ArticleBMC medical education2022
Supporting medical students to support peers: a qualitative interview study.
Article in BMC medical education, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Disclosing mental health in medical education: A global qualitative meta-synthesis.Medical education · 2026Pooled it
- Exploring the evolution of US medical students' social support networks across the continuum: a cross-sectional group interview study.Medical education online · 2026Article
- Approaching Young University Students' Suffering Following the Death of a Family Member: A Qualitative Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prevalence, Digital Tools, and Management Strategies for Depression in Medical Students: A Narrative Review.Advances in medical education and practice · 2026Review
- Prevalence and determinants of academic bullying among medical and dental students in Jordan.Frontiers in health services · 2026Article
- Pedagogy in practice: a qualitative analysis of evidence-based teaching methods used by graduate-entry near-peer medical educators.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Promoting professional identity through peer support during studies: A report on the peer support in medical education project.GMS journal for medical education · 2026Article
- Educational and Licensing Challenges Faced by Indian International Medical Graduates: A Critical Synthesis.Medical science educator · 2025Review
- Development of a Clinical Clerkship Mentor Using Generative AI and Evaluation of Its Effectiveness in a Medical Student Trial Compared to Student Mentors: 2-Part Comparative Study.JMIR medical education · 2025Article
- Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group (LMIG) Events Analysis.American journal of lifestyle medicine · 2025Article
- Academic resilience in medical students: exploring students' perception of social support provided by peers and teachers to help at-risk students for the successful academic journey.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- An action research study on the needs and perspectives of medical students and junior residents on peer physical examination guidelines to respect medical students' autonomy and privacy in Japan.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Association of chronic stress during studies with depressive symptoms 10 years later.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- From Learner to Provider: Navigating Role Tensions in Postgraduate Medical Training Through Activity Theory.Perspectives on medical education · 2025Article
- Article
- Passivity, task segmentation, and relational capital: a study of interpersonal relationship formation among freshman medical students in team-based activities.Korean journal of medical education · 2023Article
- A national longitudinal cohort study of factors contributing to UK medical students' mental ill-health symptoms.General psychiatry · 2023Article
- The Sources of Research Self-Efficacy in Postgraduate Nursing Students: A Qualitative Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStudents may be the first to recognise and respond to psychological distress in other students. Peer support could overcome medical student reluctance to seek help despite their high rates of mental ill-health. Yet, despite the adoption of peer support programs, there is little evidence of impact on students. Peer support programs may assume that medical students accept and view peer support positively. We explored these assumptions by asking students about their experiences and views on peer support.
methodsQualitative semi-structured interviews exploring peer support experiences and views on peer support were conducted with ten medical students at two contrasting medical schools. Informed by a constructivist stance, interview transcripts underwent thematic analysis.
resultsThree groups of themes were identified: participants' experiences of peer support encounters, concerns about providing support, and views on students' roles in peer support. Participants readily recalled signs of peer distress. Encounters were ad hoc, informal, and occurred within relationships based on friendship or by being co-located in the same classes or placements. Concerns about initiating and offering support included lack of expertise, maintaining confidentiality, stigma from a mental health diagnosis, and unclear role boundaries, with implications for acceptance of student roles in peer support.
conclusionsOur study emphasised the centrality of social relationships in enabling or discouraging peer support. Relationships developed during medical studies may anticipate the collegial relationships between medical professionals. Nevertheless, only some students are willing to undertake peer support roles. We suggest different strategies for promoting informal peer support that can be offered by any student, to those promoting formal support roles for selected students. Future research focusing on the impact for both the students who receive, and on the students who provide peer support is called for.
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