Determinants of mental well-being in medical students

Advances in medical education and practice, 2016

Research has consistently found that the proportion of medical students who experience high levels of psychological distress is significantly greater than that found in the general population. The aim of our research was to assess the levels of psychological distress more extensively than has been done before, and to determine likely predictors of distress and well-being. In 2013, students from an Australian undergraduate medical school (n=127) completed a questionnaire that recorded general demographics, hours per week spent studying, in paid work, volunteer work, and physical exercise; past and current physical and mental health, social support, substance use, measures of psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, depression, anxiety, stress, burnout); and personality traits. Females were found to have higher levels of psychological distress than males. However, in regression analysis, the effect of sex was reduced to nonsignificance when other variables were in...

International journal of preventive medicine, 2012

Medical education and training can directly contribute to the development of psychological distress in medical students. This can lead to catastrophic consequences such as impaired academic performance, impaired competency, medical errors and attrition from medical school. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of psychological morbidity among Iranian medical students. This was a cross-sectional study. Samples of medical students in different levels of training (basic science, clinical clerkship, internship, and residency stage) were entered into the study. The 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used to measure psychological morbidity. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were used to report on findings. In all, 220 medical students were invited to take part in the study. Of these, 192 students agreed to fill in the questionnaire. The mean age of respondents was 25.4 (SD = 5.2) and 53% were female. Overall 49.5% of the students scored above the threshold on th...

Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2013

Mental health is vital to the overall wellbeing of all individuals, which directly or indirectly contributes to the overall wellbeing of societies and countries (WHO, 2003a). In 2020, WHO projects that mental illness will be the second contributor to the global burden of diseases (WHO, 2003b). These facts indicate a significant growing of pressure in individuals' daily lives. Medical students are not immune to this, in fact, studies found a high prevalence of psychological disturbance among them (

Pakistan Journal of Medical and Health Sciences, 2022

Background: Medical students, especially those of higher classes, are more likely to be severely distressed due to their clinical rotations. Moreover, exposure to critical patients, lack of social life and selection of speciality etc are few of the stresses in the lives of senior medical students. Aim: To assess the degree of mental stress in medical students. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methodology: The M.B.B.S students of higher classes, i.e., third, fourth and fifth year students, were included in the current study. The Kessler psychological distress scale was used to assess the degree of mental stress in medical students. Each questionnaires, having 10 questions, was distributed among the 230 students at Farooq Hospital Westwood, Lahore. Out of 230, 189 students filled the questionnaires. Data was evaluated by using SPSS version 20. Results: Majority of the students 36% had severe psychological distress. About 19% and 16% students had been found to have mild and moderate level of psychological distress respectively. Only 29 % students were doing well. Conclusion: It was concluded that Majority of medical students were found suffering from severe psychological distress.

Eskişehir Türk Dünyası Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi Halk Sağlığı Dergisi, 2019

The aim of our study was to investigate the anxiety and depression levels of doctors and interns during studying for examination for speciality in medicine. This research is a cross-sectional study. 396 doctors and interns participated from one of the preparation course for the exam in Istanbul. Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Scale were applied to these participants. According to the scale results, 49.5% of all participants carry depressive symptoms and this percentage is 58.8% for those who have anxiety symptoms among all participants. While 40.8% of participants who graduated from university have depression symptoms, 53.3% of those who are still medical students carry depression symptoms (p=0.0029). When it is compared according to the existence of anxiety symptoms, the rates for former and latter ones are, respectively, 70.8% and %53.6 (p=0.002). When it is based on aimed speciality, those who gave respond as ''my exam score will shape my choice'' have both the least anxiety and depression levels among all group. In this group, the rates for the existence of depression and anxiety symptoms are, respectively, 36.6% and 46.2% (respectively p<0.001 and p=0.002). 49.5% of all participants carry depressive symptoms and 58.8% of all participants have anxiety symptoms in our study. Because of the fact that this exam is very crucial to medical students for their professional careers, it is inevitable that this exam has some negative effects on their mental health status.

Archives of Neuropsychiatry, 2021

Medical education is a long and challenging process that has various inevitable psychological effects on individuals. There are many studies reporting that medical students develop higher rates of depression and other psychological disorders at different stages of their education than students in other domains (1-3). Recent meta-analyses and systematic reviews show that the prevalence of depression among medical students is around 30% (2-4) Aktekin et al. found that Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score averages increased from 6.9 at the beginning of the first semester to 11.1 in the second year among medical students in Antalya (1). Additionally, in the same study, General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ) score averages increased from 9.3 to 14.3 during the first year (1). Moffat et al. found that mean GHQ-12 scores increased significantly between the first and third term in medical students, 9.5 to 13.3 respectively (5). The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) has been widely used in students groups. It is used to detect psychological distress and non-psychotic psychiatric disorders (6). The dramatic deterioration in students' psychological test scores such as BDI and GHQ-12, especially in the first year, can negatively affect medical education, which is a challenging, long, and intricate process. Psychological pressure that occurs during this difficult phase may result in unfavorable experiences and even mental health problems during both the education period and postgraduate medical practice (7). It can be argued that depression is a phenomenon that develops in the medical school and is carried into the professional medicine process (8). Results: The GHQ-12 score average increased from 11.19 to 13.7 in medical students (p<0.001). The prevalence of psychological distress increased from 53.8% to 61.8%. The BDI score average was 8.04 in the beginning and reached 10.1 in the second year (p<0.001). Depressive symptom prevalence increased from 8.8% to 19.5%. No significant increase was observed in the GHQ-12, BDI score average, depressive symptoms, and psychological distress prevalence of other faculty students. The incidence of depressive symptoms in medical students was 15.9%. As a result of multivariate analysis, "dissatisfaction with social activities" and "exposure to psychological pressure and violence" which were stressful life events were statistically associated with both GHQ-12 and BDI. Conclusion: It was determined that the mental health of the students was negatively affected in the first year of medical school education. It is recommended to raise awareness for medical students at risk of mental illness and to plan interventions that will protect their mental health.

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 2015

Purpose In this study, authors sought to characterize race and gender disparities in mental health in a national sample of first year medical students early in their medical school experience. Method This study used cross-sectional baseline data of Medical Student CHANGES, a large national longitudinal study of a cohort of medical students surveyed in the winter of 2010. Authors ascertained respondents via the American Association of Medical Colleges questionnaire, a third-party vendorcompiled list, and referral sampling. Results A total of 4732 first year medical students completed the baseline survey; of these, 301 were African American and 2890 were White. Compared to White students and after adjusting for relevant covariates, African American students had a greater risk of being classified as having depressive (relative risk =1.59 [95 % confidence interval, 1.37-2.40]) and anxiety symptoms (RR=1.66 [1.08-2.71]). Women also had a greater risk of being classified as having depressive (RR=1.36 [1.07-1.63]) and anxiety symptoms (RR− 1.95 [1.39-2.84]).

2007

Background: The process of medical education is stressful and medical students are at risk of psychological problems. In addition to the normal stressors of everyday life, medical students must deal with stresses specific to medical school. The aim of this study was to assess mental health in senior medical students and residents. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 100 senior medical students and 100 residents of Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, between October and December of 2006. The measurement method was the SCL-90-R questionnaire. Respondents rate 90 items using a 5-point scale to measure the extent to which they have experienced the listed symptoms during the last 7 days. In this study we only reported GSI and raw scores of SCL-90-R subscales. We used the cut off point of 0.7 for GSI. All statistical analyses were carried out by using SPSS for Windows 14. A significant level was considered as 5%. Results: The mean and standard deviation of GSI was 0.55. ...

Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2021

Background and Aim: Rapid intellectual and psychosocial development occurs mainly during young adulthood. Coincidently, decisions regarding collegiate and professions are taken during this period. Thus, adulthood is vulnerable to psychological disorders. Contrary to most other professions, medical education is more likely to affect mental health. The present explicates the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among premedical and medical students of Aligarh city, and various coping mechanisms they adopt to mitigate above symptoms. Assessment on students&#39; quality of life (QOL) has also been made. Materials and Methods: The study sample (220) consisted of 11th and 12th pursuing and 12th passed students preparing for medical entrance examinations and those pursuing the medical course. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. The method of online survey was questionnaire through Google forms. Study lasted for 3 months. We used Depression Anxiet...

Background Medical students undergo tremendous stress during different stages of the MBBS course which is known to have a negative effect on their cognitive function and adversely affects their mental health also. This study was embarked upon to assess the psychological wellbeing of medical students by estimating the level of anxiety, factors leading to depression and various stress factors that a medical student has to encounter in college life. Material and Methods This was a cross sectional Descriptive survey research. A total of 177 medical students were recruited via random sampling technique. The instrument was a carefully drafted online form comprising of two standardized questionnaires (PHQ-9 and Spielberger's anxiety scale) and a section with questions which attempt to find different stressors that may influence a medical student " s mind. Results Out of 177 responders, 27.68% showed a moderate depression out of which 23(46.93%) were males and 26(53.07%) female students. Maximum students showing moderate depression belonged to first year MBBS (53.06%) followed by second year students (36.73%). No correlation was observed between students from Hindi medium schools and depression/anxiety. Top 3 reasons that according to students cause stress are studies friends and financial problems. Students reported to be using sports, majority playing games like badminton (122;68.9%), cricket (56;31.6%) and basketball (37;20.9%). Students also preferred to be involved in activities like listening to music (148; 83.6%), reading (94; 53.1%), dancing (68;38.4%), art and singing. Many reported that yoga (20;11.3%) and meditation (30;16.9) helped them to cope with stress. Conclusion This study has identified different stressors affecting the psychological wellbeing of medical students in rural medical college and also probed into finding ways adopted by students to help them cope with stress.