Exploring the emotional effects of pandemic COVID-19 in UNICAMP Medical graduation students

Abstract

A pandemic scenario, such as COVID-19, corroborates a state of mental stress worldwide. Studies have shown to affect health professionals. Medical students who are affected in this situation may be similar. The rapid evolution of an outbreak, which spread across all continents, has generated global concern, not only for the number of cases of infected people and deaths but also for the great global biopsychosocial impacts caused, which may exceed the capacity to cope with affected people. Bearing in mind that, in the future, these students will be the next health professionals, it is essential to analyze their emotional stability in the face of this pandemic situation, in addition to measuring whether greater knowledge in the field of health contributes or not to an increase in mental stress. Objectives: To evaluate the frequency of anxiety symptoms of medical students at Unicamp using a recommended scale, in addition to knowing their reactions and perception about the implementation of Digital Teaching (EAD) in this period of Pandemic of COVID-19. METHODS: Using the email resource, all students enrolled in the Unicamp Medicine course, from the first to the sixth year, approximately 720 students, will be invited to participate in the study. After agreement and consent, a link will be sent to students, by e-mail, to access the data collection form composed of: a closed questionnaire with 25 questions (designed especially for this study that assesses specific characteristics of each undergraduate student, their context in the current pandemic moment and its experience in relation to digital teaching) and a State-Trait Anxiety Scale (STAI) as a reliable measure to assess trait and anxious state. Data analysis: anxiety resulting from the pandemic and to know their reactions and perceptions about the distance study conducted at this time. All data obtained with the aid of the Google Forms program (study form), for further analysis, will be used for parametric and nonparametric comparison tests, according to the data distribution. Initially, the specific characteristics of each student will be taken into account, analyzing their context in the current pandemic moment, and their evaluation in relation to digital education (EAD). Then, an analysis will be made in relation to the students' responses about the frequency of signs related to their mental health, specifically signs of anxiety, based on the recommended scale. Expected results: Emotional changes during this time of global health crisis are expected, but we need to know the real impacts of this on students' lives in order to find appropriate solutions to help them during the process and also when we return to our normal activities.