COVID-19: Lockdown and its impact on medical students: A cross sectional study from a medical school in Mauritius

Abstract

Background: The objectives of the study were to identify the psychological impact of lockdown on medical students due to COVID-19 and to discover the educational perplexities being faced by these students during the lockdown due to COVID-19.
 Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Medical College (SSRMC), Mauritius. Questions were designed after extensive review of the literature, so that they were relevant to meet the objectives of the study.
 Results: Out of 700 undergraduate medical students, 663 students participated in the study, this equates to a substantial response rate of 95%. Due to the pandemic 348 (52.5 %) of the students were stationed in their hometown and the remaining 315 (47.5 %) were stationed in Mauritius. 464(70%) of the students suffered from the psychological impact of lockdown whereas 634(95.6%) of the students suffered from the educational impact of lockdown. Mauritian students suffered from a greater educational impact aOR4.236[1.606-11.173]. Psychological impact aOR 1.280 [0.917-1.789] and educational impact aOR 2.464 [1.076-5.647] was found more in students those who were at their hometown.
 Conclusion: Lockdown triggered both educational and psychological impact on medical students. On a psychological basis it was proven that the lockdown induced a feeling of guilt and had subsequent psychological impacts in certain students. The COVID-19 situation was simultaneously indicated to be a motivator in the majority of students; however, juxtaposed to this was the fact that various students felt as if they could not study at the same level that they are accustomed to due to the uncertainty of the situation.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Education: a Systematic Review of Distance Learning, Student’s Perceptions, and Mental Health

“…On the other hand, medical students reported several disadvantages of distance learning compared to the traditional face-to-face method, such as challenges in finding an appropriate place to study without distractions, internet connectivity problems, gaps during clinical and practical learning skills, problems in maintaining lecturerstudent dialogue, lack of patient interaction, difficulty concentrating, risk of cheating or fraud on assessments, as observed in other studies 14,56,57 . The main disadvantage mentioned by medical students encompasses internet connectivity problems and difficulty in using electronic devices 10,18,19,32,34,38,41,[45][46][47]49,51 .…”

“…Regarding the studies that covered medical students' perceptions, in high-income countries, the sample size ranged from 104 30 to 2,913 31 students, most of whom were women, except for two studies in Saudi Arabia 31,32 that had a predominantly male sample . In middle-income countries, the sample size varied from 103 33 to 99,599 20, predominantly women, with the exception of four studies from Mauritius 34 and India [35][36][37] .…”

“…Dissatisfaction with online classes and methods was present in both high- 18,19,30,31,38,[40][41][42][43][44] and middle- 10,20,[34][35][36][37]39,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51] income countries. Of these, three studies from middleincome countries showed high rates of dissatisfaction with online classes 20,39,49 .…”

“…For example, family distractions were reported by 27% of students 19 and three studies from both groups of countries identified the lack of a study room as a barrier to distance learning 19,30,50 . Challenges due to internet connectivity were present in three studies from high-income countries 19,30,40 and four studies from middle income countries 10,34,45,51 . Gaps encountered during clinical skills learning were identified by six studies 10,19,30,40,46,47 , and difficulties in communication between students and lecturers that hindered learning were pointed out by five studies 18,41,42,46,51 (table 1).…”

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Physical Activity and Mental Health among Undergraduate Students

“…While many studies have studied the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, most of the studies have focused on healthcare workers (Tan et al 2020;Lai et al 2020) , young children (Fong et al 2021;Christner et al 2021;Moore et al 2020) and older adults (Amore et al 2021;Martins Van Jaarsveld 2020) with limited evidence found on university students. With the closure of education institutions during the MCO, university students experience numerous of uncertainties delay of final exams, postponement of graduation, adopting online modes for classes or lectures and cancelling practical or hands on session (Banerjee et al 2021) . Consequently, students will also undergo drastic changes in their study environment as they are required to adapt to "studying from home".…”