TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the psychological distress of medical students in Japan
T2 - Cross-sectional survey study
AU - Nishimura, Yoshito
AU - Ochi, Kanako
AU - Tokumasu, Kazuki
AU - Obika, Mikako
AU - Hagiya, Hideharu
AU - Kataoka, Hitomi
AU - Otsuka, Fumio
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Academic Affairs Division of OUSM for its cooperation in conducting the survey.
Publisher Copyright:
© Yoshito Nishimura, Kanako Ochi, Kazuki Tokumasu, Mikako Obika, Hideharu Hagiya, Hitomi Kataoka, Fumio Otsuka. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 18.02.2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected medical education. However, little data are available about medical students' distress during the pandemic. Objective: This study aimed to provide details on how medical students have been affected by the pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 717 medical students participated in the web-based survey. The survey included questions about how the participants' mental status had changed from before to after the Japanese nationwide state of emergency (SOE). Results: Out of 717 medical students, 473 (66.0%) participated in the study. In total, 29.8% (141/473) of the students reported concerns about the shift toward online education, mostly because they thought online education would be ineffective compared with in-person learning. The participants' subjective mental health status significantly worsened after the SOE was lifted (P<.001). Those who had concerns about a shift toward online education had higher odds of having generalized anxiety and being depressed (odds ratio [OR] 1.97, 95% CI 1.19-3.28) as did those who said they would request food aid (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.16-3.44) and mental health care resources (OR 3.56, 95% CI 2.07-6.15). Conclusions: Given our findings, the sudden shift to online education might have overwhelmed medical students. Thus, we recommend that educators inform learners that online learning is not inferior to in-person learning, which could attenuate potential depression and anxiety.
AB - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected medical education. However, little data are available about medical students' distress during the pandemic. Objective: This study aimed to provide details on how medical students have been affected by the pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 717 medical students participated in the web-based survey. The survey included questions about how the participants' mental status had changed from before to after the Japanese nationwide state of emergency (SOE). Results: Out of 717 medical students, 473 (66.0%) participated in the study. In total, 29.8% (141/473) of the students reported concerns about the shift toward online education, mostly because they thought online education would be ineffective compared with in-person learning. The participants' subjective mental health status significantly worsened after the SOE was lifted (P<.001). Those who had concerns about a shift toward online education had higher odds of having generalized anxiety and being depressed (odds ratio [OR] 1.97, 95% CI 1.19-3.28) as did those who said they would request food aid (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.16-3.44) and mental health care resources (OR 3.56, 95% CI 2.07-6.15). Conclusions: Given our findings, the sudden shift to online education might have overwhelmed medical students. Thus, we recommend that educators inform learners that online learning is not inferior to in-person learning, which could attenuate potential depression and anxiety.
KW - Anxiety
KW - COVID-19
KW - Depression
KW - Medical student
KW - Online education
KW - Pandemic
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U2 - 10.2196/25232
DO - 10.2196/25232
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33556033
AN - SCOPUS:85101394769
SN - 1439-4456
VL - 23
JO - Journal of Medical Internet Research
JF - Journal of Medical Internet Research
IS - 2
M1 - e25232
ER -
