Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Public Health, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžės g. 18, LT47181, Kaunas, Lithuania.
BMC Med Educ. 2024 Apr 10;24(1):395. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05379-1.
The prevalence of anxiety is high among international medical sciences students and it increased even more during the COVID-19 pandemic due to different restrictions and social isolation. Successful sociocultural adjustment and social support could be important factors in overcoming those challenges, however, there is a lack of studies which would investigate the role of those factors among inter- national medical students. This study aimed to assess the role of sociocultural adjustment and social support as predictors for international medical students' anxiety during COVID-19.
Two measurements were conducted via self-reported questionnaires which consisted of three scales - SCAS, MSPSS and GAD-7. In total, 82 international medical students participated in both measurements in this longitudinal study.
The findings indicated that 37% of international students had symptoms of moderate or severe anxiety during their first year of studies at university. In the second year, during the COVID-19 pandemic and an official lockdown, 35% of international students had symptoms of moderate or severe anxiety. In addition, this study showed that gender and sociocultural adjustment did not play a role as predictors of students' anxiety during the second year of studies. However, this study revealed that social support provided by family during the first year of studies, as well as having friends or family members who had been ill with COVID-19 predicted higher levels of anxiety at second measurement, while sociocultural adjustment was an even stronger predictor of anxiety in the second year of studies of international medical students.
This knowledge can help to better understand how international medical students felt during the COVID-19 pandemic and what role the above- mentioned factors played in the students' anxiety. As the anxiety level is quite high among international medical students, universities and mental health service providers should take it into consideration and help them to overcome those challenges.
国际医学科学专业学生的焦虑症患病率较高，由于新冠疫情期间的各种限制和社交隔离，这一比例进一步上升。成功的社会文化适应和社会支持可能是克服这些挑战的重要因素，然而，目前缺乏研究来调查这些因素在国际医学生中的作用。本研究旨在评估社会文化适应和社会支持作为新冠疫情期间国际医学生焦虑症的预测因素的作用。
通过自我报告问卷进行了两项测量，问卷包括三个量表 - SCAS、MSPSS 和 GAD-7。共有 82 名国际医学生参加了这项纵向研究的两次测量。
研究结果表明，37%的国际学生在大学第一年学习期间出现中度或重度焦虑症状。第二年，在新冠疫情和官方封锁期间，35%的国际学生出现中度或重度焦虑症状。此外，这项研究表明，性别和社会文化适应在第二年的学习中并不是学生焦虑的预测因素。然而，这项研究表明，在第一年的学习期间，家庭提供的社会支持，以及有患过新冠的朋友或家人，可预测第二年测量时更高的焦虑水平，而社会文化适应是第二年国际医学生焦虑的更强预测因素。
这项知识可以帮助更好地了解国际医学生在新冠疫情期间的感受，以及上述因素在学生焦虑中扮演的角色。由于国际医学生的焦虑水平相当高，大学和心理健康服务提供者应该考虑到这一点，并帮助他们克服这些挑战。
