Students’ perspectives on interventions to reduce stress in medical school: A qualitative study

Abstract

The mental health of medical students remains to be a matter of concern. Numerous setting-based and individual-based interventions for student mental health have been proposed in the literature. However, the student perspective on those interventions has been largely neglected. This study aims to explore how medical students perceive different interventions and if they desire any additional changes with regard to their studies. Eight focus groups with 71 participants were conducted at a large German medical school. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed and content-analyzed using MAXQDA 18. We found that medical students prefer setting-based interventions. Most proposed interventions were on a setting-based level. For instance, students asked for more information on the university's psychosocial counseling services and for better information management regarding contact persons. Interventions proposed in the literature received mixed reactions: Several participants did not favour a pass/fail grading system. Students considered a peer-to-peer mentoring program for freshmen very helpful. Students had diverse attitudes towards Balint groups. They approved of several self-management courses, most of them being related to time or stress management. Interestingly, the most urgently wanted interventions appear to be rather easy to implement (e.g. a mentoring program). This study explored the medical student perspective on student mental health interventions. Additionally, our study illustrates the benefit and feasibility of involving students early on in the conception of interventions. Further research with a representative sample is needed to obtain broader information on the acceptance of the suggested interventions.

Symptoms of depression and anxiety in Indonesian medical students: association with coping strategy and resilience

“…Students and faculty may have different perspectives on well-being and ways to promote it [ 22 ]. Nevertheless, students are capable of identifying their needs and specify their preferred programs, or even generate their own ideas for mental health programs [ 59 , 60 ].…”

“…Policy makers at all levels will eventually need to address the sources of distress in the education process itself if they wish to have a mental health program that is truly preventive [ 7 ]. A qualitative study that allowed students to generate their own ideas for well-being programs reported that students want changes to how their education is carried out [ 60 ]. Some suggested changes to the curriculum include pass/fail grading system, reducing contact hours, evaluating the depth of learning materials, and reformulating feedback given to students [ 7 ].…”

When in Doubt … Career Indecision, Mental Wellbeing, and Consultation-Seeking Behaviour—A Qualitative Interview Study among Students and Counsellors

“…By following an approach of data triangulation, the perspectives of students casting doubts on their studies and counsellors working with them could be taken into account to pursue our study aim. Analysis was performed in multiple rounds and by a multi-professional and experienced team of researchers (i.e., in terms of qualitative research with a focus on mental health among students [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]) to ensure intersubjective transparency.…”

“…was closely supervised by K.H. and A.L., who are both experienced in conducting and analysing qualitative interviews [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 35 , 36 ].…”

Az orvostanhallgatók mentális egészségét kedvezőtlenül befolyásoló tényezők és a beavatkozások lehetséges pontjai hallgatói szemszögből

“…A hallgatók kritikája szerint a tananyag egy részének nincs klinikai jelentősége. Általános igény fogalmazódott meg arra, hogy ezt a tanítás és a vizsgák során is vegyék figyelembe, és határozzanak meg a tanulást segítő, egyértelmű kritériumokat (Dederichs, Weber, Muth, Angerer, & Loerbroks, 2020;Schiekirka és mtsai, 2012).…”