Social cognitive intervention reduces stress in Hungarian university students

Barriers to Seeking Mental Help and Interventions to Remove Them in Medical School during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives of Students

Medical students are at increased risk for psychological morbidity but the majority of those with mental health problems do not seek professional care. We aimed to uncover the viewpoints of medical students regarding barriers and facilitators to using university mental health services and their attitudes and preferences towards online counselling. Four semi-structured focus groups were conducted (n = 26, mean age = 21.8, ±1.88, 73% males). After reaching data saturation, interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and content-analysed by two independent coders. Intrapersonal barriers emerged to be perceived low risk, excessive self-reliance, lack of belief in the effectiveness of service, lack of openness. Interpersonal factors were the following: assumed long waiting list, insufficient provision of service information, fear of exposure, and not being familiar with the counsellor and the process. Extrapersonal barriers such as insurance problems, the number of available sessions, adverse sociocultural attitudes, fear of stigmatisation were identified. Students suggested that the university should provide psychoeducation and routine screening, apply social marketing and stigma reduction campaigns, improve information flow, and offer not only personal but also online video counselling to target removing these barriers. The results provide a reference for the redesign of mental health services to facilitate their access by students. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Cross-cultural validation and psychometric testing of the counseling center assessment of psychological symptoms: experience of Serbia

Psychological distress in university students represents a rising public health concern. The complexity of this phenomenon calls for a more in-depth scrutiny, in order to address the wide diversity of mental health issues that may arise in this population. The instrument designed for the purpose of measuring the student-specific distress is needed. An appropriate tool is the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms 62 (CCAPS-62), multidimensional scale widely used at many universities. The objective of the present study was to translate, culturally adapt and psychometrically validate CCAPS-62 in Serbian student population. A total of 1326 Belgrade University students were recruited from twelve different faculties. Considering the possible culturally conditioned differences in the quality of distress both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. The results of the exploratory factor analysis supported the eight-factor model with the item composition of the factors different to a certain extent from the original version. This measurement model was verified by confirmatory factor analysis. Findings demonstrated good internal consistency for the total scale as well as for the eight subscales applied among Serbian students. Implications are discussed with respect to the cultural context of mental health concerns in student population.

How I cope at university: Self-directed stress management strategies of Australian students

Universities across the world remain under-resourced and frequently unequipped to provide the required support to the increasing demand of students experiencing mental health problems. While there is a considerable amount of research focusing on university student stress levels, interventions to address them, and coping strategies adopted by students, little research has reported on the strategies students choose to manage their stress and how that relates to their self-identified sources of stress as well as to what universities are offering to support their mental health and wellbeing. The present study provides a contribution in this direction, reporting on a study that surveyed over 3200 students from three large Australian metropolitan universities and interviewed three groups of university staff who provide student wellbeing services. Results highlight differences between what students and staff perceive as main sources of stress and best strategies to address them. In addition, students recommend task-oriented, pro-active coping strategies more often to their peers than engage in them themselves. The findings of the study further reinforce the need to develop an understanding of student coping strategies with a lens considerate of students' perspectives and preferences to authentically support their wellbeing, better informing planning and service delivery.

Perceived stress and possible stressors in the general public in China during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading worldwide and a study found that front-line medical staff reported high levels of perceived stress during this pandemic. However, some findings indicated that the general public had more psychological problems than front-line medical staff. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate perceived stress levels and to identify possible stressors affecting the general public in China during the severe stage of COVID-19 pandemic.

Methodology

An anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted online from February 18 to25, 2020, with 1921 Chinese people aged 18-68 years (M = 29.28, SD = 10.66).

Results

Most participants reported low to mild perceived stress levels. Moreover, social stressors (e.g., disruption of normal life), rather than physical (e.g., burdened work) or psychological stressors (e.g., worried about self-infection) were the most frequently reported stressors of the general public.

Conclusion

In summary, our findings addressed an ongoing relevant situation affecting nations, communities, and individuals worldwide, and provided suggestions to regulate the perceived stress in the general public.

Promoting University Students' Mental Health: A Systematic Literature Review Introducing the 4M-Model of Individual-Level Interventions

Objective: The purpose of this study is to systematically review recently published individual student-level interventions aimed at alleviating the burden of mental health challenges faced by the students and/ or at equipping them with coping mechanism that will foster their resilience. Methods: This study relied on a systematic literature review. PubMed dataset was used; the search was confined to the following period: July 2016-December 2020. Results: A total of 1,399 records were identified by the electronic search, out of which 40 studies were included in this study. The authors inductively identified four overlapping categories of interventions across all included articles, and coded them as follows: Mindfulness, Movement, Meaning, and Moderator. Accordingly, each study was linked to at least one of four overlapping categories based on the nature of the intervention(s) under investigation, leading to differing assortments of categories. Conclusions: The 4M-Model generated by this study encourages focusing on devising holistic, university-based interventions that embrace the individuality of students to improve their mental health through elements of mindfulness, movement, meaning, and moderator. Through this focused approach, university counselors are enabled to design interventions that address students' physical, psychological, emotional, and social needs.

Personality and perceived stress during COVID-19 pandemic: Testing the mediating role of perceived threat and efficacy

Prolonged stress is associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes. Understanding the mediators between personality and stress is critical for developing effective stress management interventions during a pandemic. Our study explored whether perceptions of threat from COVID-19 and efficacy to follow government recommendations for preventing COVID-19 would mediate the relationships between personality traits (e.g., neuroticism, conscientiousness-goal-striving, extroversion-activity and sociability) and perceived stress. In an online survey of a representative sample of Canadian adults (n = 1055), we found that higher neuroticism and extroversion were associated with higher levels of stress during the pandemic and a greater increase in stress levels compared to levels before the pandemic. Perceived threat and efficacy significantly mediated the relationship between neuroticism and stress, which suggested that individuals with higher neuroticism experienced higher levels of stress due to higher levels of perceived threat and lower levels of efficacy. Perceived threat did not mediate the relationship between extroverts and stress, which suggested that the source of stress may stem from elsewhere (e.g., inability to socialize). Our findings highlighted that personality traits could be an important factor in identifying stress-prone individuals during a pandemic and that stress management interventions need to be personality specific.

Short-Term Effects of a Multidimensional Stress Prevention Program on Quality of Life, Well-Being and Psychological Resources. A Randomized Controlled Trial

It is well-documented that university students have an increased risk in developing psychological problems because they face multiple stressors. Cognitive, behavioral, and mindfulness-based stress prevention programs were shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress in university students. However, little is known of their effect on resource activation. Additionally, most validated interventions are unidimensional, i.e., including one stress-coping approach. In this study, we investigated the short-term effects of a multidimensional stress prevention program on students' quality of life, psychological symptoms and resources, and resilience factors against stress. Using an experimental design, 64 healthy undergraduate students (56 women), between 18 and 34 years old (M = 21.34, SD = 2.53), from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, were randomly allocated either to the intervention or the wait-list control group. The intervention group participated in a multidimensional stress prevention program, integrating mindfulness-based activities, cognitive and behavioral strategies, social skills, and emotional regulation exercises. The program consisted of eight 2-h weekly sessions. Before and after the intervention, participants completed self-reported questionnaires evaluating quality of life; psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, social anxiety, and interpersonal problems; as well as psychological resources like self-efficacy, sense of coherence, self-compassion, and social support, presented online. A standardized clinical interview was performed at pre- and post-measurement times. To analyze the sort-term effects of the program, we used mixed, two-factorial ANOVAs (per-protocol analyses). In accordance with our hypotheses, our results showed significant reduction of psychological symptoms, including anxiety, interpersonal problems, and symptoms of pain; a significant increase in quality of life, sense of coherence, and self-compassion in students who participated in the intervention program compared to the control group, (all p < 0.05). No significant results were found for symptoms of depression, social anxiety, self-efficacy, and social support. These preliminary findings indicate specific short-term effects of our multidimensional stress prevention program on psychological symptoms and on quality of life as well as promising effects on psychological resources and factors associated with resilience against stress. Future studies should investigate the long-term effects of the intervention as well as the effects in clinical samples.

[Correlations of stress, coping and psychological well-being among preclinical medical students]

INTRODUCTION

Because the level of stress is rather high among medical students, it would be important to prepare them for preventing it.

AIM

The aim of the authors was to investigate the perceived stress level of medical students, their psychosomatic symptoms, coping strategies and satisfaction with life.

METHOD

Preclinical medical students from the University of Szeged, Hungary (N = 155) participated in the study. Data collection was performed by groups, in self-administered, anonymous and voluntary form.

RESULTS

Levels of stress load and satisfaction with life among medical students were similar to previous international and national data. There were no gender differences in the levels of life satisfaction, however, levels of perceived stress and psychosomatic symptoms were higher among girls. Satisfaction with life was primarily related to perceived stress level and the coping methods.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that there are significant interrelationships among in the levels of perceived stress, psychosomatic symptoms and coping styles among in preclinical students. During medical education there is also a need for improving skills, such as coping and stress management.