P-14 Learning behaviours of medical students at the American University of Integrative Sciences, Barbados, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design and Methods: A cross-sectional web-based on online survey was administered to medical students at AUIS from July until November, 2021. The data collecting instrument recorded students’ demographic and learning behaviour information (Meo et al. 2020), perceived stress levels (PSS-4), and eating disorders (SCOFF questionnaire).

Results: The overall response rate was 55% (n = 66). The majority of the respondents were females (56.1%), MD5 students (28.8%) and residing in the USA (53%) during the time the survey was conducted. More than 80% of the respondents received COVID-19 vaccine and only 12.1% tested COVID-19 positive. In relation to the learning behaviours, students agreed with the following statements: deterioration in work performance/studying (45.5%), remembering contents appropriately (37.9%), concentration on the studies (37.9%), difficulty in performing two tasks simultaneously (37.9%) and performing mental calculations (33.3%), and recalling recent (33.3%), and old information (39.4%). Mean PSS-4 score for the respondents was 7.25/16 (average stress scores = 6 is classified as high levels of stress) and 24.2% screened positive for eating disorders as per SCOFF questionnaire (score =2 and indicates a likely diagnosis of anorexia nervosa or bulimia).

Conclusion: The results indicate that during the COVID-19 pandemic AUIS students developed academic difficulties, and eating disorders, and experienced elevated stress levels. University policymakers should take appropriate measures to support a healthy learning environment and improve the mental wellbeing and eating behaviors of students.