Intervention Characteristics to Improve Stress Coping in Healthcare Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives: Healthcare students experience significant stress due to their rigorous graduate school curricula. These levels of stress are associated with higher risks of depression, self-harm, and exhaustion. Coping interventions have been shown to help students develop healthy stress coping strategies. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the diverse array of coping interventions and what characteristics of coping interventions were most effective at decreasing stress among healthcare students. Methods: Any intervention designed to address coping for academic stress was included among medical, dental, nursing, physician assistant, allied health, veterinary, psychology, etc. students. A comprehensive literature search was completed to include multiple databases, Ancestry, and hand-searching from EBSCO and Google Scholar articles. A final total of 17 studies were included. Standardized mean difference effect sizes (ES) were synthesized across studies using a random-effects model in the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Software for changes in coping levels in healthcare students. Moderator analyses were performed to explore the study, intervention, and participants’ characteristics. The risk of bias was assessed by RoB2 and ROBINS-I. Results: Coping interventions significantly reduced stress outcomes among healthcare students (d = 0.74; 95% CI 0.48–1.01, 95% PI −0.41–1.90, p < 0.001, Q = 228.49, I2 = 93.0%, T = 0.52, T2 = 0.28, p < 0.001). Moderator analysis showed that interventions with stress education, established professional guidance, and fewer hours led to better stress management outcomes. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that coping interventions produce an overall moderate-to-large effect on stress reduction. Future research investigating coping interventions on academic and long-term outcomes would be beneficial.