Influence of Ukraine war on the foreign medical students

Background: Wars are escalating globally with devastating impacts on all aspects of life. The conflict between Ukraine and Russia began on February 24, 2022. Approximately 80,000 students of 155 nationalities were studying in Ukraine when the war started, disrupting their education and forcing many to leave the country. We aimed to determine the physical, emotional, and moral effects of the Ukrainian war on foreign medical students, as well as the secondary impacts of the war on the students due to the ongoing conflict.

Methods: The participants were non-Ukrainian medical students aged 18 years and over, studying at a medical school in Ukraine before the war started. A survey including the depression anxiety stress scales-21 (DASS-21) scale variables, a validated and reliable measure of depression, anxiety, and stress dimensions, and other questions on participants' demographics, education, and current socio-economic status was sent to all eligible students via their registered university emails and distributed using an online link.

Results: A total of 99 students were included in the study. 52 (52.5%) of the students were female and 49 (49.5%) were between the ages of 23 and 24 years old. Participants reported high levels of depression (86.9%) and anxiety (82.8%), with significant percentages experiencing extreme levels: 40.4% for depression and 55.6% for anxiety. Additionally, 74.7% reported feeling stressed, with 18.2% indicating extreme stress. Reasons for leaving Ukraine included safety concerns (67.7%), seeking a more secure educational environment (63.6%), the impact of the ongoing war and conflict on their future (56.6%), and the loss of educational opportunities (28.3%).

Conclusion: It is not easy to predict how the war in Ukraine will affect the education of international students in the near future. This uncertainty situation may explain students' depression, anxiety, and stress. As a result, it is necessary to design effective strategies to maintain the training of health professionals during wartime. Research should be conducted on how to rebuild health education systems after the wartime crises stabilize, both for students who are citizens of the country exposed to war and for foreign students who went to that country to receive education, and solutions for this should be put forward.