Graduate Medical Students’ Mental Health Concerns During COVID-19 Pandemic

International Journal of Biomedicine 13(4) (2023) 334-340 http://dx.doi.org/10.21103/Article13(4)_OA17 ORIGINAL ARTICLE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICINE Mental Health Graduate Medical Students’ Mental Health Concerns During COVID-19 Pandemic Ali Hassan A. Ali1,2*, Naif Alrudian3, Mohammed Saad Alqahtani4, Sultan Eid Alanazi5, Abdulkreem Zaam Alotaibi6, Abdulmajeed Mazroua Almazroua6, Marwa Idris Abdallah Abdalkareem7, Tareq A. Althubiti8, Bodoor Ghanem Alanazi9 Anatomy Department, College of Medicine, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, KSA 2 Anatomy Department, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt 3 Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj 11942, KSA 4 Internal Medicine Department, College of Medicine, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, KSA 5 College of Medicine, Sulaiman Al-Rajhi University, Al-Qassim, KSA 6 College of Medicine, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, KSA 7 Maternaty and Childhood Hospital, Ministry of Health, Al-Kharj, KSA 8 College of Medicine, Vision colleges, Riyadh, KSA 9 College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, KSA 1 Abstract Medical students are more likely than the general population to experience perceived stress during the pandemic due to many variables. This study aimed to evaluate the stress levels and prevalence of different mental health conditions among graduate medical students in Al Kharj City. An anonymous online survey was conducted among graduate medical students of Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU). For this investigation, the following scales were used to measure the prevalence of common mental health issues: DSM-5 Self-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure-Adult (CCSM-A); Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10-C), to measure COVID-19-related student stress; and the COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire to get the global stress score (GSS). Two hundred twenty-one students were contacted, and 214(96.8%) consented to participate in the study. According to the CCSM-A scale, anxiety (73%) and depressive symptoms (71%) were the most frequently reported symptoms by the students. After correcting for age and self-perceived COVID-19 risk, there was a significant relationship between anger, suicidal ideation, and substance use, on one hand, and the study year on the other graduate medical students who have mental health issues bear a heavy load. In the post-pandemic recovery period, regular mental health assessments and providing early and adequate mental health assistance to needy people are imperative.(International Journal of Biomedicine. 2023;13(4):334-340.) Keywords: medical students • COVID-19 • mental health For citation: Ali AHA, Alrudian N, Alqahtani MS, Alanazi SE, Alotaibi AZ, Almazroua AM, Abdalkareem MIA, Althubiti TA, Alanazi BG. Graduate Medical Students’ Mental Health Concerns During COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Biomedicine. 2023;13(4):334-340. doi:10.21103/Article13(4)_OA17 Introduction The COVID-19 outbreak in KSA and related lockdowns have severely disrupted people’s daily lives and negatively impacted their mental health. Lockdown measures like school and college closures have generally impacted education. Similarly, higher education has also been affected, especially medical programs. The education supply has continued in KSA through other channels, including online learning and instructional materials sent to medical students throughout the pandemic.(1) Medical students’ mental health is an issue because they are more likely than non-medical students to experience depression, anxiety, and burnout, which they experienced even before the COVID-19 pandemic.(2-4) These increased risks have 335 A. H. A. Ali et al. / International Journal of Biomedicine 13(4) (2023) 334-340 been linked to several stressors associated with medical school training, including academic pressures; working in a demanding clinical setting where doctors are exposed to ethical dilemmas, death, and suffering; as well as the support and culture of the medical school. This includes the unspoken rule that illness is a sign of weakness and that doctors should be strong.(5) Medical education requires extensive study and training compared to many other academic fields; this may impact the student’s mental health. Medical students’ emotional, physical, and spiritual health is compromised by the numerous obligations and demands they must meet. Previous studies have revealed that the prevalence of identified mood disorders, suicidal thoughts, and psychological distress was much higher in medical students.(6) Due to their numerous added pressures, medical students are at a higher risk of experiencing stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes the pupils’ ongoing elevated risk of developing COVID-19 infection and the ensuing risk of spreading the virus to family members. Additionally, increased strain is brought on by the intense competition for admission to medical schools, adaptation to the more recent online teaching method, uncertainties surrounding examinations, and clinical postings.(7) According to the current literature, medical students are more likely to experience stress, and it is important to determine their level of stress and its contributing factors. Considering this, this study’s objectives were to determine the incidence of common mental health symptoms across psychiatric disorders and to measure stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic among medical students in Al Kharj. Materials and Methods The study was launched at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU) in Al Kharj in the 2022-2023 academic year. A cross-sectional online survey of PSAU medical students from all years was intended for this study. All medical school students were eligible to participate. The ethical review board of the institution gave its prior approval (SCBR-120-2023). Students who declared an anxiety or depression diagnosis were subject to exclusion criteria. Google Forms was employed to collect data and to create self-administered surveys for the study. To prevent repeated submissions for the study’s completion, participants must be signed into their Google accounts when filling out Google Forms. Participants’ email addresses were kept private to ensure confidentiality. All PSAU medical students were invited to participate in this survey during their first semester. The university’s internet portal was used to distribute the survey. We began with second-year students, and participants ranged from second to fifth year. The university oversees the first year as the preparatory year through a single program. The online survey had a voluntary participation period that ended on May 20, 2023. The following data was gathered for the study: first, sociodemographic details about the participants and symptoms to evaluate mental health doma (...truncated)