Attitude Towards and Adoption of the Novel Learning Environment Among Undergraduate Medical Students During COVID-19

Mohr, Sonja; Küfe, Birgit; Rheingans, Anke; Guse, Jennifer

doi:10.3389/feduc.2021.714526

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…According to our qualitative data, the lack of direct contact with fellow students, which could only take place via online media, affects both student professions negatively. These findings complement a recent empirical study in which undergraduate medical students reported lack of interactions with peers, faculty and patients in practice as negative aspects of digital teaching 44. For dental students, the lack of practical training played a major role, as dentists usually take dental courses from the first semester onwards to learn the practical skills from early stage on 45.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Mental burden and perception of the study situation among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study and comparison of dental and medical students

et al. 2021

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ObjectivesTo investigate levels of distress, depression, anxiety, stress and perception of their current study situation during the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduate dental and medical students.DesignObservational, cross-sectional study including two consecutive surveys (May and July 2020).SettingA large medical school in Germany.ParticipantsAll first year dental and medical students were invited. 132 participating first year students (44 dental, 88 medical) from the first survey and 150 students (50 dental, 100 medical) from the second were included in our analyses.Primary and secondary outcome measuresMental burden (distress thermometer, Patient Health Questionnaire-4, Perceived Stress Scale-4) and self-reported changes in mental health and perception of study situation during the COVID-19 pandemic (self-developed items) were compared. Open-ended questions were analysed by conventional content analyses.ResultsA considerable proportion of students (t1: May 2020: 84.1%; t2: July 2020: 77.3%) reported distress levels above cut-off. In July 2020, dental students reported significantly higher distress scores than medical students (dental: M=7.0, SD=2.3; medical: M=5.7; SD=2.1; p<0.001). More dental than medical students reported mild, moderate and severe levels of anxiety and depression symptoms. The majority stated that their mental health and study motivation had not changed during the pandemic. Logistic regression showed that being a dental student was significantly associated with a higher likelihood for serious worries regarding the study situation during COVID-19 at t1 (OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.1 to 14.2). At t2 higher distress was significantly associated with a higher likelihood for experiencing serious worries (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.3 to 2.5). Regarding current concerns related to the pandemic, students most frequently reported difficulties with self-regulated learning (15.2%), study-related worries and uncertainty (14.4%), missing feedback of students and lecturers (11.4%) and lack of practical training (9.8%).ConclusionThe results suggest that high mental burden and the lack of practical training among medical and dental students is an increasing problem, with a possibly even higher urgency in dental students. Tailored psychological and educational support offers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic might help them as they progress through (medical and) dental school.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Mental burden and perception of the study situation among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study and comparison of dental and medical students

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“…Interestingly, our qualitative results mapped several scales of the Medical School Learning Environment Survey: among others, but not limited to “flexibility,” “student–student interaction,” “meaningful learning experience,” and “nurturance” ( Rusticus et al, 2014 ). In line with recent studies, perception of the changed situation of the students included both negative and positive aspects ( Elmer et al, 2020 ; Mohr et al, 2021 ). In this study, the flexibility due to digital teaching with few real-time courses is particularly noteworthy.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Understanding Mental Burden and Factors Associated With Study Worries Among Undergraduate Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

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The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting many areas of life and has led to major changes in undergraduate medical education. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, high mental burden of medical students has frequently been reported in the literature. Additional pandemic-specific stressors could exacerbate this situation. This study aimed to assess mental health outcomes among medical students during the first semester after the COVID-19 outbreak and perception of the students on how the learning environment has changed. In May 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among undergraduate medical students at a large medical school in Germany. The survey included validated mental health instruments (Distress Thermometer, Patient Health Questionnaire 4) and self-developed items to examine the perception of the study situation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Open-ended questions were analyzed by conventional content analyses. The response rate was 59.2% (914/1,545). Overall, 61.9% of the students reported distress levels above the cutoff. Year 1 students reported significantly higher levels of distress, anxiety and depression than students during their second to fourth year of studies. 48.3% of the students indicated a decrease in their study motivation since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with significant differences between study years. The binary logistic regression model showed that male gender, being in study year 2, higher distress scores and higher symptoms of depression were significantly associated with a higher likelihood for experiencing serious worries. In the open-ended questions on current concerns related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their studies, students most frequently reported concerns about missing relevant practical learning experience, difficulties with self-regulated learning and self motivation as well as study-related worries. Year 4 students reported significantly more worries about the lack of practical training than students from study years 1 to 3. Analysis of gender differences showed that female students reported more frequently diverse worries. In contrast, female students shared more frequently helpful strategies in all the categories compared to male students. Our findings suggest that medical students experience significant levels of distress and mental burden during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the need for ongoing psychological and educational support for medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic and after.

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“…In their study, Mohr et al showed that female students and first-year students in particular were more comfortable with digital teaching. Students with childcare and job obligations also benefited from this mode of studying [57]. However, for data protection reasons, in our study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Students who work or have to care for children may also have participated less frequently due to time constraints. Also, considering the study of Mohr et al [57], the preference for (asynchronous and therefore more flexible) digital teaching offers could possibly be underestimated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

One academic year under COVID-19 conditions: two multicenter cross-sectional evaluation studies among medical students in Bavarian medical schools, Germany students’ needs, difficulties, and concerns about digital teaching and learning

et al. 2022

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Background Since March 2020, COVID-19 has created a need for adaptation in many areas of life. This study explores medical students’ perspectives on digital teaching under conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on expectations and concerns about digital teaching, the evaluation of specific aspects of teaching, and requests for future teaching. Methods Six German faculties have joined forces within the Bavarian network for medical education to develop and deploy a common core questionnaire. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted at the end of the summer semester 2020 and winter semester 2020/21. Medical students from different semesters participated in the online survey. Data was analyzed descriptively and/or inferentially. Item differences across semesters were examined using contingency tables and Chi2 tests. Mean values were compared using the independent samples t-test; answer frequencies in retrospective and prospective concerns were compared using contingency tables and Chi2 tests with Yates’ correction. Results In the summer semester 2020, 1565 students and in winter semester 2020/21, 1727 students took part in the survey. Students’ main prospective concern was lack of social exchange between fellow students (70%), but also with teachers. Second and third most often concerns were a lack of practical training (68%) and lack of integration of on-site digital teaching (50%). Approximately 7% of the students lacked sufficient access to technical equipment.. Approximately 39% of the students lacked a sufficient internet connection for synchronous digital teaching, 17% for asynchronous digital teaching. On-site teaching was the preferred form of teaching (60%), and there was a preference for asynchronous (24%) over synchronous (15%) digital teaching. Teaching recordings (79%) were particularly popular to complement future on-site teaching. Conclusions The following areas of education under COVID-19 conditions are highly important to medical students: adequacy of information sharing, integration of opportunities for exchange with fellow students and teachers, possibility to perform practical trainings. After the normalization of the pandemic situation, on-site teaching should be supplemented with blended learning concepts such as the inverted classroom model. Graphical abstract Percentages of results are rounded averages from summer and winter semesters.

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Attitude Towards and Adoption of the Novel Learning Environment Among Undergraduate Medical Students During COVID-19

Cited by 5 publications

References 38 publications

Mental burden and perception of the study situation among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study and comparison of dental and medical students

Mental burden and perception of the study situation among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study and comparison of dental and medical students

Understanding Mental Burden and Factors Associated With Study Worries Among Undergraduate Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

One academic year under COVID-19 conditions: two multicenter cross-sectional evaluation studies among medical students in Bavarian medical schools, Germany students’ needs, difficulties, and concerns about digital teaching and learning

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