Psychological Distress and Online Academic Difficulties: Development and Validation of Scale to Measure Students’ Mental Health Problems in Online Learning

In the present study, a short instrument (eight-item self-report, five-point Likert scales) was developed and validated to assess self-perceived mental health problems in online learning. The participants were 398 Romanian university students from nine different faculties. The factor structure of the scale was assessed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (Principal Axis Factoring extraction method) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The high goodness-of-fit indices validated a second-order factor model of mental health problems, with two distinct but correlated sub-constructs, psychological distress, and online academic difficulties, integrated under a single higher-level factor. Psychological distress comprises indicators such as anxiety and stress, while online academic difficulties contain, for instance, indicators such as decreased performance, fatigue or lack of motivation. The results of applying multiple assessment criteria showed good reliability (e.g., McDonald's omega), as well as convergent validity (e.g., Average Variance Extracted) and discriminant validity (e.g., the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations) of the scale. Also, correlations analysis between mental health problems occurred in online learning context and other measures indicated a strong negative relation with online course satisfaction and weak negative relations with subjective academic performance, perceived social competence, and perceived digital competence. In conclusion, the scale appears to be a valid instrument for measuring some negative mental health outcomes in online learning, perceived by university students. The implications of the results and limitations of this study are also discussed. In conclusion, the scale has multiple possible applications, the most important being (1) the assessment of mental health problems both in ordinary online learning situations and in emergency ones, which would allow the early detection of these issues, (2) the possibility of assessing relations between the sub-constructs of the scale and other psychological constructs of interest in scientific research, and (3) the feedback for teaching staff involved in the online learning system.