Influence of Medical Student Coping Behaviour Types on Health Related Behaviour and Stress Level on the Day of OSCE

Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) have recently been incorporated in the French medical studies. They will soon be an important part of the national evaluation of the students, therefore being responsible for a high level of stress. The differents strategies of coping have never been characterized for this particular group of students. We hypothetize that different strategies of coping are associated with different level of stress, thus being an interesting insight to help students to deal with their stress and prevent disorders linked to stress. We will be using the Brief Cope Scale to assess the different ways of coping, in addition to multiple demographic and health-related questionnaires.

This observational study will be conducted between the 17th and 19th of May at the Claude Bernard University (Lyon, France), during the OSCEs of the 4th year medical students. Their signed consent will be required before inclusion to the study. Before the test begin, they will be given a few questionnaires to fill, including the Brief Cope Scale, visual analogous scales of their level of stress, level of confidence and level of resourcefulness. Coping methods are categorized in 4 types : positive thinking, active resolution, social support and avoidance. We will also ask them about their physical activity and their quality of sleep prior the OSCEs. After the test, we will ask them once again their level of stress (visual analogous scale). The main objective of this study is to demonstrate the link between the different methods of coping and the level of stress on the day of the OSCEs. Secondary objective is to have better insight and understanding over the relationship between coping methods and health-related problematics when linked to anxiety generated by exams. All these data will be compared to a previous similar study conducted by our team of investigators on the same group of students, during their academical OSCEs in december 2021 (ECOSTRESS).