Effects of a remote social support on midwifery students’ anxiety and attitudes during distance education: a randomized controlled study

Background: With the COVID-19 outbreak, distance education has become a necessity rather than an option. Some specific features of distance education have brought some short- and long-term concerns for students, families, teachers, and the education system. Another problem for midwifery students is that practical clinical training is not fully possible with distance education. This can be a serious cause of future and professional concern for them. Method: This randomized controlled study was conducted to evaluate the effects of distance social support program on anxiety and attitudes towards distance education with 89 midwifery students who switched to distance education due to the COVID-19 at a university in Istanbul, Türkiye, between June-September 2020. Data collected via The Student Form, MSPSS, STA-I, and ASDE. A remote social support program was applied to the experimental group. A p value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: After the intervention, experimental group’s social support perception scores, and attitude scores towards distance-education were significantly higher, and the anxiety score was lower than the control group (p < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between social support perception scores and attitude scores towards distance education (r = 0.2, p = 0.04), and a negative correlation between state anxiety scores and attitude scores towards distance education (r=-0.33, p = 0.02). Conclusion: In distance education, remote social support positively affects students’ attitudes towards distance education through their perceptions of social support. For continuity of education, distance support programs are required as well as distance education. It is suggested for the educators that students should be supported not only academically but also socially during their education process. Trial registration: Clinical Trials Protocol Registration and Results System (Clinicaltrials.gov), NCT06691789 Date of registration 14.11.2024, retrospectively registered.