Mental Stress in Medical Students during the Pandemic and Their Relation to Digital and Hybrid Semester—Cross-Sectional Data from Three Recruitment Waves in Germany

Arndt Büssing (), Michaela Zupanic, Jan P. Ehlers and Angelika Taetz-Harrer
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Arndt Büssing: Quality of Life, Spirituality and Coping, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, 58313 Herdecke, Germany
Michaela Zupanic: Interprofessional and Collaborative Didactics in Medical and Health Professions, Witten/Herdecke University, 58455 Witten, Germany
Jan P. Ehlers: Didactics and Educational Research in Health Care, Witten/Herdecke University, 58455 Witten, Germany
Angelika Taetz-Harrer: Didactics and Educational Research in Health Care, Witten/Herdecke University, 58455 Witten, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: Background: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, students had to interrupt their regular studies, and universities changed their teaching formats. The aim of this study was to analyze medical students’ stress perception, wellbeing, life and work satisfaction, and cool down reactions, and to compare the survey data of online and hybrid semesters with pre-pandemic education formats in-person. Methods: Cross-sectional surveys at three time points enrolling 1061 medical students (58% women; 24.4 ± 3.4 years); 30.8% from pre-pandemic formats in-person, 22.8% from pandemic online semesters, and 46.1% from pandemic hybrid semesters. Results: Both students’ stress perception and psychological wellbeing decreased during the pandemic semesters. Their satisfaction with the university support was at its lowest during the hybrid semesters. Regression analyses indicated that students’ stress perception can be explained only to some extent by their general dissatisfaction with their medical studies or teaching formats. Conclusions: The lockdowns affected students in more ways than simply their teaching formats. Students require individual support to adjust to difficult situations, and particularly medical students in their preclinical phase compared to students in their clinical phases. These are challenges for the medical education system, which must find ways to be prepared for future times of crisis and insecurity.

Keywords: stress perception; wellbeing; cool down; medical students; COVID-19 pandemic; digital semester; teaching formats (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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