COVID-19 pandemic psychological impact and volunteering experience perceptions of medical students after 2 years
Author
Gómez Durán, Esperanza Luisa
Martin-Fumadó, Carles
Gassó, Aina M.
Díaz, Sandra
Miranda-Mendizabal, Andrea
Garcia Forero, Carlos
Virumbrales, Montserrat
Publication date
2022ISSN
1660-4601
Abstract
Undergraduate healthcare students were mobilized to support healthcare systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, but we have scarce information regarding their experience and its impact on their wellbeing. An anonymous online survey was conducted among undergraduate students and recently graduated physicians of a medical university in Spain, regarding their symptoms and volunteering experience during the initial months of the Spanish COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents showed a high prevalence of perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, measured by the PHQ-9 and GAD-7. 14.5% reported healthcare-related volunteering tasks. Volunteering was a satisfactory experience for most of the respondents and the majority felt ready to do volunteering tasks (66.6%). Yet, 16.6% acknowledged not getting appropriate specific-task education before starting, 20.8% reported not having appropriate supervision, and 33.3% feel they did not have proper protective equipment. More than half of volunteers feared getting infected, more than 70% feared infecting their relatives or friends, and 54.2% reported stigmatization. Volunteers showed significantly higher stress, anxiety, and depression scores than the rest of the respondents, and 32% reported a highly traumatic event during volunteering, with high scores on the IES-R in the 16% of volunteers. Our results should help guide future potential volunteering processes in emergencies, enhance academic programs at medical schools and provide valuable data for psychological support services.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
61 - Medical sciences
616.9 - Communicable diseases. Infectious and contagious diseases, fevers
Keywords
COVID-19
Voluntariat
Impacte psicològic
Metges
COVID-19
Voluntariado
Impacto psicológico
Médicos
COVID-19
Volunteering
Psychological impact
Physicians
Pages
12
Publisher
MDPI
Collection
19
Is part of
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Citation
Gómez Durán, Esperanza Luisa; Martin-Fumadó, Carles; Gassó, Aina M. [et al.]. COVID-19 pandemic psychological impact and volunteering experience perceptions of medical students after 2 years. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022, 19(12), 7532. Disponible en: <https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/12/7532>. Fecha de acceso: 3 oct. 2022. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19127532
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- Ciències de la Salut [740]
Rights
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/