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Physician Assistant Student Stress Levels and Common Coping Mechanisms

Capstone
2023

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Description

Background: Physician assistant programs place large amounts of demand on the students who are enrolled in them. This demand can lead to large amounts of stress that may eventually cause the students to develop mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. If the students do not have a healthy outlet for their stress, they may employ unhealthy coping mechanisms such as consuming alcohol, nicotine, or illicit drugs. This could result in overbearing stress leading to the student not properly caring for their patients in the future. If the stress was able to be identified and dealt with in a healthier way during the physician assistant program, it would allow for the student to eventually be more in tune with their mental health, ideally allowing them to care for their patients more properly in the future. Purpose: The following study presents the issues of stress overload among physician assistant students and the various forms of coping mechanisms employed by students to deal with this stress. Methods: This study utilizes various certified questionnaires including the PHQ-9, GAD-7, and PSS-10, to gather data to determine the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among the students. The researchers also utilized a survey to determine the coping mechanisms employed by the participants and the perceived impact of that coping mechanism on their mental health. These coping mechanisms were then categorized as either healthy or unhealthy. After data was obtained from the survey, it was analyzed by an independent statistician using an Intellectus software program. Results: Thirty-eight surveys were completed and 0 were omitted due to incompletion. Of the 38 participants, all of them were between the ages of 18-35. Of the participants, 35 (92.11%) were noted to have at least minimal depression. At least mild depression was prevalent in 29 (76.32%) of the participants. Moderate stress was prevalent in 35 (92.11%) of the participants. The most common coping mechanisms among the participants were exercise, spending time outside, and playing or listening to music. These were all categorized as good coping mechanisms suggesting that PA students tend to prioritize their mental health by not engaging in destructive habits. Conclusion: From the research study, it is concluded that most students that participated within the survey acknowledged that they took part in the “healthy” coping mechanisms as opposed to ones that are “unhealthy”. Due to the lack of data contrasting the mental health issues and coping mechanisms between didactic and clinical year students, no discrepancy could be determined.
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Record Data:

Program:
Physician Assistant Studies
Location:
Knoxville
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