Tekirdag Namik Kemal University Faculty of Medicine intern doctors' levels of depression and perspectives of medical education during the COVİD-19 pandemic period

The COVID-19 disease, which started in 2019 and spread rapidly in China, was described as a pandemic on March 12, 2020.In thisprocess, in order to prevent the spread of the virus, YÖK decided to close the schools for a while and to conduct education through distance education. In the history of the world, pandemics have not only endangered people in terms of their physical health, but also seriously affected their mental health. During this period, students have been one of the most affected groups during the pandemic period, due to both the concerns about the health of the epidemic and the concerns they felt for their academic future with the closure of schools. Our study was carried out on 321 students studying at Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University Faculty of Medicine in the 4th grade, 5th gradeand 6th grade in the 2021-2022 academic year. The aim of our study is to evaluate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the education of students, their satisfaction with this new education structure and their depression levels. A questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic characteristics, Distance Education Perspective Scale (UEBA) and Beck Depression Screening Scale for Primary Care (BDÖ-BB) was applied to the students. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using SPSS.23 program, ShapiroWilk's test, Levene's test, independent T test, Mann Whitney-U test, Kruskal Wallis-H Test, ANOVA, Sperman's rhocorrelation test. Of the participating students, 85 (26.5%) were 4th grade, 157 (48.9%) were 5th grade, and 79 (24.6%) were 6th grade medical students, and 149 (46%, 4) were men, 172 (53.6%) were women. The youngest participantwas 21 years old and the oldest 28 years old, with a meanage of 23.16±1.33. If the students had the chance to choose again, 119 (37.1%) stated that they would choose the medical faculty again, 102 (31.8%) stated that they would not, and 100 (31.2%) stated that they were undecided. During the pandemic period, 224 (69.8%) of the students lived in their family home, 133 (41.4%) in the student house, and 16 (5.0%) in the dormitory. Of thes tudents, 17 (5.3%) preferred only the online education system, 127 (39.6%) only the face-to-face education system, and 177 (55.1%) preferred the system that combines online and face-to-face education. It was determined that there was a statistically significant relationship between UEBA and BDÖ-BB. The mean UEBA of female students was found to be 1.81±0.41 and the mean of male students to be 1.95±0.45. The mean UEBA score of the 4th grade students of the medical faculty was calculated as 1.83±0.45, the 5th grade students 1.96±0.41, and the 6th grade students 1.80 ± 0.45. When the effects of Covid 19 on the psychology of students are examined, the mean UEBA score of those who are well affected is 2.11±0.38, those who are adversely affected 1.80±0.45, those who are not affected 2.15±0.35, and those who are undecided 1.89 It was obtained as ±0.35. As of today, the average UEBA score of the students who prefertoreceive education only with online education is 2.23±0.60, the average of those who prefer the face-to-face education system is 1.64±0.39, the average of those who choose the online and face-to-face education system is 2.02±0.36. The mean BDÖ-BB score of 4th grade medical students was 6.44±4.27, 5th grade students were 5.06±3.64, and 6th grade students were 4.87±4.20. The mean BDÖ-BB score of those who were well affected by Covid 19 was 3.12±3.45, 6.25±4.13 for those who were badly affected, 4.21±3.48 for those who were not affected, and 3.88±3.01 for those who were undecided. As a result; It has been seen that students' perspectives on distance educationare at an unstable leveland it has been determined that distance education satisfaction is affected by many factors such as gender, home environment, internet quota, technical problems, coursematerialsused, online platform used in education and exam systems. It was determined that most of the students showed depressive symptoms by being badly affected by the big changes caused by the epidemic in the economic, social and academic fields, and the sestudents were less satisfied with their distance education systems. Distance education satisfaction, which is an important alternative and supporter of face-to-face education, will be tried to be increased by our study and other supportivere search, especially in emergencies.