gms | German Medical Science

Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMA), des Arbeitskreises zur Weiterentwicklung der Lehre in der Zahnmedizin (AKWLZ) und der Chirurgischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lehre (CAL)

25.09. - 28.09.2019, Frankfurt am Main

Stress and depression in undergraduate medical students and the impact of different coping strategies

Meeting Abstract

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  • presenting/speaker Verena Steiner-Hofbauer - Medizinische Universität Wien, Research Unit für Curriculumentwicklung, Wien, Österreich
  • Anita Holzinger - Medizinische Universität Wien, Research Unit für Curriculumentwicklung, Wien, Österreich

Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMA), des Arbeitskreises zur Weiterentwicklung der Lehre in der Zahnmedizin (AKWLZ) und der Chirurgischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lehre (CAL). Frankfurt am Main, 25.-28.09.2019. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2019. DocV28-02

doi: 10.3205/19gma214, urn:nbn:de:0183-19gma2142

Published: September 20, 2019

© 2019 Steiner-Hofbauer et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Outline

Text

Introduction: Stress among medical students is an often-investigated topic in international published studies. There, up to 90% of the students experienced stress. Some of these studies observed a relationship between stress and depression or depressive symptoms. The average prevalence of depression was 27.2%. To deal with stress and prevent depression during medical school the effect of coping strategies is of great interest. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of stress and depression and the efficacy of different coping strategies in undergraduate medical students.

Material and method: Our Survey was conducted 2017 at the Medical University of Vienna. In the 2nd year group 424 of 639 students participated (53% female, 47% male) and in 6th year 161 out of 362 students participated (46.6% female, 53.4% male). We developed a questionnaire including the SCI stress and coping inventory, the CES-D depression screening, the ASSIST substance involvement questionnaire to measure substance use as dysfunctional coping and a questionnaire regarding leisure time activities. The measured coping strategies were included in a regression model to assess their predictive value for stress and depression scores.

Results: The most common stressors were performance pressure overload (92.1%), high expectations for oneself (91.3%) and uncertainty about life goals (82.9%). In 2nd year 68.5% of female and 48.4% of male and in 6th year 37.1% of female and 33.3% of male students reached critical values in the depression screening. Seeking social support was the most frequently used coping strategy but did not reduce neither stress nor depression. Also leisure time activities failed to predict stress and/or depression. Participants stress scores could be reduced by positive thinking and active coping and were increased by coping through faith/religion. In our study, positive thinking was a protective factor against depressive symptoms. Positive thinking was therefore the most effective coping strategy in our study. Less than 2% of all students reached high-risk values in substance use. Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis are the most used substances; the use of other drugs was rare.

Conclusion: Accessible counseling for students in need of psychological care should be provided [1]. Different interventions of positive psychology showed positive impact on depression scores to enhance well-being [2] and facilitate a positive outlook on live and education.


References

1.
Zanardelli G, Sim W, Borges N, Roman B. Well-Being in First Year Medical Students. Acad Psychiatry. 2015;39(1):31-36. DOI: 10.1007/s40596-014-0189-5 External link
2.
Bolier L, Haverman M, Westerhof GJ, Riper H, Smit F, Bohlmeijer E. Positive psychology interventions: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies. BMC Public Health. 2013;13:119. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-119 External link
3.
Saravanan C, Wilks R. Medical Students' 2019; Experience of and Reaction to Stress: The Role of Depression and Anxiety. Sci World J. 2014;(2):737382. DOI: 10.1155/2014/737382 External link