]. Of note, our study did not investigate concerns related to social isolation as most medical students in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia live at home with their families.The findings of this study can provide theoretical evidence for implementing supportive psychological assistance and guidelines for leaders of academic institutes globally to overcome the potential deterioration of academic excellence.
Additionally, it seems imperative to inaugurate personalized workshops for medical student groups with significant emphasis on strategies for coping with stress; concurrently, it is also pivotal to enforce coping skills courses into the medical curriculum, especially for junior students, thereby building their resilience and resourcefulness.
The role of medical school counselors should be implemented, and the personal experiences of senior students should be incorporated throughout the design of preventive measures since they possess better active and adaptive coping strategies, as suggested by the present study. Student-to-students support groups should be encouraged to help overcome avolition.
Although the pandemic compelled students to migrate to online remote teaching and learning, throughout these unique experiences, it opened possible doors for a potential online hybrid model without compromising the medical education process of learning while improving student-centeredness and boosting virtual mentorship platforms.This study has some limitations. Our study was based on a self-administered online survey that can be subjectively perceived.
Our study was based on a relatively large sample of socio-demographically heterogenous medical students from both public and private universities in rural and urban areas throughout Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study can establish a conceptual framework to minimize and cushion any upcoming challenges that deteriorate the mental health of medical students worldwide.