Medical student stress: an elective course as a possibility of help
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Data
2015
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Resumo
Background: The frequently observed stress of medical students worldwide leads them to have psychic suffering
often leading to illness. Minor psychic disorders such as anxiety, depression and burnout, have a higher prevalence
in these students than in the rest of random population. Different initiatives were tried to minimize the deleterious
effects of the medical course and this article aims at showing the repercussions of a elective course that and was
proposed as a possibility to help the students.
Methods: A qualitative case study took place in a public Brazilian university as an elective discipline offered to medical
students in 2013, offering coping strategies for professional stress. The data was collected through a semi-structured
individual questionnaire that was anonymous, and given to students on the last day of the course, with 18 Likert
scale questions about personal and behavioural changes observed after taking the course. Objective questions were
asked about their perception of stress at the beginning and at the end of the course: the use of the coping strategies
taught and the perception of the utility of the content. In addition, one open-ended question was asked about the
meaning of the discipline to the students. The quantitative data was analysed with descriptive simple statistics and
the qualitative with the support of the WebQDA software. The research project was approved by the ethics committee
of the institution.
Results: The results showed that the course contributed positively to the students’ academic life: 67 % reported less
symptoms of stress at the end of the course; 76 % adopted new coping strategies; and 90 % considered that this
learning activity was useful for identifying stressors and sharing them with colleagues.
Conclusions: The elective course produced benefits to the students, representing theoretical-practical learning and
an opportunity for reflection and self-knowledge, which caused psychological, behavioural and lifestyle changes. It is
recommended that further studies on this theme should be conducted.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
Professional stress, Coping strategies, Medical students, Elective course
Citação
PEREIRA, Maria Amélia Dias; BARBOSA, Maria Alves; REZENDE, Jomar Cleison de; DAMIANO, Rodolfo Furlan. Medical student stress: an elective course as a possibility of help. BMC Research Notes, Basingstoke, v. 8, n. 430, p. 1-10, 2015.