Abstract
BackgroundThe negative impact of medical school on students' general and mental health has often been reported. Compared to students of other subjects, or employed peers, medical students face an increased risk of developing depression, anxiety and burnout. While pathogenetic factors have been studied extensively, less is known about health-promoting factors for medical students' health. This longitudinal study aims to identify predictors for maintaining good general and mental health during medical education. We report here the design of the study and its baseline results.MethodsWe initiated a prospective longitudinal cohort study at the University of Lübeck, Germany. Two consecutive classes of students, entering the university in 2011 and 2012, were recruited. Participants will be assessed annually for the duration of their course. We use validated psychometric instruments covering health outcomes (general and mental health) and personality traits, as well as self-developed, pre-tested items covering leisure activities and sociodemographic data.ResultsAt baseline, compared to students of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects (n = 531; 60.8% response rate), a larger proportion of medical students (n = 350; 93.0% response rate) showed good general health (90.9% vs. 79.7%) and a similar proportion was in good mental health (88.3% vs. 86.3%). Medical students scored significantly higher in the personality traits of extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience and agreeableness. Neuroticism proved to be a statistically significant negative predictor for mental health in the logistic regression analyses. Satisfaction with life as a dimension of study-related behaviour and experience predicted general health at baseline. Physical activity was a statistically significant predictor for general health in medical students.ConclusionsBaseline data revealed that medical students reported better general and similar mental health compared to STEM students. The annual follow-up questionnaires, combined with qualitative approaches, should clarify wether these differences reflect a higher resilience, a tendency to neglect personal health problems - as has been described for physicians - before entering medical school, or both. The final results may aid decision-makers in developing health-promotion programmes for medical students.
Highlights
The negative impact of medical school on students' general and mental health has often been reported
Here we describe the rationale for our longitudinal study in medical and STEM students and report the baseline characteristics of a cohort of 881 students
Medical students rated their general health better, but there was no significant difference in mental health compared to STEM students
Summary
The negative impact of medical school on students' general and mental health has often been reported. Compared to students of other subjects, or employed peers, medical students face an increased risk of developing depression, anxiety and burnout. While pathogenetic factors have been studied extensively, less is known about health-promoting factors for medical students' health This longitudinal study aims to identify predictors for maintaining good general and mental health during medical education. Longitudinal studies in different countries revealed that the mental health of medical students declines during their graduate education, while the prevalence of depression, anxiety or burnout increases [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Certain pathogenetic factors specific to medical education seem to lead to a higher prevalence of stress-related illnesses, such as depression, anxiety and burnout among medical students when compared to students of other subjects or employed peers [8]. Recent studies have shown that physicians’ distress is related to medical errors [14,15]
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