The mediating role of motivated strategies in the relationship between formative classroom assessment and academic well-being in medical students: a path analysis.

BACKGROUND: The support of students' academic well-being is one of the main agendas of medical education. For medical students, well-being can help prevent burnout and provides students with grounds for their future healthcare setting. The aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of motivated strategies for learning in the relationship between formative assessment and academic well-being. METHOD: The present cross-sectional study was performed on 391 undergraduate students of medical sciences selected by a convenient sampling method. The measuring instruments used in this study included motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (Pintrich and De Groot), classroom assessment approaches questionnaire (Yousefi Afrashteh et al.) and Academic well-being Questionnaire (Pietarinen et al.). In order to analyze the data, SPSS-26 software was used for descriptive statistics and correlation matrix, and LISREL-10.20 software was used to do path analysis and determine the relationships between variables within the model. RESULTS: Findings showed that formative assessment is a significant resource in shaping subscale of motivated strategies for learning (self-efficacy, intrinsic value, test anxiety, cognitive strategies and self-regulation). Moreover, the results demonstrated that the self-regulated learning strategies is a crucial determinant of academic well-being and is a mediator between formative assessment and academic well-being. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest the important value and necessity of formative assessment in medical science classes which can indirectly lead to improve students' academic well-being.

Psychological well-being and death anxiety among breast cancer survivors during the Covid-19 pandemic: the mediating role of self-compassion.

BACKGROUND: Despite the abundance of clinical data available for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), little research on the psychological well-being of breast cancer survivors has been published. We investigate the extent to which self-compassion accounted for the association between psychological well-being (depression, anxiety) and death anxiety in breast cancer survivors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was applied. Participants were recruited from three departments of oncology in Zanjan, Iran. Data were collected from 210 breast cancer patients. Participants completed self-report measures. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship among the study variables. Bootstrapping analyses were used to test the significance of indirect effects. RESULTS: Correlational analyses revealed that depression and anxiety were significantly and positively related to death anxiety (r = 0.77, p < 0.01; r = 0.85, p < 0.01, respectively) and negatively to self-compassion (r = - 0.48, p < 0.01; r = - 0.53, p < 0.01, respectively). Bootstrapping analyses revealed significant indirect effects of depression (ß = 0.065, SE = 0.35, p < 0.03, 95% CI [LL = - 0.0083, UL: - 0.1654]) and anxiety (ß = 0.089, SE = 0.09, p < 0.04, 95% CI [LL = - 0.0247, UL: - 0.1987]) on death anxiety through self-compassion. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study indicate that self-compassion may be considered as one treatment strategy to improve psychological well-being of cancer patients in the new context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Influence of psycho-sexual factors on the quality of life in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Path Analysis (preprint)

Introduction: COVID-19 has spread rapidly around the world. This epidemic has created stress and anxiety for pregnant women in different parts of the world. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between quality of life (QoL) with anxiety, depression, coronavirus induced anxiety, sexual function (SF), and marital satisfaction (MS) in pregnant women during the Covid-19 pandemic.Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional study involving 261 pregnant women, administered through an online survey.Outcomes: The Short-Form Health Survey (SF_12), Marital Satisfaction Scale (MSS), Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and  coronavirus induced anxiety questionnaire, Padua Obsession Questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) are used for data collection. Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient and path analysis.Results: The overall goodness-of-fit statistics revealed that the predictors of QoL had excellent fitness indices (RMSEA=0.02; AGFI=0.99). The results show that coronavirus induced anxiety, marital satisfaction (MS), sexual function (SF), depression, and anxiety have a direct effect on women’s QoL. Among the variables, GHQ has a more direct effect on women’s QoL. General health (GH) is considered as a mediator variable; variables such as anxiety, depression, and coronavirus induced anxiety with effect on GH can impress QoL. Anxiety as a main predictor of QoL, with direct and indirect effects through GH, depression, SF, and MS can impress QoL.Conclusion: Since the QoL in pregnant women is associated with coronavirus epidemics, these results can be used to plan to improve the health and QoL of these people.