| dc.description.abstract | Background: Individual coping and stress management skills influence rates of burnout, substance abuse, and other untoward situations for medical professionals. Ideally, underdeveloped coping mechanisms and at-risk behaviors are identified early in students’ professional education. Utilization of support services and coping strategies have been shown to correlate with academic success in undergraduate and graduate education. Data regarding coping strategies, academic performance, and help-seeking behaviors is scant in the Physician Assistant (PA) and Dental student literature.
Purpose: A portion of physician assistant (PA) and Dental students underperform academically. This study is designed to answer questions by the review of the related literature and analysis of coping and support strategies in minimally competent, barely passing students (MCBPs) first year PA and Dental students.
The following research questions are the focus of this study:
1. What are the coping mechanisms and support services used by first year PA and Dental students?
2. What is the relationship between coping mechanisms and academic performance among first year PA and Dental students?
3. What is the relationship between utilization of support services and academic performance among first year PA and Dental students?
4. What are the coping mechanisms of minimally competent, barely passing (MCBP) first year PA and Dental students?
Methods: Brief COPE and support service usage surveys were administered online after each of three exams. An online End of Course Survey was administered online for qualitative data collection. Control group received no intervention. The experimental group received three additional emails containing information about available support services.
Results:
1. The control group Brief COPE responses, academic performance, and poor coping behaviors revealed self-criticism and blaming correlated with poor exam grades. Analysis of the experimental group did not show strong relationships between Brief COPE items and academic performance.
2. The majority of students utilized support from family, peers, and upperclassmen. MCBPs tended to use less tutoring and less formal academic support than their higher performing peers. Both groups have low percentages of students utilizing formal on-campus services.
3. Both experimental and control groups utilized non-academic support services at higher percentages than formal academic supports. MCBPs in the experimental group utilize formal academic supports at much lower percentages than higher performing peers.
4. Self-criticism and self-blaming Brief COPE items are seen in correlation with decreased exam grade performance. Differences in overall exam grades were not observed between the two groups.
Control group MCBPs report significant negative coping strategies of denial, self-blame, and disengagement. MCBPs in the experimental group did not demonstrate no significant trends in coping mechanisms. The small numbers of responses reporting self-blame and anxiety in regard to ineffective study skills somewhat limits the qualitative data.
No significant impact from the intervention of email providing information about support services is seen in exam scores, Brief COPE responses, support service usage, or End of Course Survey responses. This is consistent with the literature.
Future Implications: The Brief COPE may have potential use to identify poor coping strategies in MCBPs. Student support service usage data can evaluate effectiveness of services and aid strategic planning. Qualitative student feedback can be implemented for continued course and program improvement.
Conclusion: Experimental and control groups have similar academic performance, support service usage, and Brief COPE responses. This is consistent with broader public health research which finds that an increase in educational efforts does not translate into behavioral changes. In both groups, students with lower exam scores reported using fewer academic supports and poor coping behaviors.
Key words: Brief COPE, student services, Minimally Competent Barely Passing (MCBP), physician assistant student, dental student, education | en_US |
