Impact of COVID on Forming Social Ties: Longitudinal Study of Women Medical Students

• In Event: Experiences of Women in Medical Education

Abstract

This study describes how women medical students formed social ties during the early stages of COVID. Using a qualitative longitudinal approach of 16 participants, we found 1) personal social ties were deterred from forming in early experiences of medical school and COVID; 2) how shared experience of COVID promoted a sense of community bonding during middle and later periods; and 3) how COVID limited access to the formation of professional social ties throughout the duration. While literature about the impact of the pandemic on medical students has been bountiful, we are the first to look longitudinally at the ebbs and flows of forming social ties, both personally and professionally, ties that are important components of persisting for women in medicine.

Authors

• Emiko Blalock, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Dorene F. Balmer, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  Presenting Author