Exercise and Coping Mechanisms in Graduate Occupational Therapy Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Civil Unrest Period: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic and the sociopolitical climate in the United States have imposed additional stress and anxiety for graduate students. We explored the stress level in graduate occupational therapy students, the role of exercise in reducing stress, and common coping mechanisms applied to manage academic and sociopolitical stress. Methods: A survey was created and distributed to graduate occupational therapy students in the U.S. Results: Most participants reported moderate to high levels of academic-related stress (n = 73, 97.33%), and more than half reported moderate levels of anger and frustration because of academic-related stress (n = 43, 57.33%). Half of the participants reported that they engage in physical exercise as a coping mechanism for academic stress (n = 38, 50.67%), and most participants thought that kickboxing would help reduce stress (n = 48, 64.00%) and reduce anger and frustration (n = 56, 74.67%). Conclusion: the well-being of graduate students over the past two years has increased after the COVID-19 pandemic and the sociopolitical tension in the U.S. Future research is needed to determine how this stress may affect graduation and employment outcomes and recommendations for burnout and suicide prevention.

Commonalities and Differences in the Experiences of Visible Minority Transnational Carer–Employees: A Qualitative Study

“…Most of the visible minority TCEs from all backgrounds affirmed meditation and exercise was important tactic that inhibited stressful thoughts associated with their employment and caregiving services. Equivalently, a descriptive study by Hamed et al [ 83 ] reported that physical exercise is a good coping mechanism that helps decrease stress, anger, and frustration. Although not exclusive to transnational care, research by Dyrbye et al [ 84 ], Singh and Afroz [ 85 ], and Jadhav [ 86 ] illustrates that exercise alleviates burnout and that individuals who stay physically active have low levels of depression, anxiety, and stress levels in comparison to those with sedentary lifestyles.…”

Daily stress, and mental health of professional degree graduate students in Chinese traditional medicine universities: the mediating role of learning career adaptation

“…Graduate students are also six times more likely to be depressed than the general population [ 5 ]. Some studies have found an increase in emotional distress of college students in China, and India, and a decline in mental health in the UK before, and during the COVID-19 outbreak [ 6 – 8 ], and a North American study found that occupational therapy masters students reported some academic related stress, long hours of study, examinations, and long lectures [ 9 ]. Moreover, the level of academic pressure has increased even more after the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…[ 10 ] As for coping with stress, some students choose to limit food intake, choose unhealthy eating, or overeating, 67.55% of the students believed that physical exercise could effectively relieve stress, especially the decompression effect of taekwondo. In addition, social participation or talking with family, and friends could also be considered as a coping behavior [ 9 ]. It has been suggested that depression in graduate students affects research motivation, concentration, memory, creativity, and participation in research [ 11 ], which are not addressed timely, and effectively, will affect their studies, and personal lives, leading to other extreme behavior [ 12 ].…”