Social anxiety in E-Learning: Scale validation and socio-demographic correlation study

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychology
• Digital Learning

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic shifted global education to e-learning, impacting over 1.5 billion students.
• Social distancing measures necessitated remote learning, increasing reliance on digital educational platforms.
• Understanding student psychological responses, such as social anxiety, in these new environments is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt and validate the Turkish Social Anxiety Scale for E-Learning Environments (SASE) into English.
• To assess the social anxiety levels of medical students within e-learning settings.
• To investigate the relationship between social anxiety in e-learning and demographic factors (gender, age) and perceived academic performance.

Main Methods:

• Two-phase study involving scale adaptation and data collection from medical students.
• Phase 1: Translation, adaptation, and validation of the SASE for English-speaking contexts.
• Phase 2: Survey of 325 medical students to analyze social anxiety in relation to gender, age, and perceived academic performance.

Main Results:

• The adapted SASE demonstrated reliability and validity for measuring social anxiety in e-learning.
• Medical students' social anxiety in e-learning was significantly associated with gender (p=0.008) and age (p=0.013).
• Higher social anxiety was observed in students with lower perceived academic performance, though this finding was not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

• The SASE is a valuable tool for assessing social anxiety in English-language e-learning environments.
• Interventions are needed to mitigate social anxiety among medical students navigating online learning.
• Addressing social anxiety is essential for optimizing the e-learning experience and academic outcomes in medical education.