Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended genetic counseling (GC) graduate students’ lives, as they have been forced to transition, manage, and acclimate to life during a pandemic. The current study is a first step in understanding their lived experiences during this historic, global event. We investigated academic and personal challenges, intolerance of uncertainty, and psychological well-being of GC students (n = 248) who trained during the pandemic (GC-COV cohort) and those who did not (GC-NoCOV cohort). Participants completed an online survey (July-September 2020) that used validated measures of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Psychological Well-Being. To assess the academic and personal challenges students experienced during GC graduate training, we developed a 43-item measure. Principal axis factoring of the items revealed categories of challenges related to the following: Academic & Professional Development, Self-Regulation & Resilience, Institutional & Program Leadership, and Financial Stability. There was no cohort difference in Psychological Well-Being. Linear mixed-effects modeling showed significant cohort differences in challenges. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that the GC-COV cohort’s Psychological Well-Being was statistically significantly predicted by Institutional & Program Leadership challenges (p = .029), Self-Regulation & Resilience challenges (p = .013), and Intolerance of Uncertainty (p = .010). For the GC-NoCOV cohort, the statistically significant predictor of Psychological Well-Being was Self-Regulation & Resilience challenges (p = .029). Our findings demonstrate that GC students training during the COVID-19 pandemic have experienced various personal, academic, and psychological disruptions and highlight a need to develop resources and implement interventions supporting students’ academic development and psychological well-being.
Keywords: COVID-19; challenges; education; genetic counseling; intolerance of uncertainty; psychological well-being.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, education, challenges, Genetic counseling, intolerance of uncertainty, Psychological well-being, 【초록키워드】 Resilience, pandemic, COVID-19 pandemic, Genetic, Intervention, Cohort, Program, Psychological, Uncertainty, development, resource, Genetic counseling, professional development, Psychological well-being, life, leadership, mixed-effects modeling, Linear regression analysis, following, categories, measure, participant, professional, Multiple, counseling, intolerance, highlight, Principal axis, predicted, develop, significantly, investigated, category, statistically significant, statistically, 【제목키워드】 Genetic, Genetic counseling, North, counseling,