Stress, coping and health: enhancing well-being during medical school

Abstract

Medical education can be a health hazard for many students, and far-reaching reforms are needed to improve it. This article reviews the literature on stress, coping and health during undergraduate medical education. The conclusions drawn from this review are used as a basis for advancing recommendations to improve medical education. It is essential to incorporate the principles of health promotion and disease prevention throughout medical education in order to minimize and prevent later burn-out and impairment. Healthy medical students are likely to become healthy doctors who can then model and promote healthy lifestyles with their patients. This preventive approach to health care can lead to an improvement in our health care delivery system.

Sources of Stress and Coping Strategies among Undergraduate Medical Students Enrolled in a Problem-Based Learning Curriculum

“…Scores were reversed for questions 4, 5, 7, and 8. A total score ranging from 0 to 40, with higher score meaning higher perceived stress by the medical student [33,36].…”

“…Coping methods often used by students, to reduce level of stress include, effective time management, social support, positive reappraisal, and engagement in leisurely pursuits. There is also emotion-based coping that involves accepting responsibility and self-blame, and this type of coping is more useful in the first year of the medical school, while in later years the trend shifted towards confronting, cognitive, and planned problem solving [32][33][34][35]. It has also been found that students with engagement strategy of coping are able to modify situations, resulting in a more adaptive outcome, and also have reported fewer symptoms of depression [20,33].…”

The correlates of stress, coping styles and psychiatric morbidity in the first year of medical education at a Nigerian University

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Several factors (e.g., poor employment prospects, financial problems, workload, and examinations) could act as catalysts for psychological morbidity. 2,3,9,10 Aside from the immediate morbidity, distress during medical school could predict later problems in physicians with possible personal suffering of the doctor and poor patient care. 7 The growing concern about such stress has resulted in the describing of 'medical students' disease', based on the demands of the training.…”

Emotional status of final year MBBS Students in a private medical college in central Kerala, India

“…Generally the excessive working hours, competitive academic environment, lack of recreational activities, lack of peer support, staying away from home, and financial problems are the common reasons of anxiety and stress in medical schools. 6 Several other factors such as curriculum, traumatic events related to patients and ethical dilemmas also make them vulnerable to depression. 7 Gender and lack of family support are also risk factors.…”