Literature Review - Praveen Lobo

Literature Review - Praveen Lobo

1.STRESS AND DEPRESSION AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY.

Title and author : Stress and depression among medical students: a cross-sectional study

Marie Dahlin, Nils Joneborg & Bo Runeson

Summary: This paper explains that the reasons amounting to stress in students depends on the year

they are studying.

Assumptions made : All the students who were studied were enrolled.

The study was carried out at the Karolinska Institute Medical University, Stockholm, Sweden.

Arguments presented: To prove the prevalence of depression among medical students at different levels of education, taking gender differences into account.

Data analyzed: 342 students were surveyed, 59.1% women and 41.9% men. The mean age was 26.1 years .

The researchers modified the Perceived Medical School Stress (PMSS) to cater to the Swedish education system.

Results were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.

Conclusion: First year students gave high ratings to workload. Third year students gave high ratings to future endurance and pedagogical lacking. Women were more likely to be more depressed than men.

Extensions: Could be used to study a general population of students from different universities in different regions of the world.

My opinion: The fact that this study shows that students at each year experience stress due to different reasons has changed my perspective of imagining how stress occurs. Stress is always present but the reasons leading to it will be different each time. We could implement a system that caters to the students stress more efficiently based on the year they are in.

2. THE RELATIONSHIP OF INTERNET USE TO DEPRESSION AND SOCIAL ISOLATION AMONG ADOLESCENTS.

Title and author : THE RELATIONSHIP OF INTERNET USE TO DEPRESSION AND SOCIAL ISOLATION AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Sanders CE,Field TM,Diego M & Kaplan M

Summary:: This paper tries to see if there is a relationship between high Internet usage and social relationship and depression.

Assumptions made: The socioeconomic status of the participating students was, on average, middle to upper middle class having Internet access.

Arguments provided: To try to find the effects of Internet usage among adolescents, mostly the relationships with family or friends and depression.

Data analyzed: Eighty-nine seniors (37 males and 52 females) were recruited from a suburban Florida high school; 76% were Caucasian, 11% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 3% African American, and 5% other.

Students were administered a 181-item Likert-type questionnaire.

Chi-square analysis and t-tests.

Conclusion: The results indicated that high Internet usage resulted into weak social relationships. Low I Internet users had better ties with family or friends.

Extensions: Social and psychological factors could be used to deepen the understanding and get a clear picture. It should have also captured the Internet speeds normally used by the subjects.

My opinion: According to me the study should have considered psychological and social factors. It excluded low income populations and lacked a variety in terms of international demographics.

3. THE IMPACT OF WEB-LOGS ON STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF ISOLATION AND ALIENATION IN A WEB BASED DISTANCE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.

Title and author: The impact of web-logs (blogs) on student perceptions of isolation and alienation in a web-based distance-learning environment.

Michele Dickey

Summary: Nowadays even traditional and long distance-learning involve use of computer mediated technologies. However very less research has been conducted about the students isolation

and alienation. The purpose of this research was to investigate the use of blogs as a study tool

for students.

Assumptions made: This study mostly targeted students who undertook long distance-learning at universities.

Arguments provided: The main reasons of academic stress in such students were lack of prompt unambiguous feedback and technical problems and the need for extensive communication.

Data analyzed: Data was analyzed using the observations of blog postings, informal interviews, email

interactions and course evaluations.

Conclusion: The study suggested that there is direct impact of the students perceptions of community and

isolation on studies. The use of technologies may induce isolation among students and hence

we need to integrate other tools along with these existing technologies to enhance the students education.

Extensions: Further discourse analysis may be needed to fully understand the potential of web blogs in education. Conceptual framework of learners in different web-based distance learning environments to determine ways in which these tools might be most effectively used.

My opinion: While the use of blogs would definitely help students a complete real time communication portal would be a great idea. For ex. Use of voice/video call to interact with peers. The blog could be rebuilt to handle extensive social interactions just like a social networking site.