Exploring the psychological impact of working during COVID-19 on medical and nursing students: a qualitative study
Objectives To identify the psychological impact of working during the COVID-19 pandemic on medical and nursing students’ psychological well-being. To inform recommendations for the provision of future student well-being support.Design An interpretative qualitative, semistructured interview study emp...
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BMJ Publishing Group
2022-06-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/6/e055804.full |
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| author | Ruth Riley Louise Griffin |
| author_facet | Ruth Riley Louise Griffin |
| author_sort | Ruth Riley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives To identify the psychological impact of working during the COVID-19 pandemic on medical and nursing students’ psychological well-being. To inform recommendations for the provision of future student well-being support.Design An interpretative qualitative, semistructured interview study employing maximum variation sampling, snowball sampling and a thematic analysis.Setting A large West Midlands (UK) university with medical and nursing undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Study undertaken between January and May 2020.Participants A purposive sample of eight medical (six women and two men) and seven nursing (all women) students who worked >2 weeks in a healthcare setting during the COVID-19 pandemic (from 1 March 2020 onwards).Results Four core themes with corresponding subthemes were identified: (1) COVID-19 sources of distress—working conditions, exposure to suffering, death and dying, relationships and teams, individual inexperience and student identity, (2) negative impact on mental health and well-being—psychological and emotional distress, delayed distress, exhaustion, mental ill health, (3) protective factors from distress—access to support, environment, preparation and induction, recognition and reward, time for breaks and rest and (4) positive experiences and meaningful outcomes.Conclusions Student pandemic deployment has had a significant negative impact on students’ psychological well-being, as a result of demanding working conditions, unprecedented exposure to death and suffering and lack of preparation for new job roles. Universities and healthcare organisations must formally acknowledge this impact and provide well-being support for distressed students working in such challenging contexts. They must also establish more supportive and inclusive healthcare environments for medical and nursing students in future pandemic and postpandemic circumstances, through the implementation of support systems and adequate preparation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2750c22979c647e5b9cf7b76efc77e32 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-2750c22979c647e5b9cf7b76efc77e322025-01-24T15:15:09ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552022-06-0112610.1136/bmjopen-2021-055804Exploring the psychological impact of working during COVID-19 on medical and nursing students: a qualitative studyRuth Riley0Louise Griffin1senior lecturerCollege of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UKObjectives To identify the psychological impact of working during the COVID-19 pandemic on medical and nursing students’ psychological well-being. To inform recommendations for the provision of future student well-being support.Design An interpretative qualitative, semistructured interview study employing maximum variation sampling, snowball sampling and a thematic analysis.Setting A large West Midlands (UK) university with medical and nursing undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Study undertaken between January and May 2020.Participants A purposive sample of eight medical (six women and two men) and seven nursing (all women) students who worked >2 weeks in a healthcare setting during the COVID-19 pandemic (from 1 March 2020 onwards).Results Four core themes with corresponding subthemes were identified: (1) COVID-19 sources of distress—working conditions, exposure to suffering, death and dying, relationships and teams, individual inexperience and student identity, (2) negative impact on mental health and well-being—psychological and emotional distress, delayed distress, exhaustion, mental ill health, (3) protective factors from distress—access to support, environment, preparation and induction, recognition and reward, time for breaks and rest and (4) positive experiences and meaningful outcomes.Conclusions Student pandemic deployment has had a significant negative impact on students’ psychological well-being, as a result of demanding working conditions, unprecedented exposure to death and suffering and lack of preparation for new job roles. Universities and healthcare organisations must formally acknowledge this impact and provide well-being support for distressed students working in such challenging contexts. They must also establish more supportive and inclusive healthcare environments for medical and nursing students in future pandemic and postpandemic circumstances, through the implementation of support systems and adequate preparation.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/6/e055804.full |
| spellingShingle | Ruth Riley Louise Griffin Exploring the psychological impact of working during COVID-19 on medical and nursing students: a qualitative study BMJ Open |
| title | Exploring the psychological impact of working during COVID-19 on medical and nursing students: a qualitative study |
| title_full | Exploring the psychological impact of working during COVID-19 on medical and nursing students: a qualitative study |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the psychological impact of working during COVID-19 on medical and nursing students: a qualitative study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the psychological impact of working during COVID-19 on medical and nursing students: a qualitative study |
| title_short | Exploring the psychological impact of working during COVID-19 on medical and nursing students: a qualitative study |
| title_sort | exploring the psychological impact of working during covid 19 on medical and nursing students a qualitative study |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/6/e055804.full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ruthriley exploringthepsychologicalimpactofworkingduringcovid19onmedicalandnursingstudentsaqualitativestudy AT louisegriffin exploringthepsychologicalimpactofworkingduringcovid19onmedicalandnursingstudentsaqualitativestudy |