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Explanations on school task procrastination reported by medical students: A qualitative study at a public university in South-eastern Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

E. Turato  and
L. Gonzalez
E. Turato*
Affiliation:
State University of Campinas, Laboratory Of Clinical-qualitative Research, Campinas, Brazil
L. Gonzalez
Affiliation:
State University of Campinas, Laboratory Of Clinical-qualitative Research, Campinas, Brazil
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

How do medical students, who have self-criticism of being procrastinators of their study obligations, deal psychologically with daily tasks? The experience of procrastination by those who are considered high-performance students involves resources of mental health to cope with guilt, exhaustion, or even self-sabotage. According to MeSH used by PubMed, procrastination is ‘the deferment of actions or tasks to a later time, or to infinity’.

Objectives

To explore the psychological meanings that medical students attribute to procrastination phenomena to better understand how they handle the usual curriculum overload.

Methods

Clinical-qualitative design. Sample of 13 participants closed by information saturation with 2nd, 3rd, 4th-year students. Semi-directed interviews with open-ended questions in-depth. Clinical-qualitative content analysis, free-floating readings with psychodynamic concepts. Results were validated by peers at the Laboratory of Clinical-Qualitative Research.

Results

Emergent categories: 1) between procrastination and despair: the process of stress in procrastination; 2) a proving mechanism: procrastination as an emotional defense; 3) a very delicate rumination: between procrastination and mere delay, an emotional dilemma; 4) this conflict is painful: the confrontation between the desire to comply with tasks with excellence and the enjoyment of life.

Conclusions

Procrastination is reported by students as a source of great tension generated by opposing forces and desires, in which exhaustion is eventually reached. There are emotional contradictions related to guilt for leaving tasks to the last moment and the need to live other things besides doing academic tasks. Procrastination is a message-metaphor. It is important that institutions listen to students to understand what procrastination is saying about them.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

Qualitative researchprocrastinationmental health caremedical students
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S691 - S692
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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