Association of Ego Defense Mechanisms with Academic Performance, Anxiety and Depression in Medical Students: A Mixed Methods Study

BackgroundEgo defense mechanisms, defined by Freud as unconscious resources used by the ego to reduce conflict between the id and superego, are a reflection of how an individual deals with conflict and stress. Vaillants’ proposed Hierarchy of Defenses states that mature defenses are associated with better adaptive functioning and health, as opposed to immature defense which are correlated negatively with measures of adaptive adult functioning.ObjectivesThis study assesses the prevalence of various ego defense mechanisms employed by medical students of Karachi, which is a group with higher stress levels than the general population.MethodsA questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted on 682 students from five major medical colleges of Karachi in November 2006. Ego defense mechanisms were assessed using the Defense Style Questionnaire(DSQ-40) individually and as grouped under Mature, Immature, and Neurotic factors.ResultsNeurotic defenses had a higher mean score(5.62) than Mature(5.60) and Immature(4.78) mechanisms. Immature mechanisms were more commonly employed by males whereas females employed more Neurotic mechanisms than males. Neurotic and Immature defenses were significantly more prevalent in first and second year students. Mature mechanisms were significantly higher in students enrolled in Government colleges than Private institutions (p< 0.05).ConclusionsNeurotic mechanisms are more commonly encountered than Mature or Immature mechanisms among medical students of Karachi, and this could reflect greater stress levels than the general population. Employment of these mechanisms was associated with female gender, enrollment in a private medical college, and students enrolled in the first 2 years of medical school.

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Determining Emotional Tone and Verbal Behavior in Patients With Tinnitus and Hyperacusis: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2019_aja-18-0136 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 660-672

Author(s):

Suzanne H. Kimball ◽

Toby Hamilton ◽

Erin Benear ◽

Jonathan Baldwin

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods ◽

Verbal Behavior ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Self Report ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Emotional Tone ◽

Explanatory Mixed Methods ◽

Quantitative Results

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the emotional tone and verbal behavior of social media users who self-identified as having tinnitus and/or hyperacusis that caused self-described negative consequences on daily life or health. Research Design and Method An explanatory mixed-methods design was utilized. Two hundred “initial” and 200 “reply” Facebook posts were collected from members of a tinnitus group and a hyperacusis group. Data were analyzed via the LIWC 2015 software program and compared to typical bloggers. As this was an explanatory mixed-methods study, we used qualitative thematic analyses to explain, interpret, and illustrate the quantitative results. Results Overall, quantitative results indicated lower overall emotional tone for all categories (tinnitus and hyperacusis, initial and reply), which was mostly influenced by higher negative emotion. Higher levels of authenticity or truth were found in the hyperacusis sample but not in the tinnitus sample. Lower levels of clout (social standing) were indicated in all groups, and a lower level of analytical thinking style (concepts and complex categories rather than narratives) was found in the hyperacusis sample. Additional analysis of the language indicated higher levels of sadness and anxiety in all groups and lower levels of anger, particularly for initial replies. These data support prior findings indicating higher levels of anxiety and depression in this patient population based on the actual words in blog posts and not from self-report questionnaires. Qualitative results identified 3 major themes from both the tinnitus and hyperacusis texts: suffering, negative emotional tone, and coping strategies. Conclusions Results from this study suggest support for the predominant clinical view that patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis have higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population. The extent of the suffering described and patterns of coping strategies suggest clinical practice patterns and the need for research in implementing improved practice plans.

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Can flipped classroom enhance class engagement and academic performance among undergraduate pediatric nursing students? A mixed-methods study

Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning ◽

10.1186/s41039-020-0124-1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Toqa Jameel Abbas Busebaia ◽

Bindu John

Keyword(s):

Academic Performance ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Nursing Students ◽

Flipped Classroom ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Pediatric Nursing

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A mixed-methods study of English vocabulary for medical purposes: medical students’ needs, difficulties, and strategies

Applied Linguistics Review ◽

10.1515/applirev-2020-0119 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Barry Lee Reynolds ◽

Xiaofang Zhang ◽

Chen Ding

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods ◽

Medical Students ◽

Vocabulary Learning ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Vocabulary Size ◽

School Students ◽

Teacher Interviews ◽

Vocabulary Strategies ◽

Medical Vocabulary

Abstract This mixed-methods study investigated the English medical vocabulary strategies, needs, and difficulties of Taiwanese medical school students via an open- and closed-ended questionnaire (n = 17), a test measuring vocabulary size (n = 17), student interviews (n = 5), and teacher interviews (n = 3). Students reported using some vocabulary strategies more than others. A statistically significant negative relationship between students’ English vocabulary size and their use of word cards for vocabulary learning was also revealed. Through analysis of the interview data gathered from the medical students and their English teachers, five vocabulary learning difficulties faced by the medical students were uncovered: (1) nonexistent intentional English vocabulary learning, (2) stagnant specialized medical English vocabulary acquisition, (3) lack of sufficient contextualized academic English writing practice with newly encountered specialized medical vocabulary; (4) lack of teacher feedback on the students’ vocabulary use; and (5) lack of pedagogical communication among faculty. The pedagogical implications of these results were discussed with a focus on improving students’ vocabulary learning efficiency in light of their specialized English medical vocabulary needs.

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Facing Anxiety through Ego Defense Mechanisms on The Walking Dead: Michonne Movie Game

Journal of Language and Literature ◽

10.24071/joll.v21i2.3132 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 307-317

Author(s):

Fery Setiawan ◽

I Gusti Agung Sri Rwa Jayantini ◽

Ida Bagus Gde Nova Winarta ◽

Ni Komang Arie Suwastini

Keyword(s):

Sigmund Freud ◽

Defense Mechanisms ◽

Qualitative Method ◽

Literary Work ◽

Psychological Perspective ◽

The Walking Dead ◽

Ego Defense Mechanisms ◽

Ego Defense ◽

Walking Dead

With the advancement of technology, a newly adopted form of literary work was found, known as a movie game. It is one of the game genres that resembles real movies that provide choices to the players who can actively determine the story, ending, and characters' action. In literary work, a character is one of the intrinsic elements that can be interestingly analyzed from the psychological perspective, including Ego Defense Mechanisms. This study focuses on how the protagonist in a movie game entitled The Walking Dead: Michonne faced her anxiety through her ego defense mechanisms. It aims to identify the types of ego defense mechanisms and how they can help the protagonist cope with her anxiety. The discussion was based on psychoanalysis theory, namely Ego Defense Mechanisms proposed by Sigmund Freud. This study elaborated the description of the protagonist's actions when she faced anxiety through a qualitative method. The analysis revealed that the protagonist adopted the four types of Ego Defense Mechanisms: repression, sublimation, rationalization, and aggression. It was found that aggression was the most frequently adopted mechanism, followed by sublimation, rationalization, and the least was repression. This finding indicated that the protagonist chose aggression to release resentment or dissatisfaction, especially when facing objects or other characters that create anxiety or frustration. It implies that the persistence of aggression, sublimation, rationalization, and repression could reflect the presence of continual threats in the environment from which people should survive.

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