Enablers and Barriers to Online Learning among Medical Students during COVID-19 Pandemic: An Explanatory Mixed-Method Study

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) trajectory remains unknown, online learning (OL) has replaced face-to-face teaching strategies in education institutions. Research and training focus on harnessing educators, but less is understood at the students’ ends. This study examines the OL readiness components, self-regulation, enablers, and barriers to OL at home among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic through an explanatory mixed-method study. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 178 students and an in-depth interview with 10 students from a public medical school in Malaysia. We found that while all students owned at least one learning device, 22.5% of the students did not have a learning space at home. 21.9% students did not have Wi-Fi access, and 11.2% did not receive mobile broadband coverage at home. Despite these barriers, students had a suitable OL self-regulation level. Significantly higher self-regulation was observed among pre-clinical year students, students with higher grades, and students who had designated learning space at home. We found that high-immediacy and low-bandwidth applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram, and YouTube as the most accessible and easiest platforms to navigate in OL. Our qualitative findings yielded a conceptual model of OL enablers at learners, educators, and institution levels. This framework may serve as one of the guides in faculty development planning and policymaking, especially in promoting a more socially inclusive OL.

Burnout Prevalence and Its Associated Factors among Malaysian Healthcare Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic: An Embedded Mixed-Method Study.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global health threat and has placed an extraordinary demand on healthcare workers around the world. In this study, we aim to examine the prevalence of burnout and its associated factors and experience among Malaysian healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic through an embedded mixed-method study design. We found that more than half of Malaysian healthcare workers in this sample experienced burnout. Direct involvement in COVID-19 screening or treatment, having a medical condition, and less psychological support in the workplace emerged to be the significant factors in personal-, work-, and patient-related burnout. Participants described their workloads, uncertainties caused by the pandemic, challenging work-family balance, and stretched workplace relationships as the sources of burnout. Exhaustion appeared to be the major symptom, and many participants utilized problem-focused coping to deal with the adversities experienced during the pandemic. Participants reported physical-, occupational-, psychological-, and social-related negative impacts resulting from burnout. As the pandemic trajectory is yet unknown, these findings provide early insight and guidance for possible interventions.