acceptance | Acta Medica Marisiensis

The Role of Acceptance and Planning in Stress Management for Medical Students

Cosmin Octavian Popa¹, Alina Schenk², Adrian Rus³, Simona Szasz¹, Nicoleta Suciu¹, Dan Alexandru Szabo¹, Cristiana Cojocaru⁴

1. George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology, Targu Mures, Romania
2. Save the Children, Romania
3. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Southwestern Christian University, Bethany, OK, USA
4. Braun Dialysis Centre, Sighisoara, Romania

DOI: 10.2478/amma-2020-0020

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of two coping mechanisms, namely Acceptance and Planning, in stress management among medical students.
Methods: This research included two groups, a target group consisting of medical students (N = 100; Mage = 22.34) and a control group which was composed of physical education and sports students (N = 100; Mage = 20.11). For the target group, a low level of stress was induced, the students being informed that their overall behavior during an examination would be analyzed later by a group of psychologists, after which they were filmed while taking the exam. The students from the control group performed a physical exercise while they were filmed, and they were told that the correctness of the exercise would be evaluated by experts in physical education and sports on the basis of the recorded images. After completing the tasks, both the students in the target group and those in the control group completed the COPE questionnaire.
Results: The statistical data interpretation revealed a significant statistical difference regarding the two coping mechanisms, namely Acceptance [M = 10.73; t (19) = 3.79, p <0.001; CI -1.91, -0.60], and Planning [M = 9.47; t (19) = 4.70, p <0.01; CI -1.99, -0.81]. According to statistical data analysis, we did not find another significant statistical difference among the remaining 13 coping mechanisms.
Conclusions: To efficiently manage stress during exams, medical students use Acceptance and Planning coping mechanisms, which may increase their emotional regulation abilities and help them focus on problem-solving.

Decision Support System in Dental Practice. Evaluation of Dental Professionals Acceptance Level

Ghiga Dana¹, Petrişor M², Haifa B², Bacârea V¹, Şchiopu A³

1 Department of Research Methodology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania
2 Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania
3 Department of Physiopathology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the level of acceptance by the dental practitioners to implement a software application that allows a presumptive diagnosis of the systemic diseases based on the oral manifestations.
Methods: First we developed a questionnaire to assess the degree of acceptance for the implementation of a dental patient’s management information system. The initial questionnaire was applied to a number of 54 dentists from several cities. The questionnaire contains 6 questions evolving from simple to complex. The final evaluation was made after the presentation of the dental patients management software application, and respondents were asked to complete an evaluation questionnaire regarding the application submitted and its applicability in the dental office.
Results: We compared the scores average from the final questionnaire, for the groups formed after evaluating the first questionnaire results.
Conclusions: Most of the respondents found this computer based decision support system to be easy to use, scientifically well documented and enables accurate and quality documentation of patient data.