Level of self-efficacy among skill-based allied health students in the University of Santo Tomas-Enriched Virtual Mode of learning: A cross-sectional study

Background: Self-efficacy expresses a learner's perception of how well they can do in the online academic setting. Although students' academic successes can be measured by online learning self-efficacy, there is a scarcity of evidence targeted toward allied health students.

Objective: The primary aim of this study is to determine the level of online self-efficacy among students from skill-based allied health programs. The secondary aim is to correlate online self-efficacy with age, sex, year level, and program of the students.

Methods: This cross-sectional analytic study utilized the Online Learning Self-Efficacy Scale (OLSE) to determine students' level of self-efficacy via a survey conducted with students who underwent the Enriched Virtual Mode of learning. Descriptive statistics was used to characterize the study participants, describe the level of self-efficacy, and compare the subscales of OLSE. Inferential statistics using Spearman's rho was performed to determine the correlation.

Results: A total of 117 respondents with a mean age ± SD of 20.59 ± 0.11 years old, predominantly female (71%) were included in the study. The students from allied health programs had an online self-efficacy overall mean score of 3.83 ($\text{SD}=0.05$; range 2.64-5.00) with the use of technology subscales weighted the highest mean score (4.24). Females have a higher average OLSE score ($\text{M}=3.92$, $\text{SD}=0.05$) compared to males. Significant correlation was found between OLSE scores to sex ($r=0.260$, $p=0.005$) and year level ($r=-0.199$, $p=0.031$) while nonsignificant correlation was found between OLSE scores to the program ($r=-0.048$, $p=0.604$) and age ($r=-0.123$, $p=0.185$).

Conclusion: Students of allied health programs generally have a very good level of online self-efficacy. This study assists educators in developing proactive strategies and approaches to promote students' self-confidence across all domains and encourage them to adopt a dynamic remote learning-based approach. Educational institutions should use this opportunity to assess how well they have implemented remote learning to ensure educational continuity, especially in times of crisis.