Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on happiness and stress: comparison of preclinical and clinical medical students

Abstract

Purpose To compare differences in happiness and stress and related factors between pre-clinical and clinical year medical students during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. All undergraduate medical students were requested to voluntarily respond to an electronic survey. Demographic data, related factors of happiness and stress, scores from the Thai version of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Thai-OHQ), and Thai Stress Questionnaire (Thai-ST5) were collected. Results There were 369 responses, 64.8% from preclinical students and 35.2% responses from clinical students, and 53.9% were women. The mean age of the participants was 20.62±1.81 years. The most frequent platforms that the students used to track COVID-19 information were Facebook 43.9% and Twitter 43.4%. Both groups had a low level of stress. No difference was found in the Thai-OHQ score (p=0.323) and the Thai-ST5 score (p=0.278). With multivariable analysis, two factors significantly related to the happier students included higher health satisfaction scores (p<0.001) and maintaining an exercise program during the COVID-19 pandemic (p=0.015). Conclusion There was no difference in the happiness and stress levels between the two groups during the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Thailand. To increase happiness, promoting awareness of health satisfaction and regularity of exercise for the medical students should be initiated. To direct the information during a disease outbreak such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook, and Twitter are the primary platforms to use.

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of medical students’ symptoms and feelings during COVID-19 pandemic

“…The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) was used in an online study of 369 preclinical and clinical medical students in China (2021); no difference was observed between the groups regarding happiness and stress. Factors related to a higher degree of happiness were satisfaction with health and a physical exercise program [47]. This result reinforces the importance of physical exercise for controlling many symptoms, such as those related to anxiety and depression, which contributes to improving happiness.…”

“…Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory [20] is a self-administered questionnaire composed of two scales with 20 items of up to 4 points each, where one scale evaluates the state and the other evaluates the trait of anxiety; the higher the score is, the worse the level of anxiety [21,22]. Some authors classi ed the level of anxiety as low (< 33), medium (33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49) or high (> 49), which is the classi cation that we used in this study [23,24].…”

Pre-medical students’ perceptions of educational environment and their subjective happiness: a comparative study before and after the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In this study, we used single-item measures of happiness and PI. This decision is based on previous studies that measured medical student’s SH [ 13 , 24 , 49 ] and medical students’ and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students’ PI [ 33 , 50 ], and showed that SH and PI can be validly and reliably evaluated via single-item measurement. Additionally, in order to increase the response rate, a single-item measure for SH and PI is used [ 32 ].…”

“…It was suggested in another study that the overall sense of well-being may be assessed quickly and efficiently through a brief measure of happiness [ 23 ]. Additionally, measuring happiness using a single item is reliable, valid, and viable [ 24 ]. In order to measure pre-medical students’ perceptions of the importance of PI (Professional identity) after they entered medical school, we used the following item: “Future Physician (Prospective Doctor) is one of the main aspects of my identity and I consider its importance is...?” The level of importance ranges from “1 = not at all” to “6 = a great deal.” In order to reduce the size and complexity of the questionnaire for participants and improve the response rate [ 32 ], we used this measurement.…”

“…Numerous studies have focused on student burnout, depression, and anxiety during the COVID-19 [ 22 , 23 ], but studies on students’ SH are scarce. Furthermore, the existing studies on medical students’ happiness and stress post-COVID-19 did not consider pre-pandemic data [ 22 , 24 – 27 ]. Therefore, based on these studies, it is difficult to compare whether students’ perceptions have become more positive or negative post-COVID-19.…”