The Impact of COVID-19 on Health and Well-Being: Foreign Medical Students in Eastern Europe

Vsevolod Konstantinov (), Valentina Gritsenko, Alexander Reznik and Richard Isralowitz
Additional contact information
Vsevolod Konstantinov: Department of the General Psychology, Penza State University, 440026 Penza, Russia
Valentina Gritsenko: Department of Social Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, 123290 Moscow, Russia
Alexander Reznik: Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel
Richard Isralowitz: Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-8

Abstract: Approximately 350,000 foreign students, mostly from India, study medicine in Eastern Europe (EE). However, there is a dearth of information about the COVID-19 impact on this population who study at universities in Eastern Europe (e.g., Russia, Ukraine and Belarus). The aim of this study was to examine the pandemic impact on such students and to generate useful information that may be applied to their health, well-being and learning experience. A cross-sectional survey of Indian students at a Russian medical university was conducted. The data collection instrument included questions about background characteristics, fear of COVID-19, burnout, mental distress, eating behavior, substance use, resilience and adherence to World Health Organization prevention recommendations. Male and female students were compared to determine the COVID-19 impact based on gender status. A total of 497 students participated in this study. Among the survey participants, 92.3% reported being vaccinated. No significant difference was found among male and female respondents regarding fear and burnout associated with COVID-19. Approximately 40% of the students reported a deterioration in psycho-emotional well-being due to COVID-19, and such students had higher levels of COVID-19-related fear, burnout, substance use and lower resilience. Nearly half of the respondents reported unhealthy eating behavior (49.7%) and weight gain (46.3%) associated with COVID-19. In addition, students who adhered to prevention measures of mask wearing and social distancing had less COVID-19 fear and burnout, as well as more resilience. This study promotes an understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the psycho-emotional conditions of male and female medical students from India studying abroad.

Keywords: foreign medical students; COVID-19; fear; resilience; burnout; substance use; eating behavior; WHO COVID-10 prevention methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/9/393/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/9/393/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:9:p:393-:d:903937

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().