Biomedical graduate student experiences during the COVID-19 university closure

Abstract

COVID-19-associated university closures moved classes online and interrupted ongoing research in universities throughout the US. In Vanderbilt University, first year biomedical sciences PhD students were in the middle of their spring semester coursework and in the process of identifying a thesis research lab, while senior students who had already completed the first year were at various stages of their graduate training and were working on their thesis research projects. To learn how the university closure and resulting interruptions impacted our students' learning and well-being, we administered two surveys, one to the first year students and the other to the senior students. Our main findings show that the university closure negatively impacted the overall psychological health of about one-third of the survey respondents, time management was the aspect of remote learning that caused the highest stress for close to 50% of the students, and interaction with their peers and in-person discussions were the aspects of on-campus learning that students missed the most during the remote learning period. Additionally, survey responses also show that students experienced positive outcomes as a result of remote learning that included spending increased time on additional learning interests, with family, on self-care, and for dissertation or manuscript writing. Though a variety of supportive resources are already available to students in our institution, results from our survey suggest enhancing these measures and identifying new ones targeted to addressing the academic and emotional needs of PhD students would be beneficial. Such support measures may be appropriate for students in other institutions as well.

Fig 1. Level of stress with online classes.

Students were asked to indicate their level of stress with various aspects of online classes during the remote learning period, compared to in-class learning. Responses shown are from (A) first year (n = 71), and (B) second year students (n = 40) who had classes continuing after the university closed in March 2020. “Modules” in (A) represent the 5-week-long elective courses offered to first year students during the spring semester.

Fig 2. Level of stress associated with other aspects of remote learning.

Students were asked to indicate their level of stress with various aspects of remote learning. Responses from (A) first year students (n = 71) and (B) senior students (n = 194) are shown.

Fig 3. Negative impacts of COVID-19-related university closure.

Students were asked to indicate the level of negative impact the university closure had on each item listed. Responses from (A) first year students (n = 71) and (B) senior students (n = 193) are shown.

Fig 4. Impact on psychological health.

Responses from the (A) first year (n = 71) and (B) senior students (n = 193) when asked to assess the negative impact of the university closure on their overall psychological health, and their access to healthcare, including mental health providers.