Coping, resilience, and emotional well-being in pharmacy students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Have the effects of Covid-19 been overcome? Levels of Covid-19 fear, Covid-19 anxiety and hopelessness in young adolescents: A structural equation modeling

OBJECTIVE

This research aimed to determine the level of fear, anxiety, and hopelessness of Covid-19 in young adolescents' post Covid-19 period.

DESIGN AND SAMPLES

Young adolescents in the 17-24 age group were included in this study, which was conducted in a descriptive-cross-sectional design.

MEASUREMENTS

Sociodemographic characteristics questionnaire form and Coronavirus (Covid-19) Fear Scale, Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, and Beck Hopelessness Scale were used to collect data.

RESULTS

90.8% of the participants had been vaccinated, 26.9% had previously caught in Covid-19, and 10.3% of those who had been caught in the disease had a severe course. 10.7% of young adolescents had to take medicines, 56.4% had a family history of Covid-19, and 18.7% had lost a relative as a result of Covid-19, was found. The level of fear, anxiety and hopelessness was higher among women, first-grade students, those who did not receive the Covid-19 vaccine, those who have caught in Covid-19 before, and those who have lost a family due to Covid-19.

CONCLUSION

It is thought that the increase in the awareness level of young adolescents about Covid-19 improves preventive health behaviors and enables the development of positive behaviors related to the disease.

Changes in perceived stress and food or housing insecurity associated with COVID-19 in doctor of pharmacy students: A pre- and current- COVID-19 survey

Background

The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic impacted everyday life for most individuals, including students. Unique COVID-19 stressors among students may include virtual learning, mental stress, and being socially distanced from classmates. Studies examining the impact of COVID-19 on stress and lifestyle changes among pharmacy students are limited.

Objective

The primary purpose of this study was to compare stress and food or housing insecurity changes associated with COVID-19 in U.S. Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students pre-COVID vs. during-COVID.

Methods

A 23-item survey was administered via Qualtrics® to multiple PharmD programs across the U.S. in pre-COVID-19 (spring 2019) and during-COVID-19 (spring 2021). Participants were recruited via e-mail. The survey included questions related to demographics, lifestyle (sleep, exercise, work hours, extracurricular activities), and food and housing insecurities. The survey also included a validated instrument to measure stress (Cohen-Perceived Stress Scale). Results from 2021 were compared to a similar national survey serendipitously administered prior to COVID-19 in Spring 2019.

Results

Pre- and COVID-19 analytical cohorts included 278 and 138 participants, respectively. While pre-COVID-19 students were slightly older (29.9 ± 4.7 vs. 27.7 ± 4.2, p ≤0.001), relative to COVID-19 students, other demographic factors were similar. No significant difference was observed in reported stress levels (PSS = 20.0 ± 6.3 vs. 19.7 ± 6.2, p = 0.610) between time periods. Significant differences in food (53.2% vs. 51.4%, p = 0.731) and housing (45.0% vs. 47.1%, p = 0.680) insecurity were also not seen.

Conclusions

These findings highlight that PharmD students' perceived stress and food and housing insecurities due to COVID-19 may have been minimal. Additional studies on pharmacy students should be conducted to validate these results. These results may help inform policymakers and stakeholders during the early stages of any future pandemics.

Repercussions of Pandemic and Preventive Measures on General Well-Being, Psychological Health, Physical Fitness, and Health Behavior: Mediating Role of Coping Behavior

Background

Pandemic prevention measures increased physical inactivity due to travel restrictions that led to negative physical fitness, health behavior, psychological health, and general well-being. The mediating role of coping behavior must be identified before developing interventional strategies for this pandemic.

Objective

The study investigates the mediating role of coping behavior to mitigate the Coronavirus disease impact on physical fitness, health behavior, psychological health, and general well-being.

Methods

A web-based survey was used under convenience sampling to collect the primary data. Smart-PLS 3.0 was used to analyze the collected data.

Results

All 14 direct correlations (H1-H14) were correct, and coping behavior's mediating impact was shown to be statistically significant (H9a- H14d).

Conclusion

Our study findings indicate that mediating role of coping behavior in mitigating the pandemic impacts was statistically significant. It is concluded that coping behavior is a healthy adaptation to protecting the barrier against COVID-19 adverse effects on health.

COVID-19 and its impact on the national examination for pharmacists in Japan: An SNS text analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an extraordinary situation for undergraduate students. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national examination for pharmacists in Japan. In this study, we analyzed the content of Twitter to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the national exam, including psychological aspects. Tweets including the words "national examinations" and "pharmacists" were compiled from December 2020 to March 2021. ML-Ask, a python library, was used to evaluate the emotional register of the tweets on the basis of ten elements: Joy, Fondness, Relief, Gloom, Dislike, Anger, Fear, Shame, Excitement, and Surprise. The presence of COVID-19-related terms was clearly visible in tweets about the national examination of pharmacists between December 1st-and 15th, 2020. It was precisely during this period that the government had announced a strategy regarding national examinations, in the light of COVID-19. The analysis found that post December 16th, words associated with negative emotions were mainly related to the examination, but not to COVID-19. As a result of analyzing only infected areas, a relationship between employment and negative feeling was detected.

The influence of changes in the Chinese COVID-19 prevention and control policies on mental health of medical staff: A network analysis

BACKGROUND

Shortly after the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, the disease spread rapidly around the world. Previous findings reported an increase in mental health problems among Chinese medical staff, but there was a lack of research following changes in COVID-19 prevention and control policies.

METHODS

Medical staff were recruited separately in China from 15 to 16 December 2022 (N = 765, wave 1) and from 5 to 8 January 2023 (N = 690, wave 2). All participants completed the assessments of Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Euthymia Scale. Network analysis was used to explore the relationships between symptoms both within and across depression, anxiety and euthymia.

RESULTS

Medical staff showed worse anxiety, depression and euthymia at wave 2 than at wave 1. Depression, motor, restlessness and uncontrollable worrying showed high centrality (i.e., strength, expected influence, closeness) at wave 1, but higher at peak. Meanwhile, motor symptoms and restlessness showed the strongest connection between different mental disorders at both wave 1 and wave 2. The network structure was stable over time after the relaxation of the infection policy.

LIMITATIONS

Our participants were not a random sample and the assessments were based on self-reports.

CONCLUSIONS

This study indicated the changes in central and bridging symptoms in medical staff at different stages after lifting of restrictions and the withdrawal of testing requirements, which provided management suggestions for the Chinese government and hospitals, as well as clinical guidance for psychological interventions.

The relationship between fear of COVID-19 and psychological resilience according to personality traits of university students: A PATH analysis

PURPOSE

The purpose of the current research was to identify the influence of university students' personality traits on their fear of COVID-19 and psychological resilience levels.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A cross-sectional trial was completed with 690 students. Descriptive statistics and correlations were calculated, and a path analysis was employed with the objective of assessing the model fit and investigating direct and indirect impacts.

FINDINGS

Among personality traits, conscientiousness and neuroticism were observed to affect fear of COVID-19, and conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience had an effect on psychological resilience. The tested model has a good fit and explains the direct effects of the study variables.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Nurses should improve university students' psychological resilience by supporting them with protective and improving factors. The role of the psychiatric nurse is important in providing conscious and need-oriented support in extraordinary events such as pandemics.

Resilience mediates the association between alexithymia and stress in Chinese medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background

Evidence indicates that medical students have had high rates of mental health problems, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could be affected by alexithymia-a marked dysfunction in emotional awareness, social attachment and interpersonal relationships-and stress. However, psychological resilience might relieve alexithymia and stress levels.

Aims

This study aimed to investigate the role of resilience in alexithymia and stress in medical students.

Methods

A total of 470 medical students completed online and offline surveys, including the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the College Student Stress Questionnaire (CSSQ). The data of five participants were excluded because of a lack of integrity. Mann-Whitney U test or Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare group differences in the CD-RISC scores among categorical variables. Spearman correlation analysis was employed to evaluate the associations between resilience and alexithymia and between resilience and stress. Mediation analysis was used to test the mediating effect of resilience between alexithymia and stress.

Results

Of the medical students considered in the analysis, 382 (81.28%) were female and 88 (18.72%) were male. There was a significant negative correlation between the TAS-20 scores and the total and subtotal CD-RISC scores (p<0.001). The CSSQ scores also significantly negatively correlated with the total and subtotal CD-RISC scores (p<0.001). Resilience mediated the relationship between alexithymia and stress (total effect=1.044 7, p<0.001). The indirect effect of alexithymia significantly impacted stress through resilience (effect=0.167 0, 95% CI: 0.069 to 0.281).

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that resilience might effectively reduce alexithymia and stress. They also contributed to a better understanding of the mediating effects of resilience on alexithymia and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The evidence from these results encourages universities to focus on improving students' resilience.

Resilient Coping is More Important Than Previous Virtual Learning Experience: Predicting Pharmacy Student Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a swift transition to online learning in medical and health sciences. This study investigated the associations of previous experience with online learning, current confidence with online learning, and resilient coping skills with perceived stress reported by pharmacy students during the emergency transition to online learning.

Methods

Undergraduate pharmacy students (N=113, response rate = 41%) completed an online, self-report, cross-sectional survey during April-June 2020. Measures included Likert items measuring prior experience and current comfort levels with online learning, the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), and the Perceived Stress Scale 10-Item Version (PSS-10). Experience, comfort with online learning, reported scores, and internal consistency for the BRCS and PSS-10 were summarized. A linear regression model examined the associations of prior experience with online education, gender, and resilient coping with perceived stress.

Results

Of the 113 respondents (78% female, mean age 22.3 years), > 50% had only occasional prior experience with online learning, coursework, and examinations, but 63% expressed confidence with online learning. Mean PSS-10 and BRCS scores were 23.8 and 13.3, respectively, and both scales demonstrated good internal consistency (α > 0.80). BRCS score was the single predictor of the PSS-10 score (r² = 0.18, p < 0.001). Female gender was not a significant predictor (p = 0.11). A multiple regression model explained moderate variation in perceived stress (adjusted R² = 0.19).

Conclusion

PSS-10 and BRCS scores indicated moderate levels of stress and coping skills among students during online teaching. Most students had some prior exposure to online learning, coursework, and examinations. Higher resiliency scores, but not prior online learning experience, predicted lower perceived stress.

COVID-19-Driven Improvements and Innovations in Pharmacy Education: A Scoping Review

The COVID-19 pandemic led to many colleges of pharmacy having to make major changes relating to their infrastructure and delivery of their curriculum within a very short time frame, including the transition of many components to an online setting. This scoping review sought to summarize what is known about the impact of COVID-19 on pharmacy education and the effectiveness of adaptation strategies which were put in place. PubMed, Web of Science, OVID Medline, and MedEdPortal were searched to identify pharmacy education-related articles published since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. For article inclusion, the following criteria had to be met: described original research, related directly to PharmD or PharmBS education, related to the impact of COVID-19 on pharmacy education, and was available in English. Out of a total of 813 articles, 50 primary research articles were selected for inclusion. Our review of these identified four domains relating to the impact of COVID-19 on pharmacy education and/or effectiveness of adaptation strategies: (1) lab-based courses and activities (including interprofessional education activities), (2) experiential education, (3) didactic education, and (4) student well-being. The key research findings are summarized and discussed. While the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly brought many challenges to pharmacy education, it has also led to key improvements and innovations.