Purpose The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health crisis that has impacted daily life due to the policies created to contain the outbreak. Recent studies showed that medical students, a high-stress population, experienced deteriorated mental well-being during the pandemic. The aim of the present study was to assess stress and the need for support among Thai medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a multicenter study.
Methods The present study was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study which collected data from second through sixth year medical students. Data was collected during the pandemic from multiple medical schools spanning all six regions of Thailand. Questionnaires included: demographic data; the Thai version of the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (T-PSS-10) assessing stress level and the sources of stress; and the received supports from medical schools, the satisfaction with the supports, and the further necessary needs.
Results There were 1,395 medical students who responded to the questionnaires. Mean T-PSS-10 score was 17.8. Most of the sources of stress were related to the changing of teaching and evaluation system. Students residing in larger medical schools were significantly more satisfied with received support and tended to gain greater support than those in medium and small sized schools. Stress-relieving activities arrangement was considered the most sought after additional support by students.
Conclusion Medical student stress levels were higher during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels. Stress relieving activities, availability and access to mental health resources, and other strategies to reduce stress among medical students are urgently needed.
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PURPOSE The purpose of this research was to examine the medical students' personality with stress and developmental level. The study explored three overarching topics: How are medical students' personality types reflected in an enneagram? Are there any differences between subtypes of stress points? How are the students' developmental levels by gender, academic level, and enneatypes? METHODS: The subjects were 414 medical students in three Korean medical schools. Enneagram Personality Types Inventory (Korean version) was used. These enneatypes were divided into four subtypes: centers of intelligence, hornevian triads, self-consciousness, and harmonic group.
Enneatypes and stress points were analyzed statistically by frequency and percentage of enneatypes, chi-square test, and ANOVA.
RESULTS Distribution of enneatypes; type 9 was the most frequent class (n=136, 32.9%). Types 1, 3, 4, and 9 had more disintegrated students than other types (chi2=59.2, p=0.000). Subtype analysis; in body-centered type more students were disintegrated than integrated or mediocre (chi2=25.8, p=0.000). In behavior patterns, aggressive and passive types showed more disintegration (chi2=25.2, p=0.000), and in self-consciousness groups only inner order types showed integration (chi2=19.3, p=0.001). In harmonic group, positive outlook types contained the most disintegrated students (chi2=20.5, p=0.000). Majority of medical students were in disintegrated developmental status.
CONCLUSION A program should be developed for students to know their ego-identity plainly and overcome their disintegration, based on their enneatypes. Such a program will help students improve their ways of thinking or their behavior and become more secure.
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