Association between virtual training during COVID-19 confinement and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in medical students in clinical practices post pandemic 2023

Abstract

COVID-19 caused preventive isolation, prohibition of group meetings, in-person classes, and suspended clinical practices. The students continued their studies with virtual methodology, from March 2020 to December 2021, returning to academic presence in 2022-1. Objective: to analyze the association between the virtual training received during confinement due to COVID-19 (2020-2021) and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in medical students from the University of Pamplona who carry out clinical practices in post-pandemic 2023. Method: observational study cross-sectional analytical study, carried out on 205 students, using the DASS-21 scale and a self-administered questionnaire of academic, sociodemographic and free-time, leisure and religious variables. Results: symptoms of depression (57.6%), anxiety (57.6%) and stress (55.1%) were found in the students; The symptomatology values found are higher than the national average and other similar investigations. The risk of depression varies with the age of the students (p < 0.029), being higher in students at an early age. The difficulty in applying the knowledge acquired during virtual training in practices was the main finding, with the probability of suffering from depression being 4, 6 and 7 times higher in students who considered the application of knowledge regular, difficult and very difficult. acquired virtually in practices. Conclusions: there was a statistically significant relationship with the difficulty in applying the knowledge acquired virtually in clinical practices, where the greater the difficulty, the greater the degree of depression and stress. Sleep quality is a protective factor as is family functionality.