The impact of perceived social support and coping on distress in a sample of Atlantic Canadian health professional students during COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID peers

Abstract

Purpose Students pursuing higher education and health professional (HP) programs (e.g., nursing, pharmacy, social work, medicine) experience stressors including academic pressures, workload, developing professional competencies, professional socialization, the hidden curriculum, entering clinical practice and navigating relationships with colleagues. Such stress can have detrimental effects on HP students physical and psychological functioning and can adversely affect patient care. This study examined the role of perceived social support and resilience in predicting distress of Atlantic Canadian HP students during the COVID-19 pandemic and compared the findings to a pre-COVID population of age and sex matched Canadians. Method Second year HP students (N = 93) completed a survey assessing distress, perceived social support, and resilience and open-ended questions on student awareness of supports and counselling available to them, their use/barriers to the services, and the impact of COVID-19 on their personal functioning. HP student responses were also compared with age and sex matched Canadian peers from data collected prior to COVID-19. Results It was found that HP students reported moderate to severe psychological distress, and while they reported high levels of social support on a measure of perceived social support they also reported that the COVID-19 pandemic made them feel isolated and that they lacked social support. It was found that the sample of HP students reported significantly higher psychological distress than the mean scores of the age and sex matched sample of Canadian peers. Conclusions These findings call for creation of more tailored interventions and supports for HP students.

The relationship between social support and professional identity of health professional students from a two-way social support theory perspective: chain mediating effects of achievement motivation and meaning in life

“…From the perspective of medical colleges and medical educators, it is necessary to focus on and promote the ability and level of health professional students to give social support. During the pandemic, health professional students, even when receiving more social support, might experience adverse effects on their mental health [ 25 ]. Conversely, health professional students engaged in COVID pandemic prevention and control gained a sense of belonging, and their sense of responsibility and motivation were enhanced [ 80 ].…”

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, although health professional students reported high levels of receiving social support in terms of support, they felt isolated and lacked social support [ 25 ]. This suggests that simply receiving social support may not meet the health, psychological, and social development needs of health professional students.…”