Transfer of Mental Health Services for Medical Students to Cyberspace during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Service Use and Students' Preferences for Psychological Self-Help Techniques.

The high risk of mental health problems among medical students has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly reduced social contact. The mental health support service of the medical school of one Hungarian university was transferred to the online learning management system and was expanded by self-help materials in three domains: Improving study skills, stress management techniques, and reducing stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic. We wanted to understand the preferences of medical students for psychological self-help techniques by investigating the pattern of access to online self-help materials and the characteristics of the users. Access to the online materials between April 2020 and April 2021 among Hungarian and international medical students was analyzed using the logging data of the system. Of all the students who logged in during the examination period (n = 458), 36.6-40.4% viewed materials to improve study skills and 23-29% viewed stress management materials, of which short-duration audio format techniques were preferred. The access rate of content targeting coping with the mental health effects of COVID-19 was 9.5-24%. Support to improve study skills is significantly more preferred than interventions targeting distress-reduction. The pattern of access can be used for the development of interventions that are of most interest to medical students.

Barriers to Seeking Mental Help and Interventions to Remove Them in Medical School during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives of Students.

Medical students are at increased risk for psychological morbidity but the majority of those with mental health problems do not seek professional care. We aimed to uncover the viewpoints of medical students regarding barriers and facilitators to using university mental health services and their attitudes and preferences towards online counselling. Four semi-structured focus groups were conducted (n = 26, mean age = 21.8, ±1.88, 73% males). After reaching data saturation, interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and content-analysed by two independent coders. Intrapersonal barriers emerged to be perceived low risk, excessive self-reliance, lack of belief in the effectiveness of service, lack of openness. Interpersonal factors were the following: assumed long waiting list, insufficient provision of service information, fear of exposure, and not being familiar with the counsellor and the process. Extrapersonal barriers such as insurance problems, the number of available sessions, adverse sociocultural attitudes, fear of stigmatisation were identified. Students suggested that the university should provide psychoeducation and routine screening, apply social marketing and stigma reduction campaigns, improve information flow, and offer not only personal but also online video counselling to target removing these barriers. The results provide a reference for the redesign of mental health services to facilitate their access by students. Implications and limitations are discussed.