The Association Between Distance Learning, Stress Level, and Perceived Quality of Education in Medical Students After Transitioning to a Fully Online Platform

Abstract

Background: Before COVID-19, preclinical medical students traditionally attended didactic lectures in inperson settings. Due to social distancing, students were required to switch to online meeting platforms, such as Zoom. For medical students accustomed to in-person interactions, these changes may add more stress to the already stressful medical school experience. Furthermore, it was unclear if students' stress levels were related to their preference for one learning modality over another. The purpose of this study was thus to explore associations between lecture modality (synchronous Zoom lectures versus live, in-person lectures) and stress in second-year medical students after they transitioned from a face-to-face learning experience to a fully online lecture platform.Methodology: Cross-sectional data were collected from 112 second-year medical students enrolled in a large U.S. medical school using an anonymous questionnaire delivered electronically via social media and emails. The survey contained items pertaining to students' attitudes towards different types of lecture modalities and how they relate to personal stress. Descriptive data and Spearman's rank correlation tests were conducted using IBM Corp. Released 2020. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 27.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.Results: This study examined correlations between preclinical medical school lecture delivery and personality type, stress levels, attendance, and burnout. Overall, no significance was found between mode of delivery and personality type. On the other hand, the mode of delivery significantly affected stress levels, attendance, and burnout. Moderate to strong correlations were found between the item "Zoom lectures have reduced stress compared to in-person lectures" and preference for Zoom, quality of education using Zoom compared to the in-person lectures, belief that Zoom lectures should continue as part of the curriculum delivery method, staying motivated with lectures fully online with Zoom, and liking that Zoom lectures save commute time to campus.Conclusions: Findings suggest that a fully online curriculum may play a role in reducing stress in medical students without compromising the quality of education.

E-Learning Satisfaction, Stress, Quality of Life, and Coping: A Cross-Sectional Study in Italian University Students a Year after the COVID-19 Pandemic Began

“…The variables were entered in the following order: demographics to control for confounding of variables that may be associated with e-learning satisfaction (Block 1); followed by stress, health-related quality of life (H-RQoL: Summary Index of Unhealthy Days), and social presence (Block 2), which has been evidenced in other research to be associated with e-learning satisfaction [20,33,48] brief-coping subscales (Block 3), which were explored as new elements in this article. For the model regression coefficients, 95% CI, F statistics, R2, and change in F and R2 are reported.…”

“…Other studies have shown that overall e-learning quality has a significant positive impact on student satisfaction and intentions to continue usage of e-learning platforms [18][19][20].…”

Tingkat Stres dan Indeks Massa Tubuh

“…Dengan adanya penurunan dari perjalanan menuju kampus ini disertai dengan kemudahannya untuk dapat mengikuti pembelajaran di rumah menghasilkan penurunan dari kelelahan yang dialami dari mahasiswa tersebut. Walaupun begitu terdapat masalah dengan adanya perkuliahan secara online dapat memberikan masalah kepada mahasiswa dengan adanya memengaruhi keterlibatan dari mahasiswa tersebut dalam kelas, serta dapat menimbulkan masalah teknis yang dapat mengganggu belajar dari mahasiswa sehingga dapat memberikan stres kepada mahasiswa tersebut (15).…”

Progressive muscle relaxation in pandemic times: bolstering medical student resilience through IPRMP and Gagne's model

“…Furthermore, the inherent rigor of the curriculum and extended clinical practices cause medical students to grapple with heightened levels of mental and physical stress, often more than peers in other academic fields (Tennant et al, 2007 ; Rotenstein et al, 2018 ; Afshar et al, 2022 ; Slimmen et al, 2022 ). The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic only added to this stress, triggering a widespread shift to distance learning, and prompting medical institutions to re-evaluate traditional teaching methods (Khalil et al, 2020 ; Afshan et al, 2022 ; Altaf et al, 2022 ).…”