| Abstract: |
Most health-related educational programs are traditionally stressful. One of the most frequent academic stressors that students report is their gross anatomy experience. A variety of symptoms, including stress, anxiety, and emotional distress, have been reported among students in anatomy, particularly concerning working with anatomical donors. However, the literature remains sparse concerning what other stressors could contribute to the experiences of students in a donor-based anatomy course. Reports of stress are also common among students in non-donor dissection-based courses. This study aimed to investigate what stressors occupational and physical therapy students experienced in both the laboratory and lecture components of their anatomy course. A thematic analysis based on a descriptive phenomenological study was designed. This allowed the exploration of anatomy-related stress from the students' perspective as a phenomenon they experienced during their study. Thematic responses were categorized into laboratory and non-laboratory anatomy-specific stressors. Themes included dissection supervision, dissection group dynamics, emotional preparation, fear of death, condition of anatomical donor, anatomical donor's subcutaneous tissue, quality of dissection, previous anatomy experience, anatomical terminology, amount of information, teaching styles, fear of failure, self-directedness, and time constraint. Most stressors pointed to a course or curriculum issue and could be potentially modifiable. Knowledge of these stressors that students face could contribute to understanding the challenges in the study of anatomy from the student's perspective and contribute to future efforts in addressing these stressors. |