Mental Wellbeing of Clinical Students at the University of Auckland

Abstract

Aim: University can be a stressful time for a student, creating financial, academic, and social stresses during a transitional stage of life into adulthood and greater independence. Clinical programmes place heavy additional expectations on their students, with continual assessment, long teaching hours, longer degrees, and the expectation of professionalism while interacting with patients. This study aimed to quantify the state and factors affecting the mental wellbeing of our clinical students. Methods: We have been conducting annual surveys of the mental wellbeing of students in our optometry and pharmacy programmes at the University of Auckland from 2019 to most recently in 2023. The survey had questions on a range of demographic information, what factors affect their wellbeing, how they manage their stress, and screens for anxiety and depression using standardised questionnaires (GAD-7 and PHQ-9, respectively). Results: In the pre-pandemic 2019 survey, 55% of our students screened positive for either anxiety, depression, or both. However, after COVID-19 reached our shores and we were forced into lockdown, we found an unexpected decrease in student anxiety, despite the generally stressful and uncertain times. We expected these levels to rebound, however, subsequent surveys have found a sustained reduction in student anxiety, and this is now translating to fewer students screening positive for depression. Most students opt to manage their mental wellbeing themselves, and professional or university services are only used in a small proportion of cases. The causes of their mental distress relate almost entirely to academic pressure, and expectations that others or the students put on themselves. There is almost no additional stress from other factors related to the transitional stage of life, such as managing finances or creating new social groups. Conclusions: During lockdown there was a significant restructuring of teaching, and the change to off-campus, then the current blended learning format, has meant that most assessments are now online and open book, and more of the teaching materials were moved online. To help alleviate the high level of distress in our students, lessons could be learned to decrease the stress levels in our students by continuing with alternative teaching and assessment styles.