Effective coping strategies utilised by medical students for mental health disorders during undergraduate medical education-a scoping review

Kamran Sattar; Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff; Wan Nor Arifin; Mohd Azhar Mohd Yasin; Mohd Zarawi Mat Nor

doi:10.1186/s12909-022-03185-1

Effective coping strategies utilised by medical students for mental health disorders during undergraduate medical education-a scoping review

BMC Med Educ. 2022 Feb 23;22(1):121. doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03185-1.

Authors

Kamran Sattar¹, Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff², Wan Nor Arifin³, Mohd Azhar Mohd Yasin⁴, Mohd Zarawi Mat Nor¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Education, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia.
² Department of Medical Education, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia. msaiful_bahri@usm.my.
³ Biostatistics and Research Methodology Unit, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, Kelantan, Malaysia.

Abstract

Background: Coping denotes cognitive, emotional and behavioural struggles to tackle a troubled person-environment association. Therefore, coping strategies (CSs) are vital for mental well-being. Widespread research studies have explored this domain, targeting caregivers, nurses, physicians and medical teachers, but limited research has been done to explore the common CSs utilised by medical students at the undergraduate medical education level. Therefore, we aimed to identify the frequently occurring CSs and their effects on mental health disorders (MHDs) through the evidence available in the existing literature.

Methods: For this scoping review, we searched the available literature (articles published from January 1, 1986, to March 31, 2021) on CSs at Google Scholar, PubMed and Scopus using the terms coping, medical students and undergraduate medical education. We included in our search all peer-reviewed journal articles whose central topics were the CSs employed by undergraduate medical students of any age, nationality, race and gender.

Results: From among the 2,134 articles that were found, 24 were ultimately included in the study. The articles were authored in 14 countries, allowing us to gather broader data to answer our research question. The first identified theme (MHDs) had four subthemes: stress (55% of the articles), depression (30%), anxiety (25%) and burnout (15%). The second theme (CSs), on the other hand, had eight subthemes: support seeking (60%), active coping (40%), acceptance (40%), avoidance/denial (40%), substance abuse (35%), faith/religion (25%), sports (25%) and miscellaneous (40%).

Conclusions: Themes and subthemes were identified about the most common CSs utilised by undergraduate medical students to tackle common MHDs in the context of medical education. Among the most used CSs was support (social and emotional) seeking. Teaching medical students how to cope with challenging times is essential.

Keywords: Coping strategies; Medical education; Medical students; Mental health disorders; Mental well-being; Scoping review; Undergraduate.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological
Education, Medical, Undergraduate*
Humans
Mental Disorders*
Mental Health
Students, Medical* / psychology

Grants and funding

8012368/Research University Grant (8012368), Universiti Sains Malaysia.