Psychological well-being of medical students in a state university, Nigeria
Keywords:
anxiety, depression, medical education, medical students, psychological distressAbstract
Background: Medical school is a time of significant psychological distress for physiciansin-training. The objective of this study was to assess factors affecting the well-being of medical students undergoing clinical training at Olabisi Onabanjo University.
Methods: One hundred and forty seven 500 level medical students of Olabisi Onabanjo University were administered questionnaires to assess the socio-demographic characteristics, levels of stress and well-being, psychological distress, anxiety and depression.
Results: One hundred and thirty seven students completed their questionnaire out of a total of 147 students. Three quarters of the respondents were within ages 24 – 28 years with a mean of 26.3 ± 2.3 years. Seventy seven (56.2%) of the respondents were females. Close to half (48.9%) of the respondents had spent 8 years in school. About 30 % of the respondents were psychologically distressed while 21.9% and 14.6% had anxiety and depression respectively. Respondents who had spent more years in the school had a positive correlations with psychological distress (r = 0.249, p = 0.003) and anxiety (r =0.274, p = 0.001). Having no one to talk to when respondents had a problem was significantly associated with psychological distress (P = 0.00), anxiety (p = 0.00) and depression (p = 0.00). Academic stress at school was strongly associated with psychological distress (p =
0.00) and depression (p = 0.03).
Conclusion: The study observed areas of possible stressful events (academics and nonacademics) in medical education during the clinical periods. It is recommended that increased attention should be paid to building up the coping reserve of students.
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