Mental health in medical and biomedical doctoral students during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and racial protests

Abstract

Concerns about the mental health of students, trainees and staff at universities and medical schools have been growing for many years. Recently, these have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and a period of heightened reckoning and protests about systemic racism in the United States in 2020. To better understand the mental health of medical students and biomedical doctoral students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during this challenging period, we performed a cross-sectional study (n=957) using institutional annual survey data on measures of depression, anxiety, hazardous alcohol use, problems related to substance use, and suicidal ideation. These data were collected in 2019 and 2020, and were analyzed by type of training program, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and survey year. Results indicated significant differences for rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, with biomedical doctoral students showing greater incidence than medical students, and historically excluded students (e.g., people of color, women, LGBQ+ trainees) showing greater incidence compared to their peers. Of note, mental health remained poor for biomedical doctoral students in 2020 and declined for those belonging to historically excluded populations. The high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation reported suggest that training environments need to be improved and support for mental health increased.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on physician-scientist trainees to faculty one year into the pandemic

“…Reported stressors early in the pandemic included isolation from friends and family, uncertainty about the future, and difficulty with social distancing [ 11 ]. Similar to MS trainees, GS respondents also reported increased levels of disappointment, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, with the greatest impact experienced among those historically underrepresented in medicine [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Biomedical GS researchers in particular cited time management and decreased productivity as stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely owing to the unique difficulties of conducting wet lab research during periods of mandated restriction to in-person activities [ 12 , 16 ].…”

Health professional students at the University of Illinois Chicago (HOLISTIC) Cohort study: Prevalence of mental health and lifestyle behaviors effects among health professional students during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…27 Among Asian medical and biomedical graduate students, rates of anxiety and depression increased during the pandemic compared to the years prior. 7 Diet. The recommended guideline for fruit and vegetable intake for young people and adults is ve portions per day.…”

“…Within nursing and medical students populations internationally, the pandemic was associated with higher rates of anxiety, depression, and distress. 1,[5][6][7][8] There is further need for empirical information related to this large population within the health professional student body.…”

Demystifying the ‘hidden curriculum’ for minoritized graduate students

“…Graduate school can take a toll on the mental health of research students, and it has been reported that mental health disorders like anxiety and depression are six times higher among biomedical PhD students than the general population ( Evans et al, 2018 ). Moreover, poor mental health can compound the problems caused by various forms of discrimination, such as systemic racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, and discrimination based on social class ( Schad et al, 2022 ).…”