IJCM_418A: Perceived Social Isolation amongst Medical Undergraduates of Mangalore

Abstract

Background: Human emotions often tend to be fragile and gullible, changing with time and understanding but is almost always engaged in a competitive manner wherever there is intra-specific human competition leading to social isolation and loneliness. In a professional course like Medicine, there is a lot of competition and academic pressure which to a certain extent impacts the mental health of the individual and this is a crucial time as medical undergraduates generally in age group- 18-24 are in a phase of transition to adulthood. Perceived Social Isolation is generally seen associated with decline in cognitive and conative activities, not only the mental health is affected but chronic feelings of loneliness are a causal factor for CVDs and neuropathies. Our study will help us to identify the proportion of the medical undergraduates with perceived social isolation and its possible association with depression. This becomes greatly significant because of the strong competition and hectic schedule, characteristic of medical curriculum. Objectives: The objective of the study was to assess the proportion of Perceived Social Isolation in Medical Undergraduates and to assess a possible association between Perceived Social Isolation and Depression in Medical Undergraduates. Methodology: A Google Form was circulated amongst the students of KMC, Mangalore to collect the data from the participants. Subjects response to the designated questionnaire (circulated through google form) served as the sources of information, based on the responses in the Public Health Questionnaire -2 and University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale- the scores were evaluated and the data was compiled to comment on the study cohort. Results: Out of 219 participants, 48.9% of study subjects had moderately high degree of loneliness and 11.9% had relatively high degree of loneliness. Only 9.6% were reported to have low degree of loneliness followed by 29.7% having moderate degree of loneliness. Correlation between Loneliness Scale and PHQ-2 for study subjects with perceived social isolation and individuals who are likely to be screened for depression showed r-value of 0.400 and a significant p-value of <0.001. Individuals who had high degree of loneliness also scored significantly high in PHQ-2, 84.6% of all subjects who had high degree of loneliness also reported as potential candidates for screening of depression. Conclusion: The study concludes that a high proportion of medical undergraduates were reported to have either a high or moderately high degree of loneliness. It was also found that people who had high degree of loneliness significantly correlated with the likelihood of being screened for depression as based on their PHQ-2 scores.