t=13 958, p= 000) in the high anxiety than low anxiety group in both classes The score above 40 in the high anxiety group (54 66±7 215) of the face-to-face was 1 86 times higher than in the low group (29 33±4 131) 93 62% belonged to the high anxiety group in the face-to-face group Factors affecting anxiety were class preference (β=- 546, p= 001) and gender (β= 244, p= 004) in the face-to-face group The explanatory power of these variables was 74 7% Conclusion: It is suggested that students are more worried about Coronavirus-19 spread within the classroom than about difficulties from the non-face-to-face class In this study, the non-face-to-face class is recommended, especially, for non-face-to-face class preferred and female students, for better quality academic achievement in universities, without worry during Coronavi-rus-19 epidemic © IJCRR