Emotional responses and coping strategies of medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Medical students are facing huge challenge due to COVID-19 pandemic which has impacted their learning and has become vital stressor and affecting their psychological well-being. The objective of this study was to assess the perception of the stress among the undergraduate medical students and their coping strategies pre and post lockdown. Materials and Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 321 undergraduate medical students at Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, Mandya, Karnataka, India. This study was initiated after getting approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee. After obtaining consent the extent of the students stress was assessed using Perceived Stress Scale and Brief COPE was used to assess their coping strategies. Scores were analysed using paired t test in Microsoft excel/ SPSS software. Results: On paired 't' t test the mean difference in total score was 0.68 and the p value was 0.166 for scores of perceived stress scale, similarly the mean difference in scores of sub groups under coping strategies was 0.90 and 0.49 with 'p' value 0.173 and 0.498 respectively. Conclusion: Overall, there was not much of difference in scores of perceived stress scale and coping strategies before and after lockdown. Except for minor difference across age group and scores of specic coping strategies which was again not statistically signicant.

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Alexithymia and coping strategies among medical students

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.1223 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (S1) ◽

pp. S695-S695 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

N. Messedi ◽

I. Feki ◽

B.N. Saguem ◽

R. Masmoudi ◽

J. Masmoudi

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Stress Management ◽

Stressful Events ◽

Average Score ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Ways Of Coping ◽

University Life ◽

And Coping ◽

Tas 20

IntroductionUniversity life is stressful for the student, which is characterized by disturbed emotional regulation or alexithymia. To face these stressful events he must use certain coping strategies.ObjectivesStudying the prevalence of alexithymia and exploring coping strategies among medical students, and establish the relationship between these parameters.MethodsIt was a cross-sectional study of 97 students in Sfax university medicine (Tunisia). We used:– a questionnaire containing demographic and clinical data;– Toronto alexithymia Scale (TAS-20): a score ≥61 indicates alexithymia;– WCC (Ways of Coping Checklist-r Folkman) with 3 factors: problem-focused, emotion-focused and social support coping.ResultsThe average age of participants was 24.07 years (±2.71); the sex ratio (M/W) was 0.4. They were smoking in 36.1% and sedentary in 43.3% of case. They had a nibbling activity in 57.7%. The average score of TAS-20 was 50. 92 10.46 and alexithymia was found in 16.5% of students. Alexithymia was significantly correlated with smoking (P = 0.003) and physical inactivity (P = 0.025). Most students (72.2%) opted for problem-focused ways of coping with a highest score at WCC = 29.21. A significant correlation was found between alexithymia and coping strategy with emotion-focused (P = 0.02). The TAS score was significantly higher among students who resort to this ways of coping = 26.11. (P = 0.002).ConclusionThis study explored the role of alexithymia in stress management ubiquitous in university life. A high level of alexithymia could be a detrimental factor in stress management. Psychological support aimed specifically alexithymic dimension is indispensable.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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Dealing with Death: Medical Students' Experiences with Patient Loss

OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying ◽

10.2190/om.68.3.b ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 68 (3) ◽

pp. 207-228 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Regina Pessagno ◽

Carrie E. Foote ◽

Robert Aponte

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Human Error ◽

Emotional Responses ◽

Stress Coping ◽

Death Rituals ◽

Dying Patients ◽

And Coping ◽

The Impact ◽

Depth Interviews ◽

Dying Patient

This article explores medical students' experiences and coping strategies when confronting patient loss in their 3rd and 4th years of their programs. Much of the literature on the impact of patient losses focuses on physicians. This article joins a handful of works aimed at how medical students experience and cope with patient loss. In-depth interviews with 20 medical students provided rich descriptions of their varying experiences coping with death. Consistent with previous work, students experience substantial emotional stress coping with patient deaths, though some were more difficult to bear than others, such as when the dying patient was a child or when treatment errors could have contributed to deaths. Common coping mechanisms included talking through their emotions, thrusting themselves into continuing their rounds, crying, participating in infant death rituals, and turning to religion. When deaths occurred, senior personnel who exhibited empathy toward the deceased and tolerance toward the students' emotional responses were lauded and made the process easier. Also emotionally daunting, in many instances, was dealing with the families of dying patients. Most of the students did not view death as a failure, contrary to much earlier literature, except in instances in which human error or decision making may have played a part in causing the death of a patient.

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Perception of Stress, Anxiety , Depression and Coping Strategies among Medical Students at Oman Medical College

World Family Medicine Journal/Middle East Journal of Family Medicine ◽

10.5742/mewfm.2016.92856 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 14 (7) ◽

pp. 16-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Muhammad A. Siddiqui ◽

Firdous Jahan ◽

Mohammed Mitwally

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Medical College ◽

And Coping ◽

Anxiety Depression

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Perception of stress and coping strategies by medical students at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences ◽

10.1016/j.jtumed.2013.09.006 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 30-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Mona Soliman

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Medical Students ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Stress And Coping ◽

King Saud University ◽

And Coping

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Emotional responses and coping strategies of nurses and nursing college students during COVID-19 outbreak

10.1101/2020.03.05.20031898 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Long Huang ◽

Fuming Xu ◽

Hairong Liu

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Virus Disease ◽

Great Influence ◽

Emotional Responses ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

Brief Cope ◽

Nursing College ◽

And Coping ◽

Anxiety And Fear

AbstractBackgroundAffected by a Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, Since December 2019, there have been more than 76,000 cases of COVID-19 in China, causing more than 3,000 medical staff infections. Due to COVID-19 spreads quickly, is highly contagious, and can be fatal in severe cases, and there are no specific medicines, it poses a huge threat to the life and health of nurses and has a large impact on their emotional responses and coping strategies.MethodsThis study conducted an online questionnaire survey from February 1 to 9, 2020 to investigate the current state of emotional responses and coping strategies of nurses and college nursing students in Anhui Province. This study used a modified Brief COPE (Carver, 1997) and a emotional responses scale.ResultsThe results found that women showed more severe anxiety and fear than men. Participants from cities showed more anxiety and fear than participants from rural, but rural participants showed more sadness than urban participants. The closer COVID-19 is to the participants, the stronger the anxiety and anger. Compared with Nursing college students, nurses have stronger emotional responses and are more willing to use Problem-focused coping. People may have a cycle of “the more fear, the more problem-focused coping”. And people may “The more angry, the more emotion-focused coping”, “the more problem-focused coping, the more anxious, the more angry, the more sadness”.ConclusionCOVID-19 is a pressure source with great influence, both for individuals and for the social public groups. Different individuals and groups may experience different levels of psychological crisis, and those nurses at the core of the incident are affected. Hospitals should focus on providing psychological support to nurses and providing timely psychological assistance and training in coping strategies.Improving nurses’ ability to regulate emotions and effective coping strategies, providing a strong guarantee for resolutely winning the battle against epidemic prevention and control.

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