Technostress among digital generations nurse educators in South-Central Mindanao Philippines

Abstract

Background

Technostress is a modern adaptation issue resulting from the difficulty of adapting to technological use. Integrating technology in teaching and learning during the sudden shift of teaching modalities exposes nursing educators to technostress.

Aim

To determine and compare the levels of technostress experienced by digital native and digital immigrant nurse educators during the abrupt change in the teaching-learning environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A descriptive-comparative design was employed involving 115 nurse educators in the South-Central Mindanao region, Philippines, who were categorized into digital natives and digital immigrants. A 28-item Teacher's Technostress Level Determination Scale (TTLDS) questionnaire was used to collect the data. An unpaired t-test was used to compare the data between the two groups.

Results

Both groups reported having high technostress in the learning-teaching process-oriented domain. Digital natives reported low technostress in the personal-oriented domain, while digital immigrants have low technostress in profession-oriented and technical-issue-oriented domains. However, the t-test results showed no significant difference in the stress levels that both groups perceived.

Conclusions

Technology use was reported to have a negative psychological impact on nurse educators, especially regarding stress. Better exploration of technostress and how the technology affects nurse educators may help protect their physical and psychological well-being.