Stress awareness in medical school – CaMSA Cameroon

Name of the activity: Stress awareness in medical school

Country/NMO: CAMSA Cameroon

Program: Mental Health

Contact information: contact [email protected] to get in touch with the Activity Coordinator

Type of the activity: First-time Activity

Category: Education

Focus area: Mental Health promotion and Prevention, Mental Health advocacy and public awareness, Mental Health among Medical Students

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 4 (Quality Education)

General description:

It was an online activity where flyers were made with important informations on definition,types ,causes and management.  At the end of which a video was made highlighting strategies to manage stress done by one medical student per medical school. All of which were posted on our social media platforms( whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook)

Problem statement:

Medical education in Cameroon is quite tedious with academic work and keeping up with demands of internship. An adequate mental state is primordial for medical personnel to furnish appropriate health care. This activity aimed at creating awareness on mental health and providing strategies to improve mental health and optimize health care.

Target groups:

• Medical students
• Healthcare Students
• Doctors
• Other health professionals

Beneficiaries:

• Medical students
• Healthcare Students
• Other Students
• Doctors
• Other health professionals

Objectives:

– improve awareness on mental health amongst health care students.

– To promote active participation of health care students in management of their mental health.

-To provide health care students necessary strategies to help improve their mental health.

Indicators:

– 80% of health care students in each medical school should gain more insight to mental health.

– 90% of health care students in each medical school on internship and other health care providers should be able to furnish best possible health care services to their patients.

– 90% of health care students in each medical school and other health care providers should practice measures to improve their mental health and provide help for others in case of mental health problems.

Methodology:

This activity took place over a period of two days( during which activities were carried out as per the activity description documentThe activity was coordinated by the program coordinator for health education with inputs from the director of the committee, vice president of the association and other national team members. Resources used included Canva for design of flyers, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, human resources were also primordial for accomplishment of this activity. Difficulties encountered included but not limited to time management, network issues. Following this activity no survey was done to assess the output of this activity nor to follow up for improvement. 

Plans for evaluation:

– Carryout a survey to assess the knowledge on mental health issues and management amongst health care students.

External collaborations:

For this activity we did not partner with any association nor received financial support for sponsors.