Abstract:

Background:
Prior to COVID-19, preclinical medical students were traditionally recommended to attend all didactic lectures in-person. Due to social distancing and safety precautions, students have been required to adapt to changes in the modality through which lectures were provided, primarily using online, synchronous meeting platforms such as Zoom. For medical students accustomed to face-to-face interactions with professors, staff, and classmates, this may create an added stressor to an already stressful experience such as attending medical school. However, it is still unclear if these lecture modality changes are associated with medical students’ stress level and preference for one learning modality over another.

Objective:
The purpose of this study was to explore associations between preferences of lecture modality (synchronous Zoom lectures versus live, in person lectures) and attitudes in second-year medical students after the transition to a fully online lecture platform was implemented.

Methods:
Cross-sectional data were collected from 97 second-year medical students enrolled in a college of osteopathic medicine in Florida, United States using an anonymous, online questionnaire via social media, emails, and snowball sampling strategies. The survey consisted of items pertaining to students’ attitudes towards different types of lecture modality (synchronous Zoom lectures versus live, in person lectures) regarding stress level, lecture modality preference, quality of education, staying motivated, and attitudes toward lecture modality provided post-COVID distancing restrictions. Also included were items regarding the burnout and mental health (i.e., not seeing my classmates and professors in person has negatively affected my mental health) and personality type (introvert/extrovert) based on past Myers Briggs Type Indicator scores. Descriptive data and Spearman’s rank correlation tests were conducted using SPSS v.26.

Results:
Half (n=49; 50.5%) of the participants were women, and 49.5% (n=48) were men. Most of the participants (n=78; 80.4%) preferred Zoom over live, in person lectures and 81 participants (83.5%) reported that live Zoom lectures have reduced their stress level compared to live, in person lectures. The majority (n=70; 72.2%) felt that there was no educational value lost in having Zoom lectures over live, in person lectures and believed that Zoom lectures should continue as the lecture modality even after social distancing restrictions are lifted (n=78; 80.4%). Moderate to strong correlations were found between the item “Zoom lectures have reduced stress compared to live, in-person lectures” and preference for Zoom (r=.634, p<0.01), quality of education using Zoom compared to the live-in person lectures (r=.526, p<0.01), belief that Zoom lectures should continue as part of the curriculum delivery method (r=.703, p<0.01), staying motivated with lectures fully online with Zoom (r=.486, p<.01), and liking that Zoom lectures save commute time to campus (r=.545, p<.01). There were no differences in any of the survey responses based on personality type (introversion/extroversion).

Conclusions:
Findings from this small sample of second year medical students suggest that a fully online curriculum may play a role in reducing stress in medical students during their preclinical years without compromising the quality of education provided. More research with larger and multi-site samples may be warranted.

Keywords:

Medical student, online learning, synchronous, curriculum.