EXPLORING THE BENEFITS OF PSYCHOEDUCATION ON MEDICAL STUDENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH DURING EXAMINATIONS

Abstract

Background: Medical students are known to experience disproportionately high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, particularly during examination periods. These psychological pressures can impair academic performance, well-being, and long-term professional resilience. Psychoeducation has been suggested as a low-cost, scalable intervention for promoting coping strategies and reducing mental health stigma, yet its role in supporting medical students during high-stakes examinations remains underexplored. Aim: This study aimed to explore the benefits of a brief psychoeducation program on medical students’ mental health during examinations, with specific objectives to evaluate its impact on academic distress, coping ability, depressive symptoms, feelings of being overwhelmed, and perceptions of mental health. Methods: A single-blind, quasi-experimental design was employed with 120 undergraduate medical students from Wah Medical College, Pakistan. Participants were divided into an intervention group (n = 60), who received a psychoeducation course, and a control group (n = 60), who continued their usual coursework. The psychoeducation program included stress and time management strategies, cognitive restructuring, relaxation and mindfulness exercises, and stigma reduction discussions. Data were collected at baseline and follow-up using validated scales: College Student Stress Scale (CSSS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), CES-D 10-item scale, and a single-item measure of perceptions of mental health. Analyses were conducted using SPSS version 26 with independent-samples t-tests. Results: Groups were comparable on demographic characteristics at baseline. Post-intervention, the psychoeducation group reported significantly lower academic distress (p < .001, d = -0.71), higher coping ability (p = .017, d = 0.45), and more positive perceptions of mental health (p = .008, d = 0.52) compared to controls. Depressive symptoms showed a small-to-moderate reduction in the intervention group but did not reach statistical significance (p = .057). Feelings of being overwhelmed showed a non-significant reduction. Conclusion: Psychoeducation was effective in reducing exam-related distress, enhancing coping skills, and improving perceptions of mental health among medical students, though its effects on depressive symptoms and feelings of being overwhelmed were less pronounced. These findings suggest that psychoeducation is a valuable, scalable, and preventive approach to promoting student well-being during examinations, though more intensive interventions may be necessary for clinically significant emotional distress.