Medical student stress: an elective course as a possibility of help

Abstract

BackgroundThe frequently observed stress of medical students worldwide leads them to have psychic suffering often leading to illness. Minor psychic disorders such as anxiety, depression and burnout, have a higher prevalence in these students than in the rest of random population. Different initiatives were tried to minimize the deleterious effects of the medical course and this article aims at showing the repercussions of a elective course that and was proposed as a possibility to help the students.MethodsA qualitative case study took place in a public Brazilian university as an elective discipline offered to medical students in 2013, offering coping strategies for professional stress. The data was collected through a semi-structured individual questionnaire that was anonymous, and given to students on the last day of the course, with 18 Likert scale questions about personal and behavioural changes observed after taking the course. Objective questions were asked about their perception of stress at the beginning and at the end of the course: the use of the coping strategies taught and the perception of the utility of the content. In addition, one open-ended question was asked about the meaning of the discipline to the students. The quantitative data was analysed with descriptive simple statistics and the qualitative with the support of the WebQDA software. The research project was approved by the ethics committee of the institution.ResultsThe results showed that the course contributed positively to the students’ academic life: 67 % reported less symptoms of stress at the end of the course; 76 % adopted new coping strategies; and 90 % considered that this learning activity was useful for identifying stressors and sharing them with colleagues.ConclusionsThe elective course produced benefits to the students, representing theoretical-practical learning and an opportunity for reflection and self-knowledge, which caused psychological, behavioural and lifestyle changes. It is recommended that further studies on this theme should be conducted.

Self-Evaluation of Anxiety in Dental Students

“…Pereira et al [28] presented data concerning an elective course named "Strategies of Coping with Professional Stress" which was offered to medical students of a midwest public Brazilian university. Interestingly, majority of students (67.1%) answered that their stress symptoms decreased by the end of the course.…”

Saúde mental dos estudantes de medicina brasileiros: uma revisão sistemática da literatura

“…Esses estudos indicam que tais aspectos de vulnerabilidade justificam a não adaptação do estudante de medicina, demostrada pela negação dos sentimentos, percepção negativa da realidade, ingestão de bebidas alcoólicas, além de transtornos alimentares, ideação e tentativas de suicídio (ALEXANDRINO-SILVA et al, 2009;ANDRADE, 2014;BALDASSIN et al, 2008;PAULA et al, 2014;MOREIRA et al, 2015;REZENDE et al, 2008;VASCONCELOS et al, 2015). Outros estudos focam aspectos como dedicação, esforço, sacrifício e principalmente a resistência física e emocional dos estudantes de medicina e associam ao estresse, aos prejuízos na qualidade de vida e às características da síndrome de burnout nessa população (ALMEIDA et al, 2007;ALVES et al, 2010;BAMPI et al, 2013;DOMINGUES;CERQUEIRA, 2006;MEYER et al, 2012;MORI et al, 2012;COSTA et al, 2012;QUEIROZ, 2015aQUEIROZ, , 2015bPARO et al, 2014;PEREIRA et al, 2015;TEMPSKI et al, 2012;ZONTA et al, 2006). -20 (ALMEIDA et al, 2007;ANDRADE, 2014;COSTA et al, 2010;CUNHA et al, 2009;FIOROTTI et al, 2010;LOAYZA et al, 2001;SANTANA;SASSI, 2013 dos entrevistados e, destes, 50% experimentaram esses sentimentos frequentemente, muito frequentemente ou sempre (BAMPI et al, 2013).…”

“…Uma parte expressiva dos artigos voltam-se para o acolhimento e a atenção dos estudantes de medicina com foco no oferecimento de espaços para reflexão sobre seus sentimentos e emoções em sua trajetória formativa, e por vezes, incentivam a procura de ajuda especializada para acompanhar o processo de formação profissional, sendo este um fator atenuador (FIOROTTI et al, 2010;SILVA et al, 2009;PEREIRA et al, 2015).…”

Depression, sleeping pattern & suicidal ideation among medical students in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional pilot study

“…Depression is a major morbidity and the most common mental disorder among the medical students in medical schools (Adhikari et al 2017;Dyrbye et al 2006). Undergraduate medical students suffer stress more due to their academic curriculum than the students of other subjects (Hill et al 2018;Melaku et al 2015;Pereira et al 2015).…”