Perceived stress, resilience and their influence on the formation of coping behavior in medical students іn the conditions of full-scale war in Ukraine

Abstract

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has become the largest ground war in Europe since World War II. War is an extreme situation, i.e. one that goes beyond ordinary, "normal human experience" and affects the mental health of the population of Ukraine, including modern students. Because of a full-scale war, there is a negative impact on the emotional state of students of higher education with the formation of stress, anxiety, fear, anxiety and depression, which have negative consequences for both the educational process and the mental health of students. Effective mastery of the medical profession during a full-scale war creates new challenges for modern students of Ukraine; therefore, it is extremely relevant to study the impact of multicomponent stress on medical education students, as well as the study of protective factors and mechanisms that will contribute to successfully overcoming it. As a result of the research, a high and extreme level of perceived stress was found in the vast majority of first bachelor level higher medical education graduates, which reflected the extremely negative impact of multicomponent stress on the success of studies in general, physical and psychological wellbeing of students. Students with a low degree of resilience demonstrated a high degree of stress load against the background of the predominance of the formation of maladaptive strategies of coping behavior, therefore they belong to the risk group of the development of psychosomatic disorders and adaptation disorders, they need psychological support in order to optimize the psychological resources of the individual to successfully cope with the state of stress, to minimize its negative impact, formation of sustainable methods of protective behavior and coping, which in turn will be a guarantee of preserving the health of future employees of the health care system. The ability to effectively cope with stressful situations, using resilience resources, will help students not only to be socially-adapted individuals who make responsible decisions in professional activities and effectively interact with people, but also to maintain health by abandoning destructive ways of coping with stress.