title: Medical student stress: an elective course as a possibility of help.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The frequently observed stress of medical students worldwide leads them to have psychic suffering often leading to illness. Minor psychic disorders such as anxiety, depression and burnout, have a higher prevalence in these students than in the rest of random population. Different initiatives were tried to minimize the deleterious effects of the medical course and this article aims at showing the repercussions of a elective course that and was proposed as a possibility to help the students.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative case study took place in a public Brazilian university as an elective discipline offered to medical students in 2013, offering coping strategies for professional stress. The data was collected through a semi-structured individual questionnaire that was anonymous, and given to students on the last day of the course, with 18 Likert scale questions about personal and behavioural changes observed after taking the course. Objective questions were asked about their perception of stress at the beginning and at the end of the course: the use of the coping strategies taught and the perception of the utility of the content. In addition, one open-ended question was asked about the meaning of the discipline to the students. The quantitative data was analysed with descriptive simple statistics and the qualitative with the support of the WebQDA software. The research project was approved by the ethics committee of the institution.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that the course contributed positively to the students' academic life: 67% reported less symptoms of stress at the end of the course; 76% adopted new coping strategies; and 90% considered that this learning activity was useful for identifying stressors and sharing them with colleagues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The elective course produced benefits to the students, representing theoretical-practical learning and an opportunity for reflection and self-knowledge, which caused psychological, behavioural and lifestyle changes. It is recommended that further studies on this theme should be conducted.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Goiás, Primeira Avenida, s/n, Setor Leste Universitário, Goiânia, Goiás, CEP: 74605-020, Brazil. m_amelia_psi@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Maria Amélia Dias
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Enfermagem da Universidade Federal de Goiás, Rua 227, quadra 68, s/n, Setor Leste Universitário, Goiânia, Goiás, CEP: 74605-080, Brazil. maria.malves@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Maria Alves
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.affiliation: Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Goiás, Primeira Avenida, s/n, Setor Leste Universitário, Goiânia, Goiás, CEP: 74605-020, Brazil. jomar_oftalmopsi@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Jomar Cleison
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: de Rezende
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas e da Saúde da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (FCMS-PUCSP), Rua Joubert Wey, 290, Sorocaba, São Paulo, CEP: 18030-070, Brazil. damianorf@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rodolfo Furlan
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Damiano
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D001938:Brazil; D003479:Curriculum; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult