Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused stress among undergraduate dental students; coping mechanisms might be employed to deal with such stress. A cross-sectional study was conducted to explore the coping strategies employed by dental students at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in response to their self-perceived stressors during the pandemic.
Methods: An anonymous 35-item survey was distributed to all four cohorts of UBC undergraduate dental students enrolled in the 2021-2022 academic year, 229 students in total. The survey gathered sociodemographic information, self-perceived COVID-19-related stressor, and coping strategies via the Brief Cope Inventory. Adaptive and maladaptive coping were compared among the years of study, self-perceived stressors, sex, ethnicity, and living situations.
Results: Of the 229 eligible students, 182 (79.5%) responded to the survey. Of the 171 students that reported a major self-perceived stressor, 99 (57.9%) of them were stressed about clinical skill deficit due to the pandemic; fear of contraction was reported by 27 (15.8%). Acceptance, self-distraction, and positive reframing were the most used coping strategies among all students. The one-way ANOVA test revealed a significant difference in the adaptive coping scores among the four student cohorts (p = 0.001). Living alone was found to be a significant predictor for maladaptive coping (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: The main cause of stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic for dental students at UBC is their clinical skills being negatively affected. Coping strategies including acceptance and self-distraction were identified. Continued mitigation efforts should be made to address students' mental health concerns and create a supportive learning environment.
Keywords: COVID-19; coping; dental students; mental health; stressors.
© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Dental Education published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Dental Education Association.