Anxiety Levels of Undergraduate and Clerkship Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a devastating impact on the world. Medical students who belong to psychologically vulnerable groups also share more burdens due to the medical education academic demands, curriculum transition to virtually-delivered format, and the risk of being infected by the disease during clinical settings. This study aims to identify the anxiety level of undergraduate and clerkship medical students to create proper and effective strategies to build good mental status among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a cross-sectional study. The survey was conducted using an online questionnaire to assess respondents’ identity, demographic data, family history, perceptions about online/offline learning, and the researchers used the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TMAS) test to measure the anxiety level of the subjects. The subjects of this study were 164 medical students, divided into two groups, 94 final year undergraduate students and 70 final year clerkship students who were still doing their clinical rotations at the hospital. The findings of this study informed that the average anxiety level was 18.3 for undergraduate students and 19.6 for clerkship students. The TMAS score was higher among clerkship students than undergraduate students. However, the statistical analysis showed no difference (p=0.306) in TMAS scores between clerkship and undergraduate students. A close approach and continuous observation are needed because the higher the TMAS score indicates the higher the anxiety level.

Depression Levels of Undergraduate and Clerkship Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Not only physical health that needs to be considered during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also mental health has a potential to be affected during a pandemic [8]. Since the declaration of this pandemic, more aggressive measures against COVID-19 have been taken, including shutting down schools and other public places to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 [9]. Decreased physical activity, changes of eating habit during PSBB can affects mental well-being including stress, anxiety, and depression Undergraduate medical students are usually in the age group of late teens to midtwenties, and hence the current COVID-19 outbreak is the first exposure to them as adults on a pandemic levels.…”