Life on a tightrope: An interpretive phenomenological analysis of narratives of coping with academic stress among Filipino medical students
10.35460/2546-1621.2019-0001
- Author:
Elizabeth Aileen GARAN-GILLER
1
;
Dominico Carlo S DATOR
1
;
Mart Blas Angelo P JUAN
1
;
Genevieve Anne R QUERUBIN
1
;
Tiphanie P SEVILLA
1
;
Maria Minerva P CALIMAG
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
Author Information
1. Faculty of Medicine and Surgery
2. The Graduate School
3. Research Center for the Health Sciences
4. Research Center for Social Science and Education University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines
- Publication Type:Other Types
- Keywords:
Stress;
Coping;
Filipino
- MeSH:
Students, Medical
- From:
Journal of Medicine University of Santo Tomas
2019;3(1):248-259
- CountryPhilippines
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background:Life in a medical school is stressful
for just about every medical student. Academic stress
in small doses heightens the energy and awareness,
giving one that mood most refer to as “pumped up”
or “wired”. When the incremental progression of
stress brought about by health and emotional factors
compounded by social and fi nancial problems, overwhelmingly surpasses one’s ability to cope, it leads
to feelings of being “burnt out” or “stressed out”. It
can have a negative impact on a medical student’s
cognitive and psychological functioning resulting in poor academic performance. Each person has his
or her own unique way of dealing with it; some may
outwit pressure without a bad outcome, while others
just simply succumb to it.
Purpose:A vast majority of research on academic
stress is centered on its contributing factors and how
they affect other aspects of students’ lives. Coping
mechanisms and effective ways in dealing with stress
have also been delved into, but none have dwelt on
a study of the medical students’ lived experience of
academic stress. There was no study found in literature which examined and collectively characterized
the different phases that medical students go through
in coping with academic stress, hence the impetus to
undertake this study. Anchored on the Transactional
Model of coping with stress, this study was undertaken
to answer the central question: How do Filipino medical students collectively characterize the phases they
undergo in coping with the stresses in medical school?
Design:The methodological underpinnings of this
study are based on phenomenology. The objective of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is to
understand how a particular phenomenon is constituted from the participant’s perspective. It offers researchers the opportunity to learn from the insights
of experts – the research participants themselves.
The respondents’ insights were gathered through
narratives culled through a guided semi-structured
questionnaire patterned after social networking
sites, allowing the respondents to liberally exploit
their voices and thoughts. Narrative accounts gathered focused on the medical student’s daily activities, matters that precipitate anxiety, their views on
stress, and methods of coping. Through cool and
warm analyses, the narratives were ultimately subjected to phenomenological reduction.
Findings :Fascinatingly, after subjecting the narratives to a thorough and comprehensive phenomenological analysis, six emergent themes surfaced
which collectively characterized the phases our respondent medical students underwent in coping with
academic stress: Self-effacement Phase (Sensing inner trepidation), Self-awareness Phase (Settling in
new surroundings), Self-weariness Phase (Struggling
through stress) Self-attentiveness Phase (Staying focused to survive), Self-equilibrium Phase (Sustaining
a state of symmetry), and Self-mastery Phase
(Striving towards sovereignty and satisfaction). The
“Tightrope” is a representation that lucidly embodies
these six themes.
Conclusion :Our respondents have experienced
substantial challenges in medicine: they surmounted
their inner trepidation; settled and acclimatized to
their new surroundings; gained the courage to outwit stress and struggles; fought to strive, survive and
stay focused; learned to maintain a state of balance
and symmetry; and fi nally lived up to a sense of
sovereignty and self-satisfaction. It is just a matter
of perspective and attitude that demarcates a victor
from a slacker.
- Full text:1 JMUST 1.pdf
