Well-being variations on students of health sciences related to their learning opportunities, resources, and daily activities in an online and on-crisis context: a survey-based study

BACKGROUND: Universities’ training process intensely relies on face-to-face education. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted it and forced them to reinvent their process online. But this crisis seems not to be the last we will face, and we take it as a lesson to prepare for future crises. These critical contexts are especially challenging because they imply changing teaching strategies, and students may not have the technology access or the living conditions to connect as they need. They also lived through a pandemic where the virus and the life changes added stress to their learning process and threatened their well-being. So, this study aims to analyze how well-being variations reported by Health sciences students relate to their learning opportunities, access conditions, and daily activities. METHOD: We surveyed 910 Health sciences students from six different Chilean universities at the end of the first semester of 2020, the first in pandemic conditions. Respondents answered online questionnaires about 1) Remote teaching activities, 2) Learning resources availability, 3) Daily life activities, and 4) Well-being changes. We performed descriptive analysis and Structural Equation Modelling. RESULTS: Live videoconference classes were the most frequent teaching activity; only a third of the students had quiet spaces to study online, and most had to housekeep daily. More than two third reported some well-being deterioration. The structural equation model showed a good fit. CONCLUSION: Results show an online learning scenario that tries to emulate traditional learning focusing on expositive strategies. Most students reported that their well-being deteriorated during the semester, but tutorials, workplace availability, and social support were protective factors. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-023-04011-y.