Table 1.
Characteristics of medical student sample by risk of developing depressive disorder, N = 212
| Total n (column %) |
Average risk n (row %)* |
At risk n (row %)* |
P -value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race/ ethnicity | 0.3 | |||
| White | 156 (73.2) | 84 (54.6) | 70 (45.4) | |
| Hispanic | 16 (7.5) | 5 (35.7) | 9 (64.3) | |
| Other | 41 (19.3) | 19 (46.3) | 22 (53.7) | |
| Missing | 3 | |||
| Gender | 0.55 | |||
| Male | 68 (31.5) | 37 (54.4) | 31 (45.6) | |
| Female | 148 (68.5) | 72 (50.0) | 72 (50.0) | |
| Marital status | 0.98 | |||
| Married/ domestic partnership | 64 (29.6) | 33 (51.6) | 31 (48.4) | |
| Single/ divorced/ widowed | 149 (69.0) | 76 (51.4) | 72 (48.6) | |
| Year in medical school during 2019-2020 | 0.03 | |||
| MS1 | 77 (35.7) | 30 (39.0) | 47 (61.0) | |
| MS2 | 49 (22.7) | 31 (63.3) | 18 (36.7) | |
| MS3 | 73 (33.8) | 39 (53.4) | 34 (46.6) | |
| MS4 | 13 (6.0) | 9 (69.2) | 4 (30.8) | |
| Education before medical school | 0.49 | |||
| Bachelor’s degree | 186 (87.7) | 94 (50.5) | 92 (49.5) | |
| Master or doctorate degree | 26 (12.3) | 15 (57.7) | 11 (42.3) | |
| Moved after switch to online instruction | 0.71 | |||
| No | 129 (60.8) | 65 (50.4) | 64 (49.6) | |
| Yes | 83 (39.2) | 44 (53.0) | 39 (47.0) | |
| Number of people living with respondent | 0.85 | |||
| alone or 1 person | 121 (57.1) | 61 (50.4) | 60 (49.6) | |
| 2-4 people | 70 (33.0) | 36 (51.4) | 34 (48.6) | |
| 5+ people | 21 (9.9) | 12 (57.4) | 9 (42.9) | |
| Report of change in depression symptoms from Spring 2020 to Fall 2020 semester *** | <0.001 | |||
| Improved | 44 (20.8) | 32 (72.7) | 12 (27.3) | |
| Stayed the same | 59 (27.8) | 46 (78.0) | 13 (22.0) | |
| Worse | 109 (51.4) | 31 (28.4) | 78 (75.7) | |
| Change in residence after medical school changed to online-only instruction | ||||
| Moved in with family | 62 (28.7) | |||
| Moved in with friends | 5 (2.31) | |||
| Moved to be with spouse/ partner | 8 (3.7) | |||
| Moved to a different state | 22 (10.2) | |||
| Moved to a different country | 2 (0.9) | |||
| Moved within 50 miles of campus | 5 (2.3) | |||
| Moved more than 50 miles from campus | 49 (22.7) | |||
| Communication with university during SARS CoV-2 pandemic ** | ||||
| 211 (97.7) | ||||
| Online announcement | 93 (43.1) | |||
| Blackboard | 34 (15.7) | |||
| Automated phone message | 3 (1.4) | |||
| Text | 9 (4.2) | |||
| Focused online messages | 24 (11.1) | |||
| Messages relayed through faculty | 79 (36.6) | |||
| University announcements | 120 (55.6) | |||
| Other | 36 (16.7) | |||
| Townhall meetings (virtual) | ||||
| Zoom or WebEx meetings | ||||
| Canvas notifications | ||||
| Student government | ||||
| Intranet website | ||||
| Zoom office hours | ||||
| Video messages |
*
Center for Epidemiological Studies of Depression, short-form (CESD-10), contained 10 questions with responses ranging from 0 to 3. The “average risk” score was <10 and the “at risk” score was ≥ 10. This cutoff of depressive symptomology for this measure is established in the literature.
**
Medical students responded to a question about whether their ability to cope with events surrounding the SARS CoV-2 pandemic period had changed since the beginning of the pandemic.
***
Medical students responded to a question about whether their feelings related to the 10 depression symptoms changed since the Fall of 2019.