The COVID-19 pandemic has had the effect of accelerating changes in educational processes around the world. It resulted in a rapid conversion from face-to-face to online classes. This has disrupted the regular pattern of education and standard practices that have been followed for many years. It is a big organizational challenge for the academics but most importantly for the students. Remote learning has resulted in long-term social isolation and limitations in interaction with peers. It has also been noted that about 30% of students have symptoms of depression and increased levels of perceived stress, which during the COVID-19 pandemic affects about 50% of young people. Many factors have an impact on this condition, besides the epidemic situation, the social mood and the numerous restrictions, the prolonged time spent online and the reduced level of physical activity have an additional negative impact on their mental health. Due to the dynamic situation of the pandemic, there is a lack of current studies on the mental state of young people especially in the context of ongoing e-learning. Therefore, it was decided to investigate what is the prevalence of depressive disorders and the level of perceived stress during the ongoing remote learning in the group of students of 8 European Universities among Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania.
Introducing restrictions on human contact has been effective in preventing the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, however, it appears to have negatively impacted mental health. Psychological problems in different age groups occur with different intensity and duration of the pandemic. This study was aimed to assess the impact of introducing distance learning (e-Learning) on the stress levels and mental well-being among Polish, Slovak and Lithuanian Students.