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ObjectivesIn March 2020, the WHO declared SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic. Hospitals across the world faced staff, bed and supply shortages, with some European hospitals calling on medical students to fill the staffing gaps. This study aimed to document the impact of volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ professional development, resilience and future perceived career choices.DesignThis is a retrospective, qualitative study of student reflections, using purposive sampling.The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) University of Medicine and Health Sciences recruited 26 medical student volunteers to assist in pronation and supination of ventilated patients affected by SARS-CoV-2. These students were invited to complete an anonymous survey based on their experiences as volunteers. Thematic analysis was performed on these written reflections.ResultsThe results showed that volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic developed key skills from RCSI’s medical curriculum, significantly fostered medical students’ resilience and guided their career choices. Major areas of development included communication, teamwork, compassion and altruism, which are not easily developed through the formal curriculum. A further area that was highlighted was the importance of evidence-based health in a pandemic. Finally, our respondents were early stage medical students with limited clinical exposure. Some found the experience difficult to cope with and therefore supports should be established for students volunteering in such a crisis.ConclusionThese results suggest that clinical exposure is an important driver in developing students’ resilience and that volunteering during a pandemic has multiple benefits to students’ professional development and professional identity formation.

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Background While some argue that social network ties of individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUD) are robust, there is evidence to suggest that individuals with AUDs have few social network ties, which are a known risk factor for health and wellness. Objectives Social network ties to friends, family, co-workers and communities of individuals are compared among individuals with a past-year diagnosis of alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse to individuals with no lifetime diagnosis of AUD. Method Respondents from Wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol Related Conditions (NESARC) were assessed for the presence of past-year alcohol dependence or past-year alcohol abuse, social network ties, sociodemographics and clinical characteristics. Results Bivariate analyses showed that both social network size and social network diversity was significantly smaller among individuals with alcohol dependence, compared to individuals with alcohol abuse or no AUD. When social and clinical factors related to AUD status were controlled, multinomial logistic models showed that social network diversity remained a significant predictor of AUD status, while social network size did not differ among AUD groups. Conclusion Social networks of individuals with AUD may be different than individuals with no AUD, but this claim is dependent on specific AUD diagnosis and how social networks are measured.

This article examines current and historical trends in psychotherapy research and practice with racial/ethnic minority populations. Initially, research on Derald Sue’s multicultural counseling competencies is provided as a foundation to further examine the evidence regarding effective cultural adaptations to mainstream treatment approaches, such as cognitive-behavior therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy. Next, a brief outline of Carl Rogers’s psychotherapy research tradition is presented, with a focus on both past and present evidence suggesting that person-centered therapy may be effective across diagnoses, as well as cultures. Using psychotherapy evidence from both the latter half of the 20th century and the initial decades of the 21st century, cultural adaptations to previously hypothesized person-centered therapy mechanisms of change are proposed. In particular, this culturally adapted person-centered approach is suggested to provide a competent and effective treatment system for racial/ethnic minority clients and families.